The desirability of desire paths

In architectural design (parks, public spaces, open environments) there is this concept of “desire paths”. We've all seen them. It's when an architect or urban planner design pathways based on a combination of the clients requirements & their understanding of human psychology, but people make their own way through an environment. The architect designed a curving path connecting a parking lot to a building, but the visitors wear a straight line path through the grass.

I’m torn on how to feel about this phenomenon. My local park has a straight hypotenuse path through the grass that people have created to complete a triangle. I walk that park for exercise, so it seems strange to see a path that reduces effort. Aren’t we all here to spend time walking? Why wouldn’t you just stick to the paved lines? I’m a pretty on time person. I tend not to be late. I’m seldom looking for the shortest path when I walk.

I appreciate the concept of desire paths. Architects and designers don’t always get it right & why should we stand in the way of our users when they express what they want. We may design beautiful curved paths through open green spaces, but we shouldn’t be shocked when the animals that inhabit them carve their own route. 

An appropriate analogy is the check cashing industry. For a lot of people taking the easier path to accessing their money by using a check cashing service rather than planning the steps to set up their own checking account (often difficult for low income or credit challenged workers). The long-term cost of this short cut winds up being a burden that can affect their long-term financial prospects.

In UX Design, there is similarly the tendency toward the simplest, straightest path. But is that always the best path? At my last company, we provided a couple of paths to accomplish a few main tasks, but since we didn’t provide a straight path that lead to the goal users improvised a simpler path with a lower cognitive load. Users chose a cognitively simpler yet longer path because the shorter one involved discernment & analysis. We didn’t provide clear shorter paths, so it was easier to choose the longer one.

The easy path with regard to finance involves things like check cashers & lottery tickets. The short path if not the most efficient one.

I would argue that a lot of times, the best path is not the shortest. There are some instances were it’s worth it for personal discipline, be it physical, intellectual or financial fitness to take a longer or more complex path for the sake of efficiency (saving 5% on your check deposit by establishing your own bank account).

Reducing friction. The dream of every sales funnel. It results in improved conversion but often low-quality customers. If you build your net to capture everyone you can often suffer from low ROI & lots of dead weight in your database. Businesses need to consider the benefit of a certain amount of friction in the conversion process as a tool to accomplishing their business goals in a more productive way.

It’s important to consider users desires, but there are many other factors that contribute to building a strong business, and underlying them is also a hidden benefit to society in helping people establish a proper expectation of reality, the challenges of life, and the benefit to sometimes taking the more disciplined path.