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Summer Letter
(August 2002)
Although we're designers, most of the time we're users. We, as users, encounter design work with intended meaning or fixed rules, which are predetermined by its designers. However, we don't comply always. Sometimes we misread the design work by accident; sometimes we reinvent it on purpose. By doing so, we create new meanings and rules on the original design work, which undermine, defy, or even subvert the original ones.

The misreading/reinvention is sometimes noirish and anarchistic. For example, my neighbor, a Ph.D. student majoring in physics, recently told me a little story that happened several years ago when he took a political science exam in college. During the exam, an open-ended question baffled him. He knew if he tried to write down something, even something nonsense, the grader would probably be able to give him a minimum of credits. But he didn't because he didn't like the exam. Instead, he spent several minutes drawing a bird in the blank space right below the question which was for the answer. This is absolutely not the best example of reinvention. But it shows the intensity that often exists between the designer and the user.

On the other hand, we, as designers, can produce something that foresees, allows or encourages user's reaction and creation. Designers provide the framework, space, and sometimes a set of basic rules to let users complete the story. Take, the poker game, for example. The design of the cards has a strong sense of order and regularity, while the way people play them is open to unlimited possibilities.

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