A Drive-By Regarding User Knowledge and Software Experiences
A quick peek into the challenge of building software for different users
We face a delicate balancing act: users are simultaneously more capable than we give them credit for, yet they can't tap into that potential until we show them the way. It's like having a Ferrari but never being taught how to drive a stick; all that power is just waiting to be unleashed.
Here's where it gets interesting: users often don't know what they don't know. Put them in front of a new interface, and suddenly, they're like a cat chasing a laser pointer – full of potential energy but not quite sure where to direct it. Our job isn't to respect their intelligence, though; it’s to get the user comfortable interacting with your software effectively.
The real trick is scaffolding their experience without making it feel like hand-holding. Think of it as leaving a trail of breadcrumbs that gets progressively more challenging. You start with 'Here's how you walk' but quickly progress to 'Now you can run', and before they know it, they're parkour masters thinking 'I knew this all along!' The irony is that by temporarily treating users as if they need guidance, we enable them to become as sophisticated as we initially assumed they were.
This creates a sort of Schrödinger's user1 – simultaneously novice and expert until we open the box of user experience. The key is to design systems that acknowledge both states, respecting the potential while carefully nurturing their growth. It's not about dumbing things down; it's about smartening things up to give users ways to learn. This is often missing from software design and how people approach understanding the world around them. So, the critical work that needs to be done is figuring out a way that pulls users along their learning curve.
The challenge before us extends beyond software design or generational differences – it's about reconciling our society's growing complexity with our human tendency to seek simplicity. While anti-intellectualism and resistance to effort push us toward oversimplification, we must find ways to make complexity accessible without stripping it of substance2.
As designers, educators, and citizens, our task is to build bridges across this chasm between knowledge and understanding. Whether creating software interfaces or just sharing information, we must resist the urge to oversimplify while making complex ideas accessible. The solution isn't to lower the bar but to build better ladders – ones that encourage curiosity, reward effort, and acknowledge that learning is a journey, not a destination.
In the end, perhaps the real measure of our success won't be how much information we can provide, but how effectively we can guide people from saying 'I don't know' to asking 'How can I figure this out?’
I’ve made this reference twice now. My apologies.
This is a big sentence that references a previous blog post. But I am calling this out because it fits into how software is made today. Just chasing dopamine from your users is a cheap way to grow. I believe we can do better.