There’s a commonly held tenet that by designing for the “average” person, we can serve 80% of the market.

However, exploring the flawed science behind this concept and the diversity and individuality trends that have disrupted society over the past 150 years makes it clear that there is no average person.

Markets are more diverse than ever and are becoming increasingly so, moving us far from the wishful thinking of having a primary archetype to design for—and the hope this will reduce product and service development efforts.

So what steps do we take when there is no average, archetype, or shortcut?

The good news is: designing for market diversity helps our bottom line and enables us to operate at a level that has a profound impact on both operations and customer experience.

Traditionally simplistic ways of designing products and services for an average customer, when markets are inherently complex, have limited product and service effectiveness.

However, designing considerate of the spectrum of people who make up a market begins to drive operational and customer experience benefits.