The Designer Problem: You Design For You
You’re a designer. You’re probably:
- 25-40 years old
- Good with technology
- Native English speaker
- No disabilities
- College educated
- Urban
- Full-time employed
Your users might be:
- 65+ years old
- Learning technology slowly
- English as second language
- Limited vision or hearing
- Various education levels
- Rural
- Part-time employed
When you design, you design for you. Not them. That’s why your app doesn’t work for elderly people. Why people with hearing loss get stuck. Why people in other countries complain about the language. You’re not a bad designer. You’re just missing context about how other people use things.
How AI Changes This
Now you can ask AI about different users. Not interview them. Just describe their context. “Design this for a 70-year-old woman. First smartphone. Nervous about technology. Lives in rural area. Slow internet. Vision not great.” AI designs thinking about that person’s constraints. Not perfectly. But way better than assuming they’re like you.
Real Example: The Dating App That Started Working For Older Users
Dating app was designed for 25-year-old urbanites. Worked great for them. Problem: their oldest users (55+) had low engagement. Were frustrated. They asked AI: “Design this for a 60-year-old woman. Used computers at work. Comfortable but not eager to learn new tech. Wants to feel safe. Doesn’t want to feel judged. Has vision degradation.”
AI generated design variations thinking about:
- Larger fonts
- Fewer options per screen
- More explanation
- Safer interactions
- Less gamification
They tested with actual 60-year-old women. Engagement went up 40%. They would never have thought of those design changes if they’d stayed in their own user context.
Why This Matters
Your actual users are not all like you. You have elderly users. Users with disabilities. Users from different cultures. Users in different countries. Designing for “average user” means designing for nobody. Designing for specific user means designing for everyone. Because when you design for the hardest user, it works better for everyone.
How This Works
You don’t have to interview users of every type. You don’t have to hire consultants. You describe the user to AI. AI generates design variations thinking about their constraints. You test with actual users matching that description. They tell you if you got it right. You iterate.
The Constraints That Matter Most
When you describe a user, focus on actual constraints:
- Age (affects vision, motor skills, comfort with tech)
- First language (affects copy, error messages, complexity)
- Technology comfort level (affects explanation needed, hand-holding)
- Physical abilities (vision, hearing, motor skills)
- Cultural context (affects color, metaphors, assumptions)
- Connection speed (affects performance expectations)
These constraints rule out whole design approaches. If your user has vision degradation, you can’t rely on color alone. If your user doesn’t speak English natively, you can’t use idioms. If your user has motor constraints, you need bigger targets. AI gets this when you describe it clearly.
How To Start This Week
Pick your app or product.
Write down 3 types of users you serve but you’ve never designed specifically for.
Example:
- User type 1: 70-year-old retired person
- User type 2: Non-native English speaker
- User type 3: Person with hearing loss
Pick one. Write down what their day is like:
“Jane is 70. Retired teacher. Uses computer for email. Doesn’t own smartphone but her kids bought her one. She’s nervous about breaking it. She wants to do one thing at a time. She gets frustrated with complexity. She needs to read carefully before acting.”
Give this to your Ai tool. Ask it to design an experience for Jane. Show the design to an actual person matching Jane’s description. Get their feedback. Iterate. Now your product works for Jane.
The Surprising Part
Usually, designing for the hardest user makes it better for everyone. If you design for someone with low vision (high contrast, big text, clear hierarchy), it also works better for someone using their phone in sunlight. If you design for someone who doesn’t speak English natively (clear language, no idioms, explicit next steps), it also works better for someone in a hurry. Constraints breed better design.
Why Most Companies Don’t Do This
It feels like extra work. “We should design for our core users first.” But your core users are probably fine. It’s the edge cases that are struggling. And edge cases often make up 30-40% of your actual user base. With AI, designing for edge cases takes days. Not months.Worth doing.
Conclusion: Your App Works Better For Everyone When You Design For Someone Specific
Stop designing for “average user.” Start designing for specific users with real constraints. AI makes this possible without expensive user research. Test. Learn. Iterate. Your app will work better.
