Henry Ford was once asked if he did customer research. He emphatically answered “NO!” When asked why not, he said, “Because if I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said they wanted a better buggy whip.” That’s a great story but it offers up a lesson. You can research all day long but what your clients think they want is not what they might actually need from you. It highlights the importance of occasionally trusting your gut instincts, experience and expertise when developing a design solution. After all if they truly knew how to “fix” their work or home environment, wouldn’t they be even more inclined to do it themselves?
