Our capacity to make mistakes is not a flaw to be corrected nor something to be eliminated. Error is part of our human condition and explains, to a large extent, how we learn and how we change. Understanding it is essential for any designer who wants to build more solid, more human products.

For an error to help us see things differently, we first need to change how we understand it. For a broader perspective, see Learning from our mistakes in experience design.

Thanks to error, we can revise our understanding of ourselves and amend our ideas about the world.

Being Wrong — Kathryn Schulz

When we make mistakes, we develop experience. Paradoxically, error is a necessary part of expert performance. In digital environments we quickly learn to use actions like undo and redo. These functions not only reduce the impact of failure, they also encourage experimentation and strengthen familiarity with the product.

Error modal in a digital interface

In trial and error we find a valuable form of learning and experience accumulation. However, an action can only be considered an error if the user had the possibility of avoiding it. If that possibility did not exist, then we are facing a design problem.

Human error and complex systems

In contexts where the intensive use of data and technology is constant, people are deeply involved in the creation and production of information. When people, data, and technology meet, the likelihood of error increases if there is no real balance among them.

Human error is present in every facet of life, but in the construction of complex, dynamic systems subject to continuous change, its impact is greater. A significant percentage of failures in human-machine systems originate in human decisions. And yet those same errors are part of the natural learning process.

From error control to design that integrates it

For years, design focused primarily on prevention: reducing complexity, facilitating learning, and minimizing the likelihood of failure. But error never fully disappears. Instead of trying to eradicate it, we have learned to observe it, record it, and understand when and why it occurs.

In product design, trial and error is part of the iterative process itself. If designers accept error as a tool for improvement, it makes sense to allow users to experiment within controlled limits.

Preventing error is important, but designing systems that can correct it and learn from it is even more so. We know people do not always make rational decisions and that we make small mistakes every day. Building products that allow us to go back, correct, and continue is not only a technical matter, it is an elegant way to recognize our human nature and design accordingly.