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Interface Design with a Homeless person

delian.io

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Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#11

Post by MIT_Hacker »

Daegalus wrote: post #5
MIT_Hacker wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a second I thought about signing him up on the spot. At one point during the conversation I did walk him through the entire payment flow of the Square app. That's what got us on the topic of humanizing computers!

This just gave me a thought that could potentially be great but also scary at the same time. What if homeless people signed up for square? They will now be able to accept Credit Cards. As people don't carry cash anymore, the common thing people say is "I don't carry cash." because they don't, but then he whips out a device with square and says "No problem, I accept Credit Cards too!" Though, getting an Android or iOS…

This was actually the first thing that occurred to me as we got talking. I then realized it wouldn't really work since he probably doesn't have an active bank account to receive the money.

I'd love the day when there are beggars using Square. It would mean that our designs are simple enough for a homeless person to use!

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#12

Post by wilfra »

I'm sure he was a really smart guy with an interesting story but you sound a bit naive in believing everything he said i.e. about the Bonds papers and his tours and all of that. Likely a lot of exaggeration, some straight bullshit and a little bit of truth.

Great story though. And kudos to dropping a c-note on him. Giving a lot to them rarely is far better than $2 here and there, which will likely just go to beer or a small meal. $100 they can actually do something important with.

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#13

Post by Comrade »

I am glad you had a positive experience with The Tenderloin. I had quite the opposite experience: I was nearly attacked.

He was spouting off stuff like "Stupid Americans!" and saying he was not afraid to get sued and that he would just return to his home country. Needless to say, I was pretty terrified. This dude was scary, and my friend (SF local) warned me about The Tenderloin.

Anyhow, I think it's great that you met such a positive and interesting character in one of the most unlikely places.

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#14

Post by MIT_Hacker »

wilfra wrote: post #12

I'm sure he was a really smart guy with an interesting story but you sound a bit naive in believing everything he said i.e. about the Bonds papers and his tours and all of that. Likely a lot of exaggeration, some straight bullshit and a little bit of truth. Great story though. And kudos to dropping a c-note on him. Giving a lot to them rarely is far better than $2 here and there, which will likely just go to beer or…

You know, I thought about this throughout the entire encounter. I wasn't sure if I could believe any of his stories. He seemed so genuine and so excited throughout the conversation that I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

In terms of how much money I gave him, I decided that $100 was probably the minimum amount that could actually help him pursue the idea and as a college intern, I'm not sure I could have spared much more!

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#17

Post by MIT_Hacker »

Comrade wrote: post #13

I am glad you had a positive experience with The Tenderloin. I had quite the opposite experience: I was nearly attacked. He was spouting off stuff like "Stupid Americans!" and saying he was not afraid to get sued and that he would just return to his home country. Needless to say, I was pretty terrified. This dude was scary, and my friend (SF local) warned me about The Tenderloin. Anyhow, I think it's great that you m…

I've been biking through the Tenderloin for the last couple of weeks since I started at Square. I've always been really scared as I bike through and have had a decent number of people yell at me. This was quite the opposite of that :)

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#18

Post by Comrade »

MIT_Hacker wrote: post #17
Comrade wrote: post #13

I am glad you had a positive experience with The Tenderloin. I had quite the opposite experience: I was nearly attacked. He was spouting off stuff like "Stupid Americans!" and saying he was not afraid to get sued and that he would just return to his home country. Needless to say, I was pretty terrified. This dude was scary, and my friend (SF local) warned me about The Tenderloin. Anyhow, I think it's great that you m…

I've been biking through the Tenderloin for the last couple of weeks since I started at Square. I've always been really scared as I bike through and have had a decent number of people yell at me. This was quite the opposite of that :)

I gathered it's mostly OK during the day. We were (stupidly) walking around at 2am after a night out.

Tourists. ;)

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#20

Post by weego »

This rather confused me. Even more so because some of the details seem to being live edited.

A cycle courier for legal documents that gets to read the documents. He crewed on a sub (initially im sure it said commanded) yet doesn't get on with computers yet even though he is homeless he knows about the square product, and also having never worked in design knows about Dieter Rams, someone with almost no designers I've ever met have ever heard of.

Just a weird story over all.

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