Why, Blogger, why, when I publish a post, do I have click through an additional screen that tells me absolutely nothing except that my 'post was published'? Why can't I just go
straight to the next post? Oh wait, it's because the redesign was about technology, not the user's value equation.
Actually, If I think about, I think the argument went something like this. Let's make blogging as simple as possible. To do that, we have to use BIG letters and lots of screens so the new bloggers - who are target - don't get scared, because they're pretty stupid.
This is the central fallacy of marketing in the industrial age: the assumption of idiocy. The problem with the assumption of idiocy is that it never allows you to construct (or discover) the user's value equation - never. If you assume the consumer's an idiot, you'll give them what
you think they need - not what
they know they want.
The consumer is not an idiot - it was one of David Ogilvy's dictums. In fact, I'll go further and say that the collective power of the consumer is arguably as or more powerful than the innovative capacity of the firm - that's why user innovation is so hot these days. End rant.