Back in the 1950s, the US Air Force realised that pilots were having trouble controlling their planes. The problem, it turned out, was the design of their cockpits.
The cockpits had been designed for the average-sized pilot. The assumption was they would therefore fit most people.
But Gilbert Daniels, an Air Force researcher, proved otherwise. He took 10 measurements of more than 4,000 pilots and found that no pilot fell within the average range on every dimension measured. He concluded there was no such thing as an “average” pilot. Cockpits designed for the average actually fit nobody.
In response, the Air Force demanded that the companies that built the planes design them so they would be adjustable for even the tallest or shortest pilots, or for those with wide or narrow chests. The jet manufacturers argued that would be impossibly expensive.
But it turned out it wasn’t that expensive and could be achieved through simple engineering. As a result, the Air Force not only improved the performance of the pilots that they already had, but they dramatically expanded their talent pool.
Decades later, many of us still haven’t learnt the lesson that it doesn’t work to design for the average. Not just body size, but average anything.
As I said on a recent podcast, there is a common view that everyone is the same, with a few outliers. But it’s just not true. There is no average user. Audiences are more complex, diverse, and nuanced than brands often acknowledge. We don’t have lives that fit in one single box. And if brands design products, services and brand communications for the average then they end up designing for nobody.
While I’m very pleased that fighter pilots are no longer hemmed in like they used to be, there are a much wider group of people who remain shut out. In the UK, over half of adults identify with at least one characteristic often described as ‘underrepresented’ or ‘excluded’, including disability, ethnicity, neurodivergence, mental health difference, or LGBTQ+ identity.
So why do brands insist on designing for their idea of an ‘average’ user? I believe part of the problem is a natural tendency to create work on assumptions rather than actual truth in people’s experience.
This leads to friction in customer journeys, small barriers that make things harder for some people than others. Take something as simple as a letter sent to customers. For many people, opening their post is routine. But for someone with ADHD, who may struggle to open or respond to post, that same letter can become a blocker and lead to unnecessary stress or even missed payments. This is just one example, and it is by no means fringe – the NHS estimates that there are 2.5 million people in England alone with ADHD. You can find more examples of this sort of friction by downloading our report Leave no one behind.
Luckily, there is a simple way to avoid many of the barriers that your customers face. You just need to speak with them. You need to involve real people who can help you understand their needs; how they interact with your brand and what they feel. And you need to do it right from the start.
This is becoming more important than ever with the growth of AI. Done well, AI has the potential to move us beyond the idea of the average and into amazingly detailed personalisation. As we explore in our report, it can help brands design for difference in myriad ways. But that only happens if we start with real people. Otherwise, AI will magnify our misjudged assumptions and risks making brands further removed from their audiences than ever before.
Tackling this problem is precisely what we do at The Folk Group. Our Real Folk Panel of communications professionals each advocate for a community. They represent real people, hence the name.
Brands that work with the panel can tap into diverse real-life perspectives, helping them connect more deeply with the audiences they want to reach. The result is time and budget saved, and more relevant, more impactful communications.
Download our Leave no one behind report to find out more from the Real Folk Panel about how to design for real people.