Can we learn from the Danish about designing with the user in mind?
Can we learn from the Danish about designing with the user in mind?
By Owain Powell 6 minute read .png?width=2000)
any working within the digital space realise the importance of designing with the user in mind; which is why user experience (UX) design is one of the key principles and core focus points for many digital agencies and independant creative experts across the UK . Whilst UX design primarily focuses on creating digital interfaces and experiences, many of these principles can also be applied to everyday life. How many of the principles of user experience design are actually transposed into everyday life when we step away from our desk, and how many do you tend to pick up on when out of the workplace?
I’ve just returned from a 4 day break in Copenhagen, and it never ceases to amaze me; just how the Scandinavians well and truly live up to their famed reputation of achieving functionality in design for human interaction.
If websites can be made to be accessible, why can’t everything else be?
Let’s start with the infrastructure of the rail transport network in Denmark. As with many countries on the continent it’s far more reliable and dependable than here in the UK. Double decker trains for larger capacity (more passengers), and trains that are always on time, with dedicated areas of the carriages for buggies and bikes, rather than (as in the UK) being stuck in the mid-section between two carriages with no seating.
One of the key areas that the Danes get spot on is accessibility. UX design principles place a strong emphasis on accessibility, ensuring that interfaces and experiences are usable by as many people as possible, regardless of their abilities. This principle can also be applied to everyday life, such as designing public spaces that are accessible for people with disabilities or ability or creating products that are easy for everyone to use.
Travelling with my young family, all I had to do was to open my eyes in their shopping centres to be pleasantly surprised by the way they had created a shopping experience well and truly centred around ‘families’. It made my experience more relaxing; as there’s nothing more frustrating than holding your toddler mid-air above an adult toilet. There were also separate, secure breastfeeding rooms, along with baby changing facilities, as well as a playzone for kids to help with the inevitable boredom that comes with shopping at a young age, unless it’s for toys of course!
One of the takeaways from visiting Denmark with the family was the realisation that, by focusing on functionality, emphasising human interaction, prioritising sustainability, and embracing innovation, we can learn so much from the Danish approach to design by creating products, services and experiences that better meet the desires and needs of their users. This applies to the following and so much more:
- 01
Safe transportation
Learning from countries such as Denmark and working on an infrastructure across the UK (particularly in big cities) where cyclists and motorists can co-exist in an environment as safe as Scandi countries such as Denmark, or Amsterdam. Not having cycling advocates such as Jeremy Vine being a martyr for cyclists and remonstrating daily about the stresses of cycling in the capital.
- 02
Shopping as an experience
It shouldn’t necessarily be a chore, particularly with young children tagging along and a breastfeeding wife. What can shopping centres do more of to accomodate us? Do shopping centres do enough to attract footfall? How about more co-working spaces within the shopping centres, as they have in Denmark.
- 03
Design behind the functionality
Are homes and apartments as creative (architecturally speaking) as they can be, or are British developers continuing to develop and design properties with a cookie cutter approach to design? Grand Designs ‘The Street’, really gave us a sense of what can be achieved (on a bespoke basis) over mass-residential construction zones courtesy of Red Row, David Wilson, or Barratt Homes producing very similar looking properties, akin to a theme or template website in the digital world!
Brave & bold design & build outside Fisketorvet, Copenhagen Mall
What does this mean for the ‘death’ of the UK high street?
Walk down many UK high streets today and the contrast with Copenhagen is hard to miss. Boarded-up units, charity shops and vape stores have replaced many of the names we grew up with, as online shopping, rising business rates and out-of-town retail parks draw footfall away from the town centre. RugbyThe former Argos, boarded up CheltenhamAnimated town updates in empty shop windows
Closer to home, the former Argos on Rugby’s high street is a good example of the problem. The unit has been boarded up and left, and it’s an eyesore for anyone walking through the town centre. It’s a pattern repeated across Rugby, where empty shops are simply shuttered rather than put to use.
Other towns are being more inventive. In Cheltenham, rather than boarding up disused buildings, the empty shop windows have been turned into displays, with visual animations sharing updates from across the town: the latest developments, what’s coming soon and what’s on. Together with active marketing campaigns and regular updates from the BID team, it keeps people informed and gives them a reason to look up as they walk past. It’s starting to give signs of a brighter future for the high street, and it doesn’t need a huge budget, just a willingness to treat the town centre as an experience worth designing.
The high street needs reinventing, with a unique concept and proposition to drive footfall: a reason to visit that a website can’t offer. That is exactly what the Danes have designed for: somewhere to change a nappy, feed a baby, keep the kids entertained or open a laptop for an hour. It’s user experience design applied to a town centre.
Where could a town like Rugby go next?
Rugby is my hometown, and it’s something I keep coming back to. I don’t think the answer is to fill the empty units with more of the same shops. It’s to reinvent the town centre as a place to shop, play, eat, work and meet, a mixed retail, leisure, family, food and social destination, while attracting stronger fashion names that can trade from relatively compact units.
The kind of mix I’d love to see:
Better fashion
Names such as Zara, AllSaints, Reiss and Monsoon, in smaller-format stores rather than relying on huge department-store footprints.
Boutique and specialist retail
Bespoke services that are hard to replicate online, such as made-to-measure menswear and tailoring, or custom interiors like Curtains by Design, already a successful trader in Rugby town centre. More of these, plus independents with a genuine USP.
Active leisure
Bouldering and climbing, a trampoline park, indoor golf, a mini sports hub or a parkour/ninja concept.
Competitive socialising
A ping-pong bar, a Boom Battle Bar-style venue, F1 Arcade-style gaming, escape rooms, a retro arcade, esports and VR.
Families
A Warwick-style children’s play village, a LEGO/STEM or robotics centre, a soft-play café, a discovery centre or a board-game café.
Work and creative
Coworking, a makerspace, a podcast and content studio, and flexible community spaces.
Health and wellbeing
Yoga, Pilates, dance, boutique fitness and wellness or spa concepts.
Culture
A small Everyman-style cinema, live music and performance, a gallery, museum space and events.
Town-centre events
Artisan markets, festivals, rugby fan zones, pop-ups, covered social space and even a daytime over-30s club night.
None of these ideas are new on their own, but together they give people a reason to spend a whole afternoon in town rather than ten minutes. It’s the same thinking I saw in Copenhagen: design the town centre around the people using it, and the footfall follows.
In the UK, the organisations best placed to make this happen already exist:
- Business Improvement Districts (BIDs)Funded by a levy that local businesses vote for, BIDs can pay for the things that make a town centre pleasant to spend time in: family facilities, events, wayfinding, cleaner and safer streets, and joined-up marketing of the town as a destination. Results vary. Rugby had one of the first BIDs, and it was a real let down that never delivered, but other towns are doing well with theirs, Cheltenham included.
- Local councilsThrough planning, licensing and powers such as High Street Rental Auctions, councils can bring long-empty units back into use as co-working spaces, independent shops, play areas or community hubs, rather than leaving them to sit vacant. Councils also need to work with Trading Standards and the police to raid unscrupulous businesses that front as one thing while selling counterfeit goods or trading as something else. These businesses don’t need a slap on the wrist and a fine; they need shutting down permanently, with their licence to trade revoked.
- Shopping centre owners and landlordsThey can take a lead from Fisketorvet and design around the people actually using the space, particularly families.
There is a strong digital side to this too, of course, and it’s what I do every day: evaluating the purpose of a website, who its users are, and the link between a business’s online store and its physical store (if it has one), and how to profitably drive both. Up-to-date Google Business Profiles and a BID or council website built with the visitor in mind all help, but more importantly, towns need to put money behind sponsored posts rather than relying on organic posts alone. An organic post about a new opening or weekend market gets lost amongst everything else in people’s feeds. A sponsored post, targeted at people living within a few miles of the town centre, puts it in front of the people most likely to make the trip.
Is the above realistic for the UK to achieve Danish standard design and functionality?
It would require a significant amount of investment, planning, and political will. Scandinavian countries have invested heavily in infrastructure and transportation over recent years, which has helped to improve efficiency and quality of life. However, achieving similar levels of infrastructure and efficiency in the UK would require significant investment, which would prove to be especially challenging in the current climate. Furthermore, Scandinavian countries have a strong culture of cooperation and consensus-building, which has helped to facilitate effective decision-making and implementation of policies. The UK has a different political culture, which may make it more challenging to achieve similar levels of efficiency and cooperation.
That said, there are many areas where the UK can learn from Scandinavian countries and adopt best practices to improve efficiency and infrastructure. For example, the UK could invest more in public transportation and renewable energy, as Scandinavian countries have done, to reduce traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions.
If (in the UK) we can overcome hurdles and challenges in the digital world to create unique online experiences by creating and delivering truly outstanding, bespoke websites and online experiences, is it insurmountable to hope or expect for better in everyday life from our experiences outside of the workplace? If the UK can learn from the successes of countries such as Denmark and adopt best practices to provide improved infrastructure, design and functionality in many things we use, there’s hope yet!
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