Lucy Suchman’s work has had a profound impact on the field of interaction and technical design, especially on how to understand the relationship between people and technology and how to design more in line with human practice.
For example, in her research on office copier users, Lucy Suchman found that users often do not follow the logic of the operation manual when operating complex equipment. On the contrary, they rely more on interaction with colleagues and observation of other people’s operations to solve problems. This shows that the usability of technology depends not only on the interface design itself, but also on the user’s workflow and the way of cooperation between people.
At the same time, Lucy Suchman’s research also promoted the development of “user-centered design” method. She stressed that technology should be designed based on users’ actual needs, experiences and behavior patterns, rather than the designer unilaterally assuming how users will use the system. This method encourages designers to conduct field research and investigation, directly interact with users, observe their working methods, and integrate these details into the design process to ensure that technology truly serves users’ needs.