I am very aware that going against years of indoctrination on UCD is controversial, but hear me out. The world is going through a paradigm change. During decades as product designers all we were told to care about was to fulfil users needs and cater for their individualism. But that practice has created a few unexpected outcomes that go beyond the product itself. What about if by solving a User Centred issue we created a huge systematic, environmental or socioeconomic problem? What can we do to design better products that are more harmonious to the planet and it habitants?

1. Why User Centered Design
doesn't work
...and why we should design more for
Ecosystems

2. Hi, I am
Yolanda
Director of Service
& Platform Design
yolanda.martin@farfetch.com

3. UCD is Obsolete
We cannot just design for a user.
We need also to design for non-users who will
be impacted by our product. Design for the
support staff who will have to fix the mess
users might make and definitely design for the
ecosystems that our product exists in.

4. The World is going through a
paradigm change

5. Over the past 30 years it has been all
about the User

7. Ride sharing Apps make traffic in cities worse
and undermine public transport
*Do transportation network companies decrease or increase congestion? - Gregory D. Erhardt1,*, Sneha Roy1, Drew Cooper2,
Bhargava Sana2, Mei Chen1 and Joe Castiglione2 - Science Advances 08 May 2019: - Vol. 5, no. 5, eaau2670 - DOI:
10.1126/sciadv.aau2670

8. ‘The business model for Uber and Lyft may be working
for them, but it’s not working for society. They are
adding more cars to the road, increasing air pollution
and CO2 emissions that cause global warming. Uber
and Lyft would be well advised to speed up the uptake
of zero-emission cars so at least any increase in traffic
caused by their activities does not add fuel to the fire.’
T&E’s new mobility officer Yoann Le Petit

9. Convenient for the user...but
environmental menace

10. So what can we
do?

11. User centered design is Myopic
We need to look at the Big picture
We need to design for
Interconnectedness

12. “Interconnectedness is about reducing friction
between interactions in large scale systems.
This helps us move beyond the concept of a user,
and embrace the concept of relationships, and
interactions between peers and their ecosystem
as the key element of a business.”
-Simon Cicero -
https://platformdesigntoolkit.com/

13. OK...so this is how do we
practice Ecosystem
design at Farfetch

14. Community
Everyone operating
within the ecosystem
and exchanging value
with one another
14
Businesses
The websites and
applications the participants
use to create and consume
the value
Infrastructure
The technology that
connects it all together
The Farfetch ecosystem.

15. Designing for Platform Ecosystems.
Our Ecosystem is made up of multiple
platforms, services and actors
operating at varying levels of
complexity.
Business Ecosystem
Marketplace platform
Multi-channel service
Single touchpoint

16. Actors within the ecosystem
16
Merchants Customers
Supply luxury
products
Purchase products
and services
Application
Owners
Connect the supply
to the demand
Shapers Stakeholders
Build and shape the
platform
Input into platform
strategy
Service
Providers
Supply services to
participants
PRODUCERS CONSUMERS AGGREGATORS GOVERNORS

17. PLATFORM
Ecosystem
Designing for Platform Ecosystems.
Service Service Service Service
Marketing Business
Development
Acquire new partner
onto the platform
Onboarding new partner
onto the platform
Manage Catalogue
on the platform
Tool Documentation Application Support Logistics Data
Fulfil orders generated
on the platform
UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX

18. Intro to Service Design.
Service Design is a
tool that can be used
to drive operational
change at an
organisation level.
UXD
SD
Partner facing
Platform Shapers
Service Providers

19. Designing for Platform Ecosystems.
“Elegant simplicity in
exponentially
complex ecosystems
is hard.”
Andy Polaine

20. 24
M A R K E T P L A C E
B L A C K & W H I T E
S O L U T I O N S
S T O R E O F T H E
F U T U R E
P L U G I N S
S E L L E R
T O O L S

21. 25

22. Touchpoints & Actors
SERVICES
Strategy
Global Fashion
Platform for Luxury
Robust Merchandise
Management / Self-serve
Order fulfilment ...
Applications &
tools / Insights /
Packaging ...
Designing for Platform Ecosystems.
What does this
means in practice?

23. 28
Look beyond the User
Think of the long term impact
Always try to reduce friction between
interactions, including: environmental impact,
socio-economical, psychological…

24. Thank You
yolanda.martin@farfetch.com