Rabbit holes and serendipity

✨ Last year, I had the privilege of hearing Don Norman speak around a virtual campfire organized by adplist.org. At one point, he took a question related to User Research. Rather than venturing into the familiar zone of A/B testing or the usual data-centric jargon we’ve all heard, he shared something unexpected that has stuck with me ever since:

“If you want to learn about people, go find a person who writes for a living.”

At its core, design is a practice of understanding people—their needs, motivations, and complexities. But to truly design for people, we need more than technical skills or neat frameworks. We need curiosity, a willingness to explore beyond our own discipline, and the courage to embrace ambiguity. We cannot allow ourselves to be reduced to template practitioners.

Norman often speaks about the need for designers with wider visions and richer experiences. Over the years, I’ve found this to be true in my own journey. Some of the most complex design challenges I’ve faced were unexpectedly informed by questions I explored out of sheer curiosity—questions that, at first glance, seemed completely unrelated to design:

🏕️ How are trekking trails created in national parks?

🎭 How do dancers research and prepare before creating a new piece?

🗺️ How have cultures mapped the world?

Each of these rabbit holes, while seemingly unrelated, expanded my perspective and provided fresh insights that made me a better designer—or allowed me to bring something unique to the table.

👉🏽 So here’s my challenge for you: embrace Don Norman’s call for wider experiences. For every “5 steps to better UX” guide or “101 tips for usability testing” you come across, take the time to dive into one question or topic that truly intrigues you—even if it feels irrelevant to your work in the moment. You never know where that curiosity might lead.