flâneur

Is a grand piano a good product?

ryancan.build · 890 words · saved by 1 readers

Grand pianos are remarkable objects. In the hands of the right pianist, it can bring an audience to tears. We cart pianos around to funerals, graduations, and weddings. Seemingly every important occasion would welcome a piano with open arms. An alien observing earth might call them "meaning machines" if they didn't know better. Yet, wearing the hat of a product designer, it's hard to imagine a product that could bomb a blind user testing session harder. Picture this scene: an eight year old walks up to the piano, presses some keys. After a few desperate attempts to make something listenable happen, they give up and go to the other room to watch youtube. Dismayed, this child's parents hire a professional to teach their child. The bar I hold myself to as a product designer is something like "the product explains itself, each step towards mastery inherently motivating the next, creating an exhilaratingly meaningful experience that leads the person using it to desperately get their friends

Grand pianos are remarkable objects. In the hands of the right pianist, it can bring an audience to tears. We cart pianos around to funerals, graduations, and weddings. Seemingly every important occasion would welcome a piano with open arms. An alien observing earth might call them “meaning machines” if they didn’t know better. Yet, wearing the hat of a product designer, it’s hard to imagine a product that could bomb a blind user testing session harder. Picture this scene: an eight year old walks up to the piano, presses some keys. After a few desperate attempts to make

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