Can we ever design truly for the consumers?

There is a gap between what people say they want and what they actually experience. One of the sharpest observations I have absorbed is this: for most of design history, technology could do more than users expected. Now the reverse is true. People expect technology, and by extension design, to read their minds. When it cannot, they feel betrayed. So designing truly for someone means managing not just their needs but their expectations, which are invisible, shifting, and often irrational. Perhaps the more honest question is not whether we can design for consumers, but whether we are designing for the right ones. Most design energy flows toward people who are already comfortable.