‘Apple hopes you buy a phone every two or three years’

DON NORMAN, known as the father of user experience (UX) design and a former vice-president of advanced technology at Apple, tells Veenu Sandhu over a conversation in New Delhi why built-in obsolescence in Apple products is a concern and how the Indian jugaad can be a powerful solution when paired with expert guidance. The 88-year-old designer and author of books like The Design of Everyday Things, Emotional Design, and Design for a Better World was in India as an advisor to BITS Design School, Mumbai, for a three-city tour. Edited excerpts:

You have been an advocate of "human-centred design", and now your approach is focused on "humanity-centred design”. Could you elaborate?

I helped develop the concept of human-centred design in the 1970s and '80s, focusing on people's needs and quality of life, and addressing the right problems. Many people, like engineers and those in business, are great at solving problems, but do they ever ask: “Is this the right problem?” We, as designers, optimise for people. Other fields might optimise for costs or schedules, and those are important, but people are more important.

At one point, I realised my books were making things easier to use and understand, but the world has many problems. I went to a wonderful conference called 'The Waste Age' at the Design Museum in London, which made me realise how waste is a major issue.