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Understanding the user who isn't you

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Footspa

What people buy isn’t necessarily what they use. Research by the insurers esure.com found that UK homes have millions of pounds worth of unused gadgets:
Foot spas £450 million
Breadmakers £431 million
Toasted sandwich maker £377 million.

Of course many of these are Christmas and birthday gifts, but the trend reflects the difficulty people have introspecting on their real needs, and the opportunities for the design of products that are appealing on the shop shelves and really do integrate into peoples lives. I’d put digital cameras on my list of products that succeed at both levels.