I've been reading "Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less" by Greg McKeown. I started it to boost my productivity but quickly realized it’s an awesome metaphor for UX design—and, well, life!
Applying Essentialism to UX and product design is about changing our thinking and moving past just chasing trends like reductionism and minimalism. A while ago, the design buzz-word of the day was 'reductionism' which was basically about cutting things down to the essentials—sometimes making stuff harder to use. Conversely, minimalism aims for that clean and classy look, but it can still have some elements that doesn't help users hit their goals.
Essentialism feels like a more profound design philosophy: Identify only what matters and maximize its impact on users and business objectives.
I followed the thought through to User Research, here is what I came up with:
→ Minimalist research: is about simplifying research without any focus on what's truly valuable.
→ Reductionist research: is about stripping things down but without considering the broader context or goals, potentially missing important insights in the process.
→ Essentialist research is about focusing only on what's truly meaningful and impactful, aligning research with goals and purpose.
When I think about how this applies to product design, my personal aesthetic leans toward minimalism, but my UX heart beats the most wildly for essentialism.