If UX design had 10 Commandments, no doubt “You are not your users”, “UX design is personal and subjective”, and “Everyone is different” would be at the top. And while these aphorisms are all true, they are more likely to mislead than to enlighten.
Fact is, we know a great deal about our users (even without research) and our users have far more in common than differences, but we completely ignore these potential insights and instead design for ourselves. (And “ourselves” here means people…