empathy and interface design
“Derek Story: My opinion is that you’re the best storyteller of the original engineering team. Part of the reason I believe this is because you have an uncanny ability to see things from others’ points of view. So there seems to be less judgment in your stories. Do you agree? And if so, is this a conscious effort that you make, or is it just the way you see the world?
Andy Hertzfeld: Actually, the “ability to see things from others’ points of view,” also known as empathy, is a crucial skill for creating great user interfaces, because you have to be able to see things through the eyes of the user; and not just one user but the whole crazy gamut of them, all with varying technical expertise and life experience. Understanding human nature is crucial in both UI design and storytelling, as well as lots of other spheres of endeavor. In a way, marketing is storytelling, too.”
Empathic coding also leads to more flexible and general solutions. Care in naming, cohesion and clarity provide deeper insight into a problem and it’s possible solutions.
