Jon Searle User Experience Designer

What do you think the biggest challenge in design is?

Shrinking time. I read the design history of the paperclip, which is as fascinating as it sounds. Its development has taken centuries. You think about the simplicity of the paperclip and yet people still continue to challenge its design.

If you could, what would you redesign?

The flying experience would be interesting.

So that includes flying, embarking, disembarking..?

There are lots of touchpoints. It’s exciting, getting onto a plane… going somewhere interesting. At present, most people just get onto the flight and think ‘oh, I’ve got to deal with this for ten hours’. The challenge is to make that journey enjoyable in its own right: the whole process, including where you are going, and why.

What about your favourite moment in the design process?

I like brainstorming. It’s the point when you’ve understood a problem enough to start solving it and then, from there, the process of coming up with something.

I like that you can come up with ideas that help you understand the problem a bit more.