A couple of years ago I had the privilege of working for a large and well know media organization with decades of history. A true story...
There was a creative director who had spent most of his career in print design and was used to being the smartest person in the room. One day I was watching him use one of the designers as voice-activated Photoshop. "Take this and move it over there", he said. "Yeah, that's better but make that font bigger. Oh and see if you can lighten up the shade of that blue, it doesn't stand out enough." I could swear that this designer had a soul once, but now it seemed to be sucked out of his body. This man not only dictated his designs he was unashamedly opinionated on how the design should function.
At this point I offered a suggestion about the design and how the user might interact with a particular piece. To my astonishment the man stopped talking, turned to me and said...
" I think we know a lot better what people need than they do."
Unfortunately this attitude was reflected across the organization and was so widely accepted that anyone trying to promote user research was stifled. About a year later this same man was asked to resign due to his inability to progress and keep up with the ever-changing market. But his legacy was in place and it would be several years and reorganizations before real change occurred. Meanwhile this organization was left in the dust by competitors.
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