Chris Rockwell’s (Lextant) IDSA conference presentation “People Can’t Tell You What They Want” on design research myths is available via SlideShare.

Rockwell goes on challenging the now cliche notion that “people can’t tell you what they want” (Myth #2), which has been used as a rallying cry for observational research over interviews and focus groups. In fact both interviews and observations are effective and have their place when done appropriately (and in most cases, co-exist).

Similarly, “Designers can’t design until research is complete” (Myth #10) again brings the real-world perspective against theoretical ideals. If anything, the mainstream emphasis on design research in recent years should have increased the cross-collaboration between research and design.

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