Making choices, taking the route which may be controversial or even painful, is about being willing to live with innovative outcomes.

Designing for real human needs means making choices.

Design to create decisions and actions instead of just feelings. That means Yes or No, not Maybe.

Since actions speak louder than words, design solutions that force customers to make a decision, voting with their actions, not their words. Decisions made out of ambivalence tell you less about your product and more about your relative position in time, in location, in the marketplace. Customers have an abundance of options, choices and alternatives, and yet less information, skill or desire to value their options. Simplifying and streamlining the available options simplifies the decision-making process and results in better decisions. Make it easy for people, create solutions that force them to have an opinion.

Traditionally brands have been the key to differentiating in markets where the products are closely comparable, by creating an image, a stereotype, an easy way for a customer to define the product and what it means to them in the absence of knowing the minute differences in the products. But in a world where the ability to control the brand message and meaning has been reduced, where information flows free between customers, it is difficult for companies to incite these strong reactions merely through branding.

Instead, embed these customer decisions into the design decisions. Inciting strong reactions decreases the need for companies to read peoples’ minds and forces people to self-select their product and market niche. Let them tell you what they want through their actions and resulting conversations, and pay attention.