Lucy Suchman’s work help us to understand how some technology is not designed for all people, particularly by revealing the cultural and contextual biases that influence design. She showed that actions and interactions with technology vary across cultures, challenging the assumption that a single design approach fits all users.
Suchman demonstrated that even well-intentioned designs can fail if they don’t account for real-world use, highlighting the importance of user-centered design. By observing users’ struggles with prototypes, she emphasized that effective design requires moving beyond designers’ assumptions to truly understand diverse user perspectives.
Suchman’s work reshaped our understanding of how technology adapts to human behavior, especially in Interaction Design and Human-Computer Interaction. Her book, “Plans and Situated Actions,” challenged the traditional plan-driven model in cognitive science and AI, emphasizing the importance of situational action. This shift moved Interaction Design from technology-centered to people-centered, laying the groundwork for modern UX research and product design.