Designing for “Context” Is Tricky Business

“Designing for context” is a popular phrase these days, and it makes me a little antsy.  Designers often conflate device context with user context—or worse, with user intent. “ This is mobile, so they’ll never want to do that.” ” This is mobile, so it’s aimed only at users on the go.”  Friends, this is hooey. 

I shared a few thoughts about this on Twitter last night, and Scott Klein helpfully gathered them into a single view at Storify.  For what it’s worth, I thought I’d post ‘em here, too: