Good fit (the fitness function) emerges from the ensemble—the interaction between form and context within the user’s environment. This ensemble reflects a relationship between two parts: form (the proposed solution) and context (the social, emotional, and functional forces shaping a user’s tasks and objectives at a given point in time). We aim to satisfy the mutual demands these two elements place on each other, creating seamless contact or frictionless coexistence.
We approach good fit indirectly, as wrongness is often more immediate and tangible than rightness. By exploring a range of solution options (among and around criteria derived from the context)—within the expected form and through radically different alternatives—we stage the ensemble, “bringing” the user into the simulation. To truly understand where resulting misfits arise from a new solution, we must observe how these solutions interact with reality.
Yet misfits can be numerous and overwhelming. How do we decide which to prioritize?
We focus on the relationships between form and context that obtrude most strongly and demand our attention: those most likely to fail or cause friction (both in the current approach(es) and the proposed approach)
This process requires perspective-taking. By becoming the user and experiencing the design from their standpoint we uncover hidden nuances that are only visible through the felt presence of direct experience.
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Using context is a higher-order way to define the physics of a problem. But it is challenging to define properly because it behaves like a force—a force we observe, for example, acting upon iron filings in a magnetic field.
Context functions as oscillations of fields in space.
Properly defining context reveals it as an abstraction, as we understand it only through the way forms are shaped by its forces.
You cannot directly "see" the context’s spectrum because it is not something physical or tangible.
A form—such as a solution or a current approach to addressing an issue—acts analogically as a retina, an antenna, or a sensor into the context.
Getting this ensemble right—that is, putting context and form into a good fit—is where the best designers focus their attention.
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Refine the misfits between Point A (context) and Path X (current approach), ensuring that new solutions (Path Y → Point B) address the most obtrusive friction points.
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