Bringing into perspective: Design for the Next Billion Users (NBUs)
Designing for a billion people is a fascinating concept. The term debuted in my product design vocabulary through a TED talk by Margaret Gould Stewart about how giant websites design. I got a perspective of the impact and the scale of this design exercise from an example about Youtube when they changed their content feedback mechanism from star rating to thumbs up/ down buttons. What is so bizarre about it?
The sheer ability of one billion pair of eyes-fingers-minds using the product at least once, serves as the glass that metaphorically magnifies every single square pixel on the real estate of the product screen and underneath.
That’s just the start of the impact trajectory possible by the one billion number itself.
While designing for the Next Billion Users, these NBUs are defined as the first time internet users in non-west world countries (most of them). A substantial portion of these newly introduced users are accessing internet with limited bandwidth, on their smartphones with medium-end technology. Most of these non English speaking users share certain other characteristics like low levels of literacy in general and in tech space, lack of digital fluency and overall lower levels of income per capita.
Now, the concept of designing for these NBUs didn’t seem alien at first, for a second my mind wondered, “What is so different about it anyway? Don’t we already have products with a ‘tested & proven’ good design? “
Here is where I turned towards the person wearing UX Research hat on the table. She promptly repeats the name of the rule, “ Understand your audience! ” They are not the same as the first BUs.” The design worked for them because it was made for them. Also, the needs of these people evolved along side the evolution of technology. Some of the needs were a byproduct of the tech itself.
But here we have a (fundamentally similar) different set of humans whose social, economic, psycological and environmental characteristics present themselves in the form of different needs, mental models and behaviours.
The shared characteristics of NBUs makes their needs unique and unexplored.
We cant even say for sure that we have the intelligence to cope with their needs. Experiences will be built upon those intelligent entities.
Of course, with due courtesy, the advantage we have today over the previous times & their designers is that, we are at least familiar with the stepping stones: we can identify the scent of a user insight and the methods to uncover latent and apparent needs of users which can then be moulded into experiences that are useful, usable, equitable and enjoyable.
It’s a challenge and journey that needs both humility and audacity on our front.
