I thought this insight into the design of airline kiosks showed that observing and understanding the user is key. Also like it identified radical transparency as an enabler of collaborative work. I have found the opposite is often true in competitive siloed organisations where intentions, motivations, and information is hidden.
It was also interesting that understanding the user can be perceived as a threat to some designers. I think this is an interesting idea and I hope most designers have a healthy ego and degree of humility to see they can learn much more holding their beliefs and expertise just a little bit more loosely.
Designers found out that female gate agents struggled to keep kiosks charged because their constricting uniforms prevented them from reaching electrical plugs behind the machines.
The focus on design thinking has instilled a more collaborative, group meeting-based culture that may not be immediately embraced by all employees. “It’s not just radical collaboration but radical transparency,” explains Gilbert. “It’s a sharing of intentions, motivations, and information.”
“Design used to be form and color, but understanding a user … in that sense it could appear to be threatening,” he says. “It’s hard and messy, but you get much richer outcomes.”