This is an interesting piece Matt found for me which speaks about Intel's use of an ethnographer and "personas" earlier in the design stage of product development, rather than after-the-fact, during product marketing. Granted, few companies other than ones like Intel can afford to support such research, but it is obviously critical to have culturally-relevant products. Just because a product works/sells/is popular in one market does not automatically mean it will be a blockbuster in another.
For its part, Intel relies on a cycle of design that begins with high-level prognostication about potential markets. Then ethnographers like Dr. Bell and market researchers are sent to meet those people. The resulting information is incorporated into portraits of individual users. These portraits, called personas, describe a person's life.
...
These personas become tools to help industrial designers and engineers understand how users think about products. The challenge, Mr. D'Hooge said, is to keep the element of innovation open for as long as possible in this process. By understanding their users, they hope to produce radically innovative concept devices for little risk.For Intel, a first iteration of this user-centered design cycle yielded a combination PC-entertainment center for use by people in small living spaces, while the second resulted in a PC-like device intended for Chinese users who could not afford a full-size machine. (This concept device has not yet been released.)
As always, simplicity rules. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity. Simple is almost always better.
For Technology, No Small World After All [nytimes.com]
