Why are so many things broken?

This entertaining talk – on video here – was one of the favorites of Gel 2006 - gelconference.com/c/gel06.php and in it Seth Godin gives a tour of things poorly designed, the reasons why they are that way, and how to fix them.

He only ever did this talk once – which is a shame but I can see why.

It is funny but perhaps too funny for him. Or for teaching.

One of the key things it did teach me was that “It’s broken because I say it is.”

The customer decides NOT you. You have no voice in this. “If I think it’s broken - it’s broken.”

Which when designing or re-designing mobile apps we all have to think about and take more seriously. The feedback from analytics is vital to this - so is being agile.

But back to Seth Godin's story...

This is broken. 7 reasons why…

1. It’s not my job.                Usually when you see a warning sign for something.
2. Selfish Jerks.                 Spamming and bad marketing for short term goals.
3. The world changed.      A business model for now might not work for later on.
4. I don’t know.                   The person who made it never uses it.
5. I am not a fish.                I design things but not for me.
6. Contradictions.              Without realising it internally things oppose each other.
7. Broken on purpose.      Jimmy Choo shoes aren’t for walking in.

He uses lots of visual examples - here is one of them...