But human-centered design requires a very different approach to design than is commonly done. It requires paying attention to the needs of customers and everyday people. It requires a multidisciplinary approach, where social scientists work together with engineers and computer scientists to create the products of tomorrow. What we need is a new design profession. And some good old-fashioned advocacy, advocacy for the right and needs of people.
Technologies always get more complex over time, but complexity can be hidden.
Indeed, if we want our technologies to be simpler to use, they might very well have to be more complex inside. Witness the modern automobile, ever more simple to use, ever more complex inside. The computer companies don't seem to understand. It can enhance and diminish our lives. And a good part of the diminishment simply comes from the complexity, a complexity that is unnecessary.