The Assumptions Designers Make
Why Mobile Phones Don’t Make Sense To Everyone
An interview with Natasha Alani, Cafe Enterprise Manager, Community Vocational Enterprises
Show Length: 20 minutes
Have you ever thought about the basic knowledge you need to use a mobile phone? There are fundamental assumptions that designers make when designing mobile phones…such as literacy, an understanding of numbers, and a grasp of basic computer concepts such as menus or folders. But, what if, like millions throughout the world, you couldn’t read or you’d never seen a computer before? How might your interactions with and understanding of mobile phones be different?
Researcher Natasha Alani went to the Kutch region in rural India to explore these questions within a culture that is nomadic and highly illiterate. I had tea with Natasha to find out what she discovered out in the field…and uncovered an exciting challenge for mobile phone designers everywhere.
NOTE: After this interview, Experience Design firm Adaptive Path used Natasha’s research to take a first crack at developing mobile phone designs that are not based on common assumptions of literacy and knowledge of computers. View the designs at www.adaptivepath.com/mobileliteracy
