UX Collective

We believe designers are thinkers as much as they are makers. https://linktr.ee/uxc

Follow publication

Member-only story

Why lives in the deep

Using the Laddering Technique to deliver on the “Why” in User Research/UX/Product Design

Chris R Becker
UX Collective
Published in
7 min readAug 28, 2023

--

A black and white illustration of the San Francisco bay and an underwater diver going deep in the water for a treasure box of “why”. The Why treasure is on the ocean floor 20'000 leagues beneath the surface. Ocean includes fish, an giant squid and the Nautilus from Jules Verns 20'000 leagues under the sea book.
Illustration of Diving Deep for the Treasure that is why.

What does a Designer have in common with Jacque-Yves Cousteau? A Designer must be willing to dive into the deep to find the truth that sustains their work.

If you have yet to see the documentary Becoming Cousteau I highly recommend it. He is a fascinating human whose passion for exploring birthed a whole industry and a lot of innovation.

Plus one of Cousteau’s quotes is in my favorite movie… Rushmore by Wes Anderson

“When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right the keep it to himself.”
— Jacques-yves Cousteau

Images from Wes Anderson’s Rushmore. A scene of from the film of Max Fisher (Jason Schwartzman) holding the book. Diving for Sunken Treasure by Jaacques-Yves Cousteau along side a shot of a quote from him. reading… “When on man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right the keep it to himself.” — Jacques-yves Cousteau
Mash-up image from Rushmore — Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) holding Jacques-Yves Cousteau Book.

Being a Designer is hard. We have to be curious, ask lots of questions, and continuously learn about the systems for which we are solving problems. As I have told my…

--

--

Written by Chris R Becker

Product Designer / Educator / Author. Parent, surfer, maker.

Responses (2)