Dyson, Dad, Dust, and Design - When UCD Fails
So what happens when your target buyer is NOT your target user? Today I had a chance to find out (this is starting to sound like one of those FML rants).
Act I
They saw Engineer Dad and Lazy Bum Brother coming from a mile away. Six Hundred bucks for a vacuum cleaner; only the dynamic duo of dad and son with a combined mental age of 16 - let loose in an electronics store with a credit card - could could possibly think this was a good deal.
**Attention Dyson marketing department: whatever you’re doing, you’re doing it right.**
So Dad and The Bum return home proudly beating their chests like hunters with a fresh kill and begin to regale Overworked Mom with all the technical details. Cyclonic, rotating, bag-less, particulate filtering, yadda, yadda, yadda, until Overworked Mom’s eyes glaze over and she goes back to her TV shows. What does she care? She’s doesn’t have time for vacuuming. Engineer Dad and the Lazy Bum Brother retreat to their man-caves, having done exactly as much housework as they ever have in their lives; absolutely none.
Act II
Enter: The Eastern European Cleaning Lady
-This is the part where the target user and and the target buyer are different people; leading to a complete User Centered Design Fail on the part of the Dyson folks.-
Cleaning Lady, vaguely disturbed by the Dyson’s Sci-Fi styling, to her credit makes a valiant effort; an effort that ends with a jammed extension hose - thus rendering the Dyson useless.
Enter: Overworked Mom - tells Cleaning Lady not to worry, thanks and pays, couldn’t be bothered, sends her home. Exit Cleaning Lady.
Enter: Engineer Dad - Screaming, yelling, cursing, and displaying various other prejudices to cleaning ladies in general and in particular the incredible waste of money. Exit Dad.
Enter: Lazy Bum Brother - Screaming, yelling, cursing, and throwing all the blame on the electronic’s store and the cleaning lady, and the value of house cleaning in general. Exit Brother.
Having now been yelled at twice while trying to watch her TV shows, Overworked Mom retreats to her bedroom, slamming the door, to watch something she recorded last week. Exit Mom.
The six-hundred dollar Dyson stands in the corner of the dining room, its orange canister a constant reminder of, well, everything. Time seriously begins to pass.
Act III
Enter: Resourceful Son
Returning from an extended respite Resourceful Son notices the piles of dog hair collected in the corner of every room and under every piece or furniture, that have now reached such an epic size they will soon be declared their own species, “Doggus Messyhouseus,” and make your average dust bunnies look as harmless as the Easter Bunny, decides to do a little vacuuming.
Upon finding an apparently new Dyson standing in the corner, Resourceful Son is unable to extend the hose. Oh No! What will he do?
Well, he calls the frieken Customer Service Phone Number which is printed in large friendly letters right on the front of the machine. In less than five minutes the extremely helpful and friendly Dyson customer service representative is able to diagnose the problem, offer a solution, and the vacuum is fixed (in this case, the hose was twisted, preventing it from extending smoothly).
Exit: Dirty House, Enter: Clean House
Resourceful Son get’s a big hug from Overworked Mom for being so, well, resourceful. :-)
ACT IV
So the parable of the Resourceful Son begs several questions. Why is the most important part of the unit so error-prone (shouldn’t there be a recall)? Why does it take someone with a Master’s Degree to operate the unit? Why is the sky blue? But seriously: why did only Resourceful Son call the Customer Service Phone Number printed in large friendly letters on the front of the unit?
Why didn’t Engineer Dad call? Because he blamed the user.
Why didn’t Lazy Bum Brother call? Because he blamed the situation.
Why didn’t Overworked Mom call? Because she couldn’t be bothered to go through the hassle of the process.
Why didn’t Eastern European Cleaning Lady call? Because cleaning ladies can’t speak English (if they could they probably wouldn’t be working as cleaning ladies).
So who’s the target buyer, and who’s the target user? Who is Dyson really designing for?
