What can we learn from shortcuts?
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0:01 - 0:03When we're designing new products,
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0:03 - 0:05services or businesses,
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0:05 - 0:08the only time you'll know
if they're any good, -
0:08 - 0:09if the designs are good,
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0:09 - 0:14is to see how they're used
in the real world, in context. -
0:15 - 0:19I'm reminded of that every time
I walk past Highbury Fields -
0:19 - 0:20in north London.
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0:20 - 0:22It's absolutely beautiful.
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0:22 - 0:23There's a big open green space.
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0:23 - 0:26There's Georgian buildings
around the side. -
0:26 - 0:29But then there's this mud trap
that cuts across the middle. -
0:30 - 0:33People clearly don't want to walk
all the way around the edge. -
0:33 - 0:35Instead, they want to take the shortcut,
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0:35 - 0:38and that shortcut is self-reinforcing.
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0:39 - 0:42Now, this shortcut
is called a desire path, -
0:42 - 0:45and it's often the path
of least resistance. -
0:45 - 0:46I find them fascinating,
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0:46 - 0:52because they're often the point
where design and user experience diverge. -
0:52 - 0:54Now at this point, I should apologize,
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0:54 - 0:57because you guys are going to start
seeing these everywhere. -
0:57 - 1:00But today, I'm going to pick
three I find interesting -
1:00 - 1:02and share what actually it reminds me
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1:02 - 1:05about launching new products and services.
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1:05 - 1:09The first is in the capital city
of Brazil -- Brasilia. -
1:09 - 1:11And it reminds me that sometimes,
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1:11 - 1:14you have to just focus
on designing for a real need -
1:15 - 1:16at low friction.
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1:16 - 1:18Now, Brasilia is fascinating.
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1:18 - 1:21It was designed by Niemeyer in the '50s.
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1:21 - 1:23It was the golden age of flying,
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1:23 - 1:26so he laid it out like a plane,
as you can see there. -
1:26 - 1:28Slightly worryingly,
-
1:28 - 1:31he put most of the important
government buildings in the cockpit. -
1:31 - 1:34But if you zoom in,
in the very center of Brasilia, -
1:34 - 1:36just where the point is there,
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1:36 - 1:38you see it's littered with desire paths.
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1:39 - 1:41They're absolutely everywhere.
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1:41 - 1:44Now, they thought that they
had future-proofed this design. -
1:44 - 1:47They thought in the future
we wouldn't need to walk anywhere -- -
1:47 - 1:49we'd be able to drive --
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1:49 - 1:52so there was little need
for walkways or pavements. -
1:52 - 1:55But as you can see, there's a real need.
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1:56 - 1:57These are very dangerous desire paths.
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1:57 - 1:59If we just pick one, in the middle,
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1:59 - 2:03you can see it crosses
15 lanes of traffic. -
2:03 - 2:05It won't surprise you guys
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2:05 - 2:08that Brasilia has five times
the pedestrian accident rate -
2:08 - 2:10of your average US city.
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2:11 - 2:12People are resourceful.
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2:12 - 2:16They'll always find the low-friction route
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2:16 - 2:18to save money, save time.
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2:18 - 2:20Not all these desire paths are dangerous,
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2:20 - 2:24I was reminded flying here
when I was in Heathrow. -
2:24 - 2:26Many of us get frustrated
when we're confronted -
2:26 - 2:29with the obligatory walk
through duty-free. -
2:31 - 2:32It was amazing to me
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2:32 - 2:36how many people refused to take
the long, meandering path to the left, -
2:36 - 2:38and just cut through to the right,
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2:38 - 2:40cut through the desire path.
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2:41 - 2:43The question that's interesting is:
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2:43 - 2:46What do designers think
when they see our behavior here? -
2:46 - 2:48Do they think we're stupid?
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2:48 - 2:50Do they think we're lazy?
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2:50 - 2:53Or do they accept
that this is the only truth? -
2:53 - 2:55This is their product.
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2:55 - 2:58We're effectively
co-designing their product. -
2:59 - 3:03So our job is to design
for real needs at low friction, -
3:03 - 3:06because if you don't,
the customer will, anyway. -
3:07 - 3:09The second desire path I wanted to share
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3:09 - 3:12is at the University of California.
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3:12 - 3:13And it reminds me
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3:13 - 3:16that sometimes the best way
to come up with a great design -
3:16 - 3:18is just to launch it.
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3:19 - 3:23Now, university campuses are fantastic
for spotting desire paths. -
3:23 - 3:26I think it's because students
are always late and they're pretty smart. -
3:26 - 3:28So they're dashing to lectures.
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3:28 - 3:30They'll always find the shortcut.
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3:30 - 3:33And the designers here knew that.
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3:33 - 3:35So they built the buildings
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3:35 - 3:37and then they waited a few months
for the paths to form. -
3:38 - 3:39They then paved them.
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3:39 - 3:40(Laughter)
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3:40 - 3:42Incredibly smart approach.
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3:43 - 3:46In fact, often, just launching
the straw man of a service -
3:46 - 3:48can teach you what people really want.
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3:49 - 3:53For example, Ayr Muir in Boston
knew he wanted to open a restaurant. -
3:53 - 3:54But where should it be?
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3:55 - 3:56What should the menu be?
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3:57 - 3:58He launched a service,
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3:58 - 4:00in this case a food truck,
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4:00 - 4:02and he changed the location each day.
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4:02 - 4:06He'd write a different menu
on the side in a whiteboard marker -
4:06 - 4:08to figure out what people wanted.
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4:08 - 4:11He now has a chain of restaurants.
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4:11 - 4:13So it can be incredibly efficient
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4:13 - 4:15to launch something
to spot the desire paths. -
4:16 - 4:19The third and final desire path
I wanted to share with you -
4:19 - 4:21is the UNIH.
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4:22 - 4:24It reminds me that the world's in flux,
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4:24 - 4:26and we have to respond to those changes.
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4:27 - 4:29So as you'll guess, this is a hospital.
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4:29 - 4:32I've marked for you on the left
the Oncology Department. -
4:33 - 4:37The patients would usually stay
in the hotels down on the bottom right. -
4:38 - 4:40This was a patient-centered organization,
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4:40 - 4:43so they laid on cars for their patients.
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4:44 - 4:47But what they realized when they started
offering chemotherapy -
4:47 - 4:50is the patients rarely
wanted to get in cars. -
4:50 - 4:54They were too nauseous,
so they'd walk back to their hotels. -
4:54 - 4:57This desire path that you see
diagonally, formed. -
4:58 - 5:00The patients even called it
"The Chemo Trail." -
5:01 - 5:03Now, when the hospital
saw this originally, -
5:03 - 5:06they tried to lay turf
back over it, ignore it. -
5:07 - 5:10But after a while, they realized
it was an important need -
5:10 - 5:12they were meeting for their patients,
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5:12 - 5:13so they paved it.
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5:13 - 5:17And I think our job is often
to pave these emerging desire paths. -
5:17 - 5:20If we look back at the one
in North London again, -
5:20 - 5:22that desire path hasn't always been there.
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5:23 - 5:24The reason it sprung up
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5:24 - 5:28is people were traveling to the mighty
Arsenal Football Club stadium -
5:29 - 5:30on game days,
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5:30 - 5:32from the Underground station
you see on the bottom right. -
5:33 - 5:34So you see the desire path.
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5:34 - 5:37If we just wind the clock
back a few years, -
5:37 - 5:39when the stadium was being constructed,
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5:39 - 5:41there is no desire path.
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5:42 - 5:46So our job is to watch
for these desire paths emerging, -
5:47 - 5:48and, where appropriate, pave them,
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5:49 - 5:51as someone did here.
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5:51 - 5:53Someone installed a barrier,
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5:54 - 5:57people started walking across
and round the bottom as you see, -
5:57 - 5:59and they paved it.
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5:59 - 6:00(Laughter)
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6:00 - 6:03But I think this is a wonderful
reminder as well, -
6:03 - 6:04that, actually, the world is in flux.
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6:04 - 6:06It's constantly changing,
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6:06 - 6:08because if you look
at the top of this image, -
6:08 - 6:10there's another desire path forming.
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6:11 - 6:14So these three desire paths remind me
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6:14 - 6:17we need to design for real human needs.
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6:18 - 6:20I think empathy for what
your customers want -
6:20 - 6:24is probably the biggest leading indicator
of business success. -
6:24 - 6:26Design for real needs
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6:26 - 6:28and design them in low friction,
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6:29 - 6:32because if you don't offer them
in low friction, -
6:32 - 6:34someone else will, often the customer.
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6:35 - 6:39Secondly, often the best way
to learn what people really want -
6:39 - 6:41is to launch your service.
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6:41 - 6:44The answer is rarely inside the building.
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6:44 - 6:46Get out there and see
what people really want. -
6:47 - 6:49And finally, in part
because of technology, -
6:49 - 6:52the world is incredibly flux
at the moment. -
6:52 - 6:54It's changing constantly.
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6:54 - 6:57These desire paths are going
to spring up faster than ever. -
6:58 - 7:01Our job is to pick the appropriate ones
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7:01 - 7:02and pave over them.
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7:03 - 7:04Thank you very much.
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7:04 - 7:08(Applause)
- Title:
- What can we learn from shortcuts?
- Speaker:
- Tom Hulme
- Description:
-
Tom Hulme
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 07:20
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