You’ve never experienced first-rate user testing until you’ve hiked a trail

Hiking trails are inadvertently designed to be the perfect visualization of human behavior

An example of how trail users redirect and make their own trails overtime.

"You’re probably thinking, how can trails evaluate usability and user experience? Well consider that time you cut across a muddy field to shave off 13 seconds of your hike because you needed to get to the bathroom, and fast! Then your footprints were followed by many others until that muddy field developed a path. Over time, that path was transformed into a well-used trail.

Now let’s assume that each official trail is designed. From the grade of the slope to the width of the path, every turn and step is carefully planned. The truth is, no matter how well-designed a trail is, it will inherently have room for improvement.

Just like humans and use-cases. Trends and forecasts. Trails change. A boot print shifts a puff of dust. A log is placed to cross a river. And a weary hiker takes a shortcut.

What’s important is that trails continue to exist. And hikers continue to shape them. Making trails that are better, more efficient. Seasons of footfalls might shift the path downslope to an even plateau. The log becomes an anchored bridge. And a shortcut becomes a proper redirect. At first, trails are best guesses. Years later, they are efficient paths honed by thousands of unintentional user interactions.  

Next time you walk down a new path, consider that the steps you take are probably not 100% perfect.  Like most things, they’re best adapted after they have been tested and shaped by the individuals who use them the most."