Extreme Users: A Quick Look into Google’s Next Billion Users Initiative

I was listening to 99% invisible podcast last week. I’ve become a regular listener of the podcast over the past year. I’ll even go as far as saying I’m a huge fan of the show. While listening last week I came across something interesting, Google’s Next Billion Users. This is an initiative google is pioneering in developing countries to ease new internet users and earn their business. Asif Baki, Google’s UX Director spoke about how the first experience new users have with products makes or breaks their future relationship with said product. This first interaction could also make or break their relationship with the whole umbrella of products in the case of google. This initiative helps google design from the perspective of the most extreme use cases. In turn, enabling them to create an overall better experience for all types of users.

In my last blog, I talked about the designers’ code of ethics and how they aid in designing ethically. One code that stood out to me, “A designer doesn’t believe in edge cases”, I couldn’t talk about it as much as I wanted to. So what are Edge Cases? An edge case is a methodology developer’s use where they consider what’s most likely to happen, then they consider the least likely scenario. The least likely to happen scenario is called the Edge case.

During the show, Asif noted that extreme users typically don’t want the conventional design solutions we are accustomed to. Not to say it doesn’t work well for them, rather because of the simplicity of the primitive methods they are used to. It enables them directness, unlike the orthodox solutions which appear complex to them. All these make problem-solving more intricate but it also allows us to tackle problems more creatively. In other words, designing an experience that’s not only simple and fun but also meets them at their level. This in turn sets a solid foundation for the relationship between users and the product.

What are the Advantages of Extreme Use Cases:

1. Finding a solution to extreme use cases makes a better experience for all other types of use cases.
2. They breed innovation and help refine the status quo.

While extreme use cases have a lot of advantages it can also be very time-consuming and expensive. Like in the case of Google’s next billion users, they had to live with the users to fully see users’ conceptual models. This initiative led the google team to come up with solutions that are not only simple and efficient but also fun. These are all reasons to design with extreme use cases in mind if time and cost are not a hindrance.