The design process usually implies some innovation aspect. When you are immersed in the design world it is clear that being innovative and bring to the table solutions that offer a fresh air is something essential, but many times our solutions end up being unsuccessful and you might wonder, what could have happened?
MAYA PRINCIPLE
Design for the Future, but Balance it with Your Users’ present
Explains how and why we should approach our target market and offer them new solutions in a cautious way.
“This principle argues that customers should be offered a type of innovation that reflects a certain degree of novelty, but without losing sight of familiar elements that allow users to feel more confident when they have the first interactions. The author proposes to find a middle point between what is already known and the new which you are trying to introduce to a market because without this balance one could face a market that rejects the proposals. MAYA stands for “Most Advanced. Yet Acceptable”
It is interesting how within the design discipline you find yourself dealing with this situation mostly every day, trying to find a good balance between Human Centered Design and Radical Innovation. It is up to each designer to decide which way to go, but what is very important is not to underestimate the power of this principle and not to forget that this type of balance has led other designers to make successful products or services.
The question is now, how can I do it? Dam reveals certain elements that may be applicable at the moment of ideation and diffusion, such as introducing the innovation gradually over time, not running the risk of introducing something totally new at once. Another critical aspect is the inclusion of familiar elements in the visual appearance, so for consumers, it will be easier to relate to it. The familiarity of products is very important for a good acceptance. Finally, a design on the needs and current knowledge of users, this could be seen today as Human Centered Design, a method that involves an exhaustive ethnographic consumer research.