What a Towel Bear Teaches About UX Research

My daughter and I had been traveling all day, and this bear was waiting on the bed when we walked in. It was so dang hot. We Ro Sham Bo'd for the bathroom. And this small bear, made of towels, gave us pause and a big smile.

Then I went down a rabbit hole.

Carnival's ship attendants now receive over 10 hours of training in towel animal creation. There's a published book with 40 different configurations. Hotels and resorts have adopted the practice. There's a small body of literature on the lost art of towel animals. They evolved from origami actually. Who knew?!

This is craft. Trained, practiced, repeated craft. Someone teaches it, someone learns it, someone repeats it for guests they will never meet.

The person who folded our bear was not paid to make us smile. They make money cleaning rooms, and the bear was extra.

I've read welcome cards in hotels. They're somewhat warm. Usually well-written. Always wish or promise a memorable stay. Always misspell my first and last names. ARGG. I do not remember any of them in particular.

I remember the bear, though. The card told me how to feel. The bear made me feel it. I mean, a towel animal makes everyone smile, doesn't it?

This is the same black hole that swallows great research recommendations.

You can write a forty-page report arguing that the ______ is broken, or that ______ is an opportunity, with quotes and annotated diagrams, presented twice and followed up on four times. Or you can build a thirty-second clickable mockup and watch what happens when they click through it themselves. They feel the confusion or the clarity, the frustration or the delight, the drop-off or the purchase. They turn to the eng next to them and say "we have to fix this", or "we have to build this."

The artifact did what the report could not.

Researchers, are you going to show them a swan, a frog, or more words?

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