Why we don't design for "Innovation"

We love technology and the things it can help us do. We are excited by the new functionality and resources we see everyday. However, we regularly see and hear from people who wish the technology they already have met their needs better. Thinking back over our most recent research sessions the participants - executives, students and reporters - all want to access information that addresses their needs in a way that's easy to find.

Solving some of these problems is pretty easy, like designing a faceted search, creating a comprehensive structure for information and designing type and imagery that supports the content. Solving others can be tricky politically, like providing the names of appropriate people to contact if needed (creating transparency). A few more solutions can be time consuming, like developing summaries for a database of long documents or enabling personalization. All of these are manageable, however, and provide a significantly improved user experience.

It would be amazing to develop the next big thing, but we see a lot of room for improved user experiences using the tools we and our clients already have. Learning about what matters to people and providing it quickly and manageably never gets old.