When determining if one is a unicorn, it is important to consult an expert, like a good patient would consult a specialist (or, perhaps, even two). In this instance, I was able to locate one in the tri-county area who focuses on mythical creatures and Greek mythology. Okay, so she may be twelve, but she is well read and very cute (insert parental bias here). I posed this question to my daughter first, “Do you think a unicorn is the best creature?” Her reply, “No! An alicorn is the best creature. It is a cross-between a unicorn and a pegasus. It has all the qualities of a unicorn, but it can also fly!” My next question was for myself, “Could I be an alicorn?”
Understanding is the key to strategic design.
Proper planning, listening, viewing, testing, reporting, designing, iterating, and so forth, can only be successful if they stem from understanding the user's tasks, overall goals, current processes, etc., from the start of the project.
In order to move forward, we need to know the moves that the user has previously made.
To fail is to succeed. When we are in school we are taught lessons. We are tested on these lessons and expected to retain the information through our studies, and then as a result, score high on tests. The expectation is to succeed, not to fail. The opposite is true of design. Failure is desired, because failure sheds light on where improvements can be made.