Some time ago, returning from the United States and transiting through Chicago Airport, I went to the airline’s counter to ask about the possibility of an upgrade, so that the long-distance flight could be a little more comfortable. The service staff told me that there are seats available, but there is no aisle seat that I prefer. I thought about it, and picked a middle seat in the middle of the plane, that is, I have aisle seats on the left and right sides, so that if I want to get in and out, I will only disturb one person, and I can choose between left and right.
I boarded the plane and sat down. The passengers on both sides hadn’t arrived yet, and I started to browse the list of movies on the plane. Not long after, two old people came to the left aisle, obviously the old couple. Stopped next to me and started to put the luggage in the luggage compartment. I watched the movie, and a thought flashed in my mind: These old couples are going to sit across the aisle. Who wants them to move their luggage on one side to the right aisle and start putting their luggage in the luggage compartment over there. I started to wonder what they did, thinking how inconvenient it would be when getting off the plane. After putting the luggage, the old lady sat down on the seat on my right, and the old man walked along the aisle back to the left and sat down on the seat on my left!
My first reaction was to stop the movie that was playing, take off the headphones, and seriously said to the old man on the left: “Would you like me to change seats with you? So that you two can sit together and make it easier.” I have already started to prepare. I got up to vacate my seat, but I heard the old man say “No, we specially booked the seats on both sides.” I doubted whether I heard it wrong. The first time I heard someone deliberately booked seats that were not next to each other, and it was two elderly people.
The old man continued to explain why they did it. For more than ten hours of long-distance flight, the two of them were afraid that they would often need to walk around and hinder the passengers who rely on the aisle. Therefore, they each rely on the aisle and can get complete freedom of movement. While I was surprised, I had to admire the courage of the two old men.
I believe that ninety-nine percent of passengers will not choose such a seat combination by themselves, and I have never had this idea when traveling with others. But when I met it, it was easy to understand such a choice. More precisely, it should be a decision. For designers, this unconventional solution often means the appearance of user needs.
Users are not good at expressing their needs. Although we already have many methods (such as focus groups, in-depth interviews, questionnaire surveys) to try to understand what users think, what they want, and what they want, what we see and hear is always the users’ answers to our questions. We have no control over the reliability and completeness of the answers provided by users, and sometimes users will deliberately hide their thoughts and provide deceptive answers.
The user’s behavior in the real environment is the most authentic and reliable. The idea of adding an air layer to the heel of sneakers to cushion the impact of sports was first introduced to the players when they listened to their ideas, but they were ridiculed by the players. When they really put on these shoes and started playing, their views changed. They fell in love with this design, so they have the successful product of today’s Reebok Pump series.
Unconventional solutions provide a special way for designers and technicians to understand how users can use creative means to achieve user needs that did not originally appear in the product definition under the constraints of existing designs. Some taxi drivers in Hangzhou use WeChat to build a low-cost vehicle dispatch system, which facilitates passengers to call a taxi and enhances communication between drivers, thereby increasing the load factor of taxis. The two elderly people I met on the plane also used their breakthrough seat selection methods to support their true needs. Discovering these unconventional solutions may bring product opportunities and competitive advantages.
Sitting in the seat between the two elderly people, while thinking about this unconventional plan, I also felt the impact on my own experience. Fortunately, I can put on the headphones again and return to the movie experience. 007, here I am.
