When I think back on how I wound up becoming a user experience/interaction designer / information architect, the path is similar to many people. I started with a knack for writing and a knack for computers. This led to a technical writing job explaining software to people in as plain a language as possible. As I did more and more of this, I found myself writing around the bad usability of the software I documented. I was user number one. Well, maybe QA and I were users number one together.

Being user number one made me more and more interested in user centred design (UCD) principles, and I began to take an interest in how users accomplished their tasks in the software I worked on. Over time, I managed to convince one of my managers to allow me to move from the back end of the software design lifecycle to the front end.

It didn’t work out so well at that particular company, but it did give me an opportunity to begin experimenting with rapid prototyping, and gave me a visceral sense of how crucial it is to know something about the people who will use your product or service. I have carried those things I learned with me through a number of successive roles as an Information Architect/Usability guy at a number of different web-based companies (and one disastrous experiment in the public service of Ontario).

Unfortunately, the lion’s share of user experience design work available where I live is in the digital marketing or ad agency sphere. For a 40-something guy who has been a fan of adbusters for years, I used to find my day job exhausting as I tried to find ways to help clients tell their “Brand Story” in “compelling and engaging ways”. As part of a larger community of User Experience Designers, Interaction Designers, and other overlapping disciplines, I am constantly reminded of the higher aims of our noble professions. The Interaction Design Association’s manifesto is:

We believe that the human condition is increasingly challenged by poor experiences. IxDA intends to improve the human condition by advancing the discipline of Interaction Design. To do this, we foster a community of people that choose to come together to support this intention. IxDA relies on individual initiative, contribution, sharing and self-organization as the primary means for us to achieve our goals.

There are ux/interaction designers out there that tackle real, compelling problems for users of services, products, and systems. I envy these folks every day. I think that startups like Ready for Zero capture the essence of what’s possible with a few dedicated people and a really great idea to solve a real problem.

In November of 2010, Peter Merholz, of Adaptive Path, gave voice to something that I think gets to a lot of UX people who are in agency environments, unleashing a firestorm of criticism and support from all sides.

Then, in February 2011, Kaleem Khan spoke on “Ethical Interaction Design” at the 2011 IxDA conference in Boulder, CO. At that same conference, Richard Buchanan pronounced that “Interaction Design – no, all Design – is about human dignity”.

These and other conversations have been buzzing in my head for awhile now, and I presented my hope to the Toronto IXDA group in the hopes that we could start thinking about what it means, to paraphrase Buchanan, design for the interaction between people through the mediating influence of technology.

As an aside, technology is such a broad term here. Did an interaction designer have any input on the ticket window at the bus station, where I speak to the agent through a plexiglass panel in which a microphone and speaker are mounted? I’m guessing not. There’s not a whole lot of dignity in that particular experience. It feels like a prison visiting room.

It’s been six months since I attended Interaction 11, and I am no closer to pinpointing what it is that I do for human dignity in our over-technologized society, but I really feel, as a designer, that there’s more to it than gadgets and brands. Sometimes innovation can be achieved by getting back to basics. If it sounds lofty to consider human dignity a goal of design, I figure it’s a pretty good place to start.

And so I say this: if you have a project or product that you think meets this goal in some way and you need someone who’s been doing UX for quite some time to help out with it, pro bono. Then we should talk.

1. Official death toll in Japan is 5000 with 8000 still missing.
2. The Red Cross is pulling out of Benghazi Libya out of safety concerns as democratic rebels dig in in preparation for an assault by Gaddafi’s troops
3. People returning from March break vacations were having to endure long lineups in customs at Pearson International Airport in Toronto.

Perspective. That’s all I have to say.

It goes like this: I was on my way to work and stopped in at the fantastic linuxcaffe, which lies conveniently between my house and the subway station. They make a mean cafe mocha and the staff and patrons are uber friendly. As I waited for the server to make my mocha, there was the sound of 3 medium-weight thumps directly above us.

The server referred to them as the random 3 bumps that she often hears in the morning – once and only once, a series of 3 bumps as if someone was jumping. She couldn’t guess what it might be.

“Do kids live upstairs?” I asked.

“No,” not at the front of the building.

I thought for a moment, and then just blurted the first thing that came to mind and it seemed to fit the situation.

“Somebody’s putting on tight jeans”

“Skinny pants!” the server said. “I bet that’s what it is! They look like skinny pants people.” That’s when she paid me the compliment.

I thought about it on the walk up to the subway — about how much of my daily work as a User Experience (UX) designer is an attempt to extend the sum of my own past experiences into creating new ones for the users of the products and services I design. Sometimes solving the problem is easiest and most intuitive when your own life experience tells you how almost instinctively.

The ‘problem’ here was obvious to anyone who has watched their kids try to get into dancing tights before a dance class – it’s usually a 3-jump effort before everything’s on just perfectly. Add to that the time (8:30am), the fact that it’s an apartment without kids, and I figured I had alighted on what was very possibly the answer.

Of course, until I test my hypothesis, it’s quite possible that it was something completely different than what I guessed.

That’s the way it is in UX practice, unfortunately. Often, because of time & budget constraints, you  just have to go with our gut and hope that you’re right. It’s always nice when you get validation from at least one other person. It’s nicer still when someone accepts your guess with some enthusiasm.

The number of people I’ve encountered at all levels of organizations who fling the terms around without batting an eye is pretty remarkable. And of course, folks like Jon Stewart have their own fun with it as well.

Whenever somebody drops the r-bomb around me, I look at them to see whether there’s any hint of self-consciousness and I have yet to see it.

So here’s the reveal: I have a 36-year-old brother-in-law with Down’s Syndrome. He’s gone his entire life suffering the indignities of the term retard, mostly from people who weren’t really fit to serve him coffee. My brother-in-law is technically classified as “mentally retarded”. His intellectual skills are impaired by his genetics. Like many people with intellectual disabilities, he goes about his life pretty much like anyone else. He has a job, he volunteers his time at the local library, he likes hockey and baseball and wrestling, and can play piano. Not bad for a retard, I guess.

But I just know that every time he’s within earshot somebody who’s complaining that something’s retarded, it stings.

What I wonder about is why this group of people, a particularly vulnerable group, have been denied the common courtesy that many other marginalized or disenfranchised groups have been granted.

Some folks will pull up the “literal meaning” of retarded as an excuse. As long as they feel that they’re using the term in its proper English context, then that’s fine. But most of the time the term is used as a double-entendre. I’d wager that if you tried to replace the word “slow” with the word “retarded” in a normal conversation, you’d be hard pressed not to get at least one snicker, sideglance, or raised eyebrow from your audience.

So, by extension, I wince every time I hear it. I think about all the people like my brother-in-law for whom these words carry such hurtful connotations, and I wonder whether it’s worth lecturing the people who say it. I’ve decided to start with this passive lecture. If you’ve stumbled here because you work with me, now you’ve been lectured.

Just sayin’.

— addendum —

So based on my first comment from a work colleague, I feel like my lecture has been taken as a pointed statement. I’m not out to make people feel bad, but if I do make people ask why this particular word is ok when other disparaging epithets are not, then I guess I’m accomplishing my task.

Clare had originally auditioned with her older sister in June of 2008, but at only four years of age, decided that she wasn’t ready to be in a show, and dropped out. Always certain that one day she would be ready, when a spot opened up, she auditioned again and now in the show as one of the 3 girls who play Gretl.

This is the point where our family life gets truly nutty. Our calendar for taking kids to shows, dance lessons, etc. is quite an entertaining read. No kidding.

Clare’s doing really well. She had her first show Labour Day weekend and has been doing an average of 3 shows a week. They recently announced that The Sound of Music will be closing January 3rd, which is too bad because it would be nice for her to have a longer run.

Clare splits her time between the two ‘families’ of kids in the cast, so she’s on stage with her sister Hannah sometimes, and others she’s with the other cast. She seems to have fun with both.

Watching your kids perform in a giant theatre is weird. One of the most striking things for me this time out was hearing Clare call Burke Moses “Daddy” on stage.  I can honestly say I’ve never heard any of my four children address anyone else that way…it’s odd.

Another interesting thing about all this is that Clare’s only five (almost six). I don’t really remember much about when I was 5 going on 6, but I wonder how much of this she’ll remember when she’s older. Since the internet never forgets anything, I guess she’ll be able to tell me in twenty years or so.

I am the proud father of home-schooled kids. This is the 3rd year that my wife has got our kids started on their school curriculum first thing in the morning on the day after labour day. We’ve got kindergarten, grade one, and grade three all going on at the kitchen table with our pre-schooler absorbing things by osmosis in the background.

Since we’re in a fairly traditionally structured family, I don’t have much to do with the presentation of the material to my kids, but this year we’re trying to figure out how I can contribute to their learning either by doing Saturday ‘special’ classes, or evenings. That should be fun, if I can come up with something interesting. I’ve been wondering about working with my 6 and 8 year olds on user interface design. I figure they might have insights on what works and what doesn’t. They don’t get a lot of computer time, but when they do (30 minutes per week), I am always stunned by how quickly they learn the interface and make it work for them.

Wish me luck.