Reading the Concept of User in Design Through Latour’s Black Box

Abstract

Individual characteristics and behavioural patterns shape the interaction between design and the user, making the designer's encounter with the user an active, fluid, and uncertain experience. However, designers' subconscious decision-making processes about users tend to reveal routinized knowledge. As the concept of the user, which should ideally be transparent and comprehensible to designers, gains emphasis in design, it paradoxically becomes more opaque. This study evaluates user knowledge through Latour’s concept of "black boxing." Latour's concept of "black boxing" denotes the reliance on knowledge without questioning, its placement within a figurative box, its obscurity, and its immutability. The study examines the concepts of the user, usability, user-centered design, user experience, and lean user experience, analyzing their interrelationships. It suggests that by uncovering these insights, we might create openings within the black box that contains the concept of the user, allowing for a more dynamic understanding.

Keywords

• User Concept
• Black Boxing
• Act of Design

Tasarımda Kullanıcı Kavramını Latour’un Kara Kutusu Üzerinden Okumak

Öz

Tasarım-kullanıcı etkileşimi her bir bireyin sahip olduğu özellikler ve davranış kalıpları ile şekil almaktadır. Bu noktada tasarımcının kullanıcı ile karşılaşma deneyimi aktif, akışkan ve belirsiz bir nitelik taşımaktadır. Oysaki tasarımcıların kullanıcılara yönelik bilinçaltı karar verme süreçleri rutinleşen bilgileri ortaya çıkartmaktadır. Tasarımcılar için şeffaf ve anlaşılır bir nitelik taşıması gereken kullanıcı kavramının, tasarımdaki vurgusu arttıkça opaklaşmaktadır. Ele alınan çalışmada kullanıcı bilgisi Latour’un ortaya koyduğu kara kutulama kavramı üzerinden değerlendirilmektedir. Kara kutulama “sorgulamadan bel bağlanılan, bir kutu içerisine yerleştirilerek karartılan, değişmez hale gelen” bilgileri ifade etmektedir. Ele alınan çalışmada kullanıcı, kullanılabilirlik, kullanıcı odaklı tasarım, kullanıcı deneyimi ve yalın kullanıcı deneyimi kavramları irdelenmiş, kavramların birbiri ile ilişkileri ortaya konulmuştur. Açığa çıkarılan veriler ile kullanıcı kavramının, konulduğu kara kutuda nefes alabileceği açıklıklar yaratılabileceği düşünülmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Kullanıcı Kavramı
• Kara Kutulama
• Tasarlama Eylemi

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