Desired paths

- Imagine yourself waking up in the morning and you're in your college dorm. You realize that you accidentally slept through your alarm and you're going to be late to your biology class. You quickly put on all your clothes, hopefully you brush your teeth, and you run across campus to class the quickest way you know how. Do you think you used the beautiful wooden path through the forest to get to class? Or do you think you just cut through the college green and make it in time to the lecture hall? My guess is that you choose path number two in order to get to your class on time. This means that you chose the desired path, that path you took in the grass has been taken by many other students before you for the exact same reason. That's why the grass was flattened down there, it's the path of least resistance. This story illustrates how people behave versus how something was designed for them. This concept is called desired paths or desired lines. Desired paths tell us how people actually behave, and the smushed down grass is a blueprint for design. How can we avoid becoming the designer who thinks that they actually already know what people need? All too often designers don't know enough, we need to remind ourselves that we have so much more to learn and to be empathically curious. The more we take the time to understand our user's desired paths, the better it will point us towards a concrete solution. A great example of this is Riccardo Marini and Jan Gale, known for using this concept in architecture and urban planning. They are really famous for putting people and the way that they interact with the space at the core of their work. It's all about listening to a place. Marini studies the way people interact with an interface, space or an object before finalizing features paths or navigation. In fact, in London, Marini followed a trail of litter to choose where to place city benches. His curiosity impacts the way people interact with each other and the ease in which they go from place to place and why they travel that way. The principle behind desired paths allows users to show their needs with their behavior and the way Marini got into their shoes is a great example of empathic curiosity. In fact, many college campuses have waited to see where their students and teachers chose to tread before adding paving. Michigan State University was one such institution and its campus is now like an Etch A Sketch board, filled with sidewalks that were paved based on the students and faculties walking patterns. Let's bring this back to you. How many times have you seen trails in the grass that break off the paved walkway? Did you follow them, if so, why? Or on the other side, have you seen recent examples of design that just didn't pay attention to user's desired paths? Something like this? Take time this week and look for spaces with desired paths where you live. There are clues all around us in our environments that help us understand people's intentions and their needs. All we have to do is look with curiosity.