User-Centred Design

Five stages of user-centred design (UCD)

Research, concept, design, implementation and launch.

Population stereotype

Commonalities in a range of users that designers can use to make decisions about designing a product, for example, the direciton in which a light switch is operated

Primary persona

A profile of the primary user for a product experiencing a challenge in a process that presents a design opportunity. Persona provides a human face and story to a particular audience, making it easier to empathize and cater to the user's needs effectively.

Field research

A first-hand observation of users conducted in their real environment.

Research question

A type of question that focuses research to find the required answers.

Research stage

Shadowing, diary studies, interviews, focus groups, benchmarking, usability testing.

Secondary research

Research collected by someone other than the designer

Scenario

An imagined sequence of events in the daily life of a user.

Task

How the design is expected to function and fulfil its expectations. Consider the user may have several sub-uses for the product.

Task analysis

The process of learning about a user by observing them use a product. The goal of task analysis is to identify aspects of the process that could be improved.

Target user

A particular group of customers or potential customers for whom a product, system or environment is designed.

User-centred design (UCD)

An approach to design that pays particular attention to the needs of potential users by involving them in all stages of the design process (research, concept, design, implementation and launch).

User-Centred Design

A suite of research methods used to explore the true nature of a user population or of target users. These research methods include field research, task analysis, user observation, interviews, surveys and focus groups.

User observation

A research activity where the user is observed interacting with a product or completing a task to find pain points in the process or interaction.

User population

The range of users for a particular product or system.

User requirements

The essential requirements that a product system or environment must satisfy in relation to the user.

Efficiency (usability)

A usability objective that concerns the speed and accuracy in which users can perform the task a product was designed to do.

Environment

The place where the product is likely to be used.

Errors (usability)

A usability objective that concerns the mistakes a user makes when using a product, the frequency of those incidences and the severity of those mistakes.

Learnability (usability)

The extent to which a user can operate a product or system at a defined level of competence after a predetermined period of training.

Memorability (usability)

A usability objective that concerns how well a user can remember how to use a product after they have not used it for a period of time.

Satisfaction (usability)

A usability objective that concerns how pleasant a product is to use, typically defined as the degree to which a user's needs, expectations and preferences are met.

Task

How the design is expected to fulfil its expectations. Consider the user may have several sub-uses for the product.

Usability

The extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals effectively and efficiently, while functioning in a predictable and consistent manner.

Usability objectives

A set of objectives for UCD that include learnability, efficiency, memorability, errors and satisfaction.

Primary research

Research that is collected by the designer

Affinity diagram

A tool used to organise ideas and information that groups things by likeness

Affordance

Property of an object that indicates how it can be used. Buttons afford pushing, knobs afford turning.

Constraints

Features that limit how a product can be used.

Empathetic

Empathetic design aims to build empathy for potential users of a product by getting the designer thinking as the user

Feedback

When a product provides a response to an action taken. This can be audible, visual or tactile

Mapping

Designing controls on a product which relate their location to each other against their actual function

Visibility

Controls should be easily visible to the human eye