0:00:00.771,0:00:03.018
When we're designing new products,

0:00:03.042,0:00:05.032
services or businesses,

0:00:05.056,0:00:07.574
the only time you'll know[br]if they're any good,

0:00:07.598,0:00:09.296
if the designs are good,

0:00:09.320,0:00:14.055
is to see how they're used[br]in the real world, in context.

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I'm reminded of that every time[br]I walk past Highbury Fields

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in north London.

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It's absolutely beautiful.

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There's a big open green space.

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There's Georgian buildings[br]around the side.

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But then there's this mud trap[br]that cuts across the middle.

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People clearly don't want to walk[br]all the way around the edge.

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Instead, they want to take the shortcut,

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and that shortcut is self-reinforcing.

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Now, this shortcut[br]is called a desire path,

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and it's often the path[br]of least resistance.

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I find them fascinating,

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because they're often the point[br]where design and user experience diverge.

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Now at this point, I should apologize,

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because you guys are going to start[br]seeing these everywhere.

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But today, I'm going to pick[br]three I find interesting

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and share what actually it reminds me

0:01:01.758,0:01:04.566
about launching new products and services.

0:01:05.137,0:01:08.800
The first is in the capital city[br]of Brazil -- Brasilia.

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And it reminds me that sometimes,

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you have to just focus[br]on designing for a real need

0:01:14.517,0:01:15.786
at low friction.

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Now, Brasilia is fascinating.

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It was designed by Niemeyer in the '50s.

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It was the golden age of flying,

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so he laid it out like a plane,[br]as you can see there.

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Slightly worryingly,

0:01:27.663,0:01:31.411
he put most of the important[br]government buildings in the cockpit.

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But if you zoom in,[br]in the very center of Brasilia,

0:01:33.906,0:01:36.068
just where the point is there,

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you see it's littered with desire paths.

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They're absolutely everywhere.

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Now, they thought that they[br]had future-proofed this design.

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They thought in the future[br]we wouldn't need to walk anywhere --

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we'd be able to drive --

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so there was little need[br]for walkways or pavements.

0:01:52.358,0:01:54.691
But as you can see, there's a real need.

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These are very dangerous desire paths.

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If we just pick one, in the middle,

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you can see it crosses[br]15 lanes of traffic.

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It won't surprise you guys

0:02:04.682,0:02:08.222
that Brasilia has five times[br]the pedestrian accident rate

0:02:08.246,0:02:10.124
of your average US city.

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People are resourceful.

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They'll always find the low-friction route

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to save money, save time.

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Not all these desire paths are dangerous,

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I was reminded flying here[br]when I was in Heathrow.

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Many of us get frustrated[br]when we're confronted

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with the obligatory walk[br]through duty-free.

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It was amazing to me

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how many people refused to take[br]the long, meandering path to the left,

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and just cut through to the right,

0:02:38.459,0:02:40.180
cut through the desire path.

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The question that's interesting is:

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What do designers think[br]when they see our behavior here?

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Do they think we're stupid?

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Do they think we're lazy?

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Or do they accept[br]that this is the only truth?

0:02:52.981,0:02:54.739
This is their product.

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We're effectively[br]co-designing their product.

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So our job is to design[br]for real needs at low friction,

0:03:03.490,0:03:06.386
because if you don't,[br]the customer will, anyway.

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The second desire path I wanted to share

0:03:09.482,0:03:11.734
is at the University of California.

0:03:11.758,0:03:12.910
And it reminds me

0:03:12.934,0:03:16.092
that sometimes the best way[br]to come up with a great design

0:03:16.116,0:03:17.800
is just to launch it.

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Now, university campuses are fantastic[br]for spotting desire paths.

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I think it's because students[br]are always late and they're pretty smart.

0:03:26.124,0:03:27.606
So they're dashing to lectures.

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They'll always find the shortcut.

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And the designers here knew that.

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So they built the buildings

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and then they waited a few months[br]for the paths to form.

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They then paved them.

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(Laughter)

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Incredibly smart approach.

0:03:42.719,0:03:45.842
In fact, often, just launching[br]the straw man of a service

0:03:45.866,0:03:48.007
can teach you what people really want.

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For example, Ayr Muir in Boston[br]knew he wanted to open a restaurant.

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But where should it be?

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What should the menu be?

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He launched a service,

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in this case a food truck,

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and he changed the location each day.

0:04:02.283,0:04:05.827
He'd write a different menu[br]on the side in a whiteboard marker

0:04:05.851,0:04:07.763
to figure out what people wanted.

0:04:08.218,0:04:10.637
He now has a chain of restaurants.

0:04:10.661,0:04:12.692
So it can be incredibly efficient

0:04:12.716,0:04:15.481
to launch something[br]to spot the desire paths.

0:04:16.232,0:04:19.314
The third and final desire path[br]I wanted to share with you

0:04:19.338,0:04:20.961
is the UNIH.

0:04:21.594,0:04:23.883
It reminds me that the world's in flux,

0:04:23.907,0:04:26.207
and we have to respond to those changes.

0:04:26.770,0:04:28.837
So as you'll guess, this is a hospital.

0:04:29.337,0:04:32.378
I've marked for you on the left[br]the Oncology Department.

0:04:32.735,0:04:37.083
The patients would usually stay[br]in the hotels down on the bottom right.

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This was a patient-centered organization,

0:04:40.267,0:04:42.895
so they laid on cars for their patients.

0:04:43.871,0:04:47.263
But what they realized when they started[br]offering chemotherapy

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is the patients rarely[br]wanted to get in cars.

0:04:50.088,0:04:53.990
They were too nauseous,[br]so they'd walk back to their hotels.

0:04:54.014,0:04:56.953
This desire path that you see[br]diagonally, formed.

0:04:57.616,0:05:00.133
The patients even called it[br]"The Chemo Trail."

0:05:00.930,0:05:02.999
Now, when the hospital[br]saw this originally,

0:05:03.023,0:05:05.917
they tried to lay turf[br]back over it, ignore it.

0:05:06.744,0:05:09.860
But after a while, they realized[br]it was an important need

0:05:09.884,0:05:11.661
they were meeting for their patients,

0:05:11.685,0:05:12.993
so they paved it.

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And I think our job is often[br]to pave these emerging desire paths.

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If we look back at the one[br]in North London again,

0:05:20.040,0:05:22.410
that desire path hasn't always been there.

0:05:22.856,0:05:24.372
The reason it sprung up

0:05:24.396,0:05:28.494
is people were traveling to the mighty[br]Arsenal Football Club stadium

0:05:28.518,0:05:29.669
on game days,

0:05:29.693,0:05:32.470
from the Underground station[br]you see on the bottom right.

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So you see the desire path.

0:05:34.128,0:05:36.942
If we just wind the clock[br]back a few years,

0:05:36.966,0:05:39.163
when the stadium was being constructed,

0:05:39.187,0:05:40.746
there is no desire path.

0:05:41.797,0:05:45.943
So our job is to watch[br]for these desire paths emerging,

0:05:46.567,0:05:48.331
and, where appropriate, pave them,

0:05:48.975,0:05:50.530
as someone did here.

0:05:51.191,0:05:52.839
Someone installed a barrier,

0:05:54.076,0:05:57.296
people started walking across[br]and round the bottom as you see,

0:05:57.320,0:05:58.518
and they paved it.

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(Laughter)

0:06:00.146,0:06:02.534
But I think this is a wonderful[br]reminder as well,

0:06:02.558,0:06:04.410
that, actually, the world is in flux.

0:06:04.434,0:06:05.656
It's constantly changing,

0:06:05.680,0:06:07.912
because if you look[br]at the top of this image,

0:06:07.936,0:06:09.928
there's another desire path forming.

0:06:11.413,0:06:13.943
So these three desire paths remind me

0:06:13.967,0:06:17.114
we need to design for real human needs.

0:06:17.579,0:06:20.062
I think empathy for what[br]your customers want

0:06:20.086,0:06:23.820
is probably the biggest leading indicator[br]of business success.

0:06:24.315,0:06:25.989
Design for real needs

0:06:26.013,0:06:28.417
and design them in low friction,

0:06:29.155,0:06:31.790
because if you don't offer them[br]in low friction,

0:06:31.814,0:06:34.409
someone else will, often the customer.

0:06:34.875,0:06:39.035
Secondly, often the best way[br]to learn what people really want

0:06:39.059,0:06:40.923
is to launch your service.

0:06:40.947,0:06:43.727
The answer is rarely inside the building.

0:06:43.751,0:06:46.224
Get out there and see[br]what people really want.

0:06:46.706,0:06:49.149
And finally, in part[br]because of technology,

0:06:49.173,0:06:51.986
the world is incredibly flux[br]at the moment.

0:06:52.010,0:06:53.969
It's changing constantly.

0:06:53.993,0:06:57.238
These desire paths are going[br]to spring up faster than ever.

0:06:57.730,0:07:00.677
Our job is to pick the appropriate ones

0:07:00.701,0:07:01.946
and pave over them.

0:07:02.572,0:07:03.723
Thank you very much.

0:07:03.747,0:07:07.712
(Applause)