Humans slowly change, and that is our chance
Returning to human universals as a primary source of truth in design.
How ergonomics came to be
A doctor performs delicate surgery on a patient with a serious head wound. He sits with his feet elevated, elbows resting on his knees, calm and focused on a demanding task. His apparatus in the operating room is arranged in an orderly manner; all assistants move in a choreographed way, following written rules.
The year is 380BC[1]; the doctor in question is no other than Hippocrates himself - the physician best known for the Hippocratic Oath.
Hippocrates was the most famous physician of the ancient world. He observed and analyzed surgical procedures and set out his findings in a treatise: how the surgeon should sit, where the light should fall, how the instruments should be arranged and how the attendants should behave during the operation[2].
Hippocrates' "On Surgery" is one of the earliest documented examples of what we now call ergonomics. It recognizes enduring patterns in human behaviour, laying the foundation for evergreen design principles that stand the test of time.
Human universals in contrast with technology
The treatise sets out practical rules for how a surgeon should work; those rules that rest on the needs of the human body. When you read it today, it’s surprisingly accurate and logical: “the part that is operated upon should be opposite the light” is as relevant now as it was 2,500 years ago. This is because Hippocrates and his followers unknowingly relied on fixed human universals. It takes humans thousands of generations to evolve a new cognitive trait. Humans evolve slowly.
But modern technology changes at a completely different pace. Within a single human generation, it evolves to unprecedented levels while existing systems age fast and become obsolete within a short period of time. For the reason of longevity and usability, contemporary design discipline advises technology to adjust to people; yet in practice it is usually people who adapt to technology.
The main reasons for this imbalance are conflicting incentives. It's easier and cheaper to design generic products with mediocre interfaces while relying on users' ability to learn and adapt. The cost of bad design falls on the users; they pay with their time and frustration. In a business world where speed beats usability, customers are left with subpar products.
Evergreen design is here to stay - time to put humans first
Despite this destructive trend in modern design, evergreen products still exist: as objects (the chair, the bicycle, the violin), as methods (writing, double-entry bookkeeping), and as software (the spreadsheet, Unix operating system).
What they all have in common is that they are tech-agnostic (not tied to a particular technology) and human-oriented (inspired by human universals, then modeled on permanent human activities).
This motto was written at the time when humans were euphoric about technological progress:
Science Finds,
Industry Applies
Man Conforms
We can do better as a society that understands the value of putting people before technology. In a world where products are designed around technology, treating humans as a 2nd class citizen, it's time to reconsider the first principles.
Here is a contemporary design motto, rewritten by design doyen Donald Norman, which brings us back to the fundamentals for human-centered design:
People Propose,
Science Studies,
Technology Conforms
If Hippocrates recognized 2,500 years ago that human qualities would stand the test of time, why should we forget it today?