Watching Users – Rebuttal

Have you seen this cartoon lately? With the caption “How it feels to watch a user test your product for the first time”

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I laughed when I first saw it. I’m pretty sure I’ve retweetet it from this guy (his source (their source)). Ever since, I can’t shake the feeling that I betrayed my User Experience education. Yes, that cartoon captures what it feels like to watch users try to use something you created. You think you made it obvious, when you didn’t.

But I’d bet that for most people who retweeted the cartoon it seemed to capture what users behave like, thus continuing the “users are stupid” narrative. That’s why I made this:

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There, I fixed it. Sorry for the crude drawing. I hope my UX honor is restored.

PS: From the conversations on Twitter it’s perfectly clear that the guy who tweeted it is aware that the designer is to blame. It’s less obvious to people without an UX background.

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