Learn how El Retiro in Madrid applies UX to transform its green spaces into one of the best places on Earth.
This is how a park should NOT look like — source
Tinkering with interfaces is cool, but could you apply the laws of user experience to build a great park? Or at least a better one than the one in this picture?
Yeah, the park in this stock image is not a good one. It’s just a green space. A decoration.
When creating parks for users like you and me, designers often default to this same uninspired vision — a stretch of manicured lawn, clean paths, and a few ornamental trees. It’s a classic, almost “golf course” idea of a park: neat, tidy, and entirely soulless.
What is wrong with the UX of the park in the picture above?
No path leading to the bench. It’s pretty enough to make a photo, but, in reality, people are obviously going to want to walk to the bench. This will create a “desire path,” wear down the grass, and damage the area around the bench:
A classic illustration of “desire path” — “the path represents the shortest or the most easily navigated route between an origin and destination”All the water is wasted. I despise the human desire to domesticate the world by turning it into a huge green lawn. The grass…
Leave a Reply