Popcorn vendor and other street interviews

Last weekend I did some street interviews for D4D, the initiative to design for the other 90%. Together with a Chinese friend we set out to interview street vendors, constructions workers and garbage collectors. Asking them about their daily life, what bothers them and - most importantly - how it can be improved.



Despite the fact that most of the people asked did not want to be interviewed (not to mention shoot a video of them), we where able to conduct some interesting ones. While we have the best intentions to help them, it seemed that the people interviewed didn’t really want to be helped, or did not want to express this as such. Whether it is a matter of ‘losing face’ to talk about their life to people who are not disadvantaged or whether it’s their natural shyness, I don’t know.

My friend reminded me of the saying “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today.  Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”. Designing ‘something’ for the disadvantaged is great, but what do they really need? They mainly complained about the police (street vendors are not allowed) and the weather (past month has seen lots of rain). And in their opinion, there is nothing to do about it. The goal of this user centered research is to find out what really helps them, tailored to their needs. While I truly believe that design can change lives, after doing these interviews it became apparent to me that providing them with a newly designed tool might not be the holy grail.

Have a look at the video interview with a popcorn vendor (in Chinese though):