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A–B. Health and Safety; Technological Development, Impacts, and Careers · Technology Fundamentals, Safety and Connections

Needs Drive Technology: Users, Solutions and the Factors Behind Them

B1.1About 65 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can explain the difference between needs, wants and user needs, and write a need statement.
  • I can describe how user needs lead to technological solutions and how solutions create new needs.
  • I can explain how social, economic and environmental factors drive technology.

Words to know

need
Something people require, such as food, warmth, shelter or safety.
want
Something people would like but can live without.
user need
What a specific person or group needs from a product or service.
need statement
A sentence that names a user, the need and the reason.
universal design
Designing so products and spaces can be used by as many people as possible.
curb-cut effect
When a design for a specific need also helps many other people.

Hook: who is this for?

Picture a can opener. Now picture the person using it: maybe a chef opening 50 cans an hour, a grandparent with arthritis, a camper in the woods, or a person who has the use of only one hand. Should they all use the same can opener?

Probably not. Every technology starts with a need, and the best solutions come from understanding who has the need and why. In this lesson you will see how user needs and technological solutions shape each other.

Needs, wants and user needs

  • A need is something people require: food, water, warmth, shelter, health, safety, a way to communicate, a way to get around.
  • A want is something people would like but could live without, like a phone case in a team's colours.
  • A user need is what a specific person or group needs from a product or service. User needs include what it must do (function), who will use it (age, abilities, size), where and how it will be used, what it can cost, and how it should feel to use.

Designers write a need statement to focus their work: "A person with arthritis needs a way to open jars without twisting hard, because gripping and twisting is painful."

Needs drive solutions, and solutions create new needs

The relationship goes both ways:

  1. A need leads to a solution. People needed to travel farther and faster, so cars were developed.
  2. The solution creates new needs. Cars needed paved roads, gas stations, traffic lights, driver training, insurance, mechanics, parking, and later seatbelts, airbags and winter tires.
  3. New needs lead to improved solutions, such as electric vehicles to reduce emissions and fuel costs, which in turn need charging stations and a stronger electricity grid.

Sometimes a solution is invented first and people find needs for it later. Early lasers were famously called "a solution looking for a problem"; today they are used in barcode scanners, surgery and fibre-optic internet.

Needs and solutions shape each otherNEEDget around fasterSOLUTIONthe carNEW NEEDSroads, fuel, safety, parkingIMPROVED SOLUTIONSseatbelts, winter tires, EVsthe cyclekeeps turning
The needs-and-solutions cycle. Every solution creates new needs, which lead to new solutions.

Underlying factors that push technology forward

Needs do not exist in a vacuum. Social, economic and environmental factors change people's needs over time:

  • Social: an aging population increases the need for mobility aids, home care technology and accessible design. Remote work and learning increased the need for reliable internet and video tools.
  • Economic: when energy prices rise, people look for efficient furnaces, heat pumps and insulation. Businesses adopt technology that lowers costs.
  • Environmental: cold Canadian winters drove innovations in snow removal and home heating. Concern about climate change pushes cleaner energy and efficient vehicles. More frequent heavy rain increases the need for flood protection, like backwater valves in basements.
Keeping food cold in Canada: one need, many solutionslong agoroot cellarcool earth1800s to early 1900siceboxlake ice cut in wintermid-1900selectric fridgeno ice deliverytodayefficient fridgeless electricityEach step met the same need, while new factors (convenience, cost, energy) pushed the next change.
The need to keep food cold stayed the same, but the solutions changed as new technology, costs and expectations appeared. Not to scale.

Designing for real users: the curb-cut effect

Curb cuts (small ramps where a sidewalk meets the street) were designed so people who use wheelchairs could cross streets. They turned out to help almost everyone: people pushing strollers, delivery workers with carts, travellers with rolling suitcases, cyclists and people using walkers. Designers call this the curb-cut effect: designing for people with specific needs often produces solutions that are better for all users. This idea is part of universal design.

Worked example

Let's design from a user need

Mr. Okafor, a neighbour in his seventies, has arthritis in his hands and finds it painful to open jars. Analyse his user needs and suggest solutions.

  1. Observe and ask: Mr. Okafor says gripping tightly and twisting hurts; he lives alone; he likes to cook; he does not want something that takes up much counter space.
  2. Need statement: Mr. Okafor needs a way to open jars without a tight grip or strong twisting, because those movements are painful for him.
  3. Solution idea 1: a rubber gripper pad: cheap and small, but still needs some twisting.
  4. Solution idea 2: an under-cabinet jar opener with a V-shaped grip: the jar is held still and he turns the jar with both palms; it uses the cabinet as a fixed point, reducing the force he needs.
  5. Solution idea 3: a battery-powered automatic jar opener: almost no force needed, but it costs more and needs batteries.
  6. Check with the user: test ideas with Mr. Okafor. His feedback might change the design, which might reveal a new need (for example, an easy way to re-close jars).

The best solution depends on this user's needs: pain-free, small, affordable. The under-cabinet opener or the battery-powered one may suit him best, and testing with him decides.

Just for fun

Why was the icebox jealous of the new electric refrigerator?

Everyone kept giving it the cold shoulder.

Hands-on activity

Observe a user

You need: a family member or friend willing to help, paper, a pencil, 30 minutes.

  1. Ask your helper to do an everyday task while you watch: opening a jar, carrying groceries up stairs, finding a TV remote, putting on winter boots, or packing a lunch.
  2. Record what they do, any difficulty, and what they say. Do not help or interrupt.
  3. Ask three questions afterwards, such as What is the most annoying part? What have you tried? What would make it easier?
  4. Write a need statement in the form: [User] needs a way to [do something] because [reason].
  5. Sketch two different solution ideas. Show your helper and record their feedback. Did the feedback reveal a new need?

Your turn

1

What is the difference between a need and a want?

2

Write a need statement for a person who keeps losing their house keys.

3

Give two new needs created by the invention of the smartphone.

4

What is the curb-cut effect?

5

Name one social, one economic and one environmental factor that can change people's needs.

6

Why should designers talk to and test with real users?

More practice: warm-up

1

Is shelter a need or a want?

2

What does a need statement start with?

3

Name one solution that followed the invention of cars.

4

Who were curb cuts first designed for?

5

What is universal design?

More practice: on your own

1

Explain how the need to keep food cold led to a chain of solutions in Canada.

2

Describe a technology that was created first and found its main uses later.

3

Electric vehicles meet a need but also create new ones. Name two new needs and a solution for each.

4

Why might one can opener not suit both a chef and a camper?

5

Explain how an aging population is a social factor that drives technology. Give two examples.

Challenge

1

Choose a technology in your home. Trace at least two turns of the needs-and-solutions cycle for it.

2

A town wants to install heated sidewalks downtown to remove ice. Identify the user needs this meets, and the new needs or problems it might create.

3

Explain why designing with people with disabilities can improve products for everyone. Use one example other than curb cuts.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

Which is a need rather than a want?

2.

Seatbelts and traffic lights are examples of...

3.

What is the curb-cut effect?

4.

Rising energy prices leading to more heat pumps is an example of...

5.

Which is the best need statement?

6.

Why test a design with real users?

For parents and teachers

This lesson asks your teen to think like a designer: start with the person, not the gadget. You can help by being a willing "user" in the observation activity and answering honestly.

Many students find the two-way relationship tricky: they see needs leading to solutions but miss how solutions create new needs. Everyday prompts help: "What did we need to buy because we got the new phone/car/appliance?" Treat people with disabilities as experts on their own needs, and avoid language that frames them as problems to be fixed.