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Conceptual Understanding: A designer must consider the needs, wants and limitations of the end user within every element of
the design cycle. The ability to identify how users will interact with a product, service or system is vital for its success. To achieve this, designers must be able to acquire and analyse valid data without making assumptions about how the product may be used.
The foundation of UCD is that good design requires that the needs and capabilities of the users are determined and incorporated into the design process from the start through to the finish.
Advantages of UCD
UCD design is to put yourself in the user’s shoes.
The design would be more intuitive.
Disadvantages of UCD
User-centric design is expensive
Difficulty to translate certain types of data into design
Products takes more time and could possibly be more expensive
The product must address the whole user experience.
Design should make it easy for the user to:
determine actions possible at any time
see the options and results of actions
determine current system state
follow intuitively from intention to action
The celebrated red “ClearRx” design solved many common complaints with the standard plastic vials that use the old “Palm N’ Turn” cap.
These bottles were easier to open while remaining child-proof; they had a colour ring for each member of the family to avoid confusion among medications; and perhaps most importantly, it had a clear, easy-to-read label with the text sized appropriately for ageing eyes.
As we get older we all go through some fundamental changes. Ageing makes many things more difficult. As we age our vision and hearing deteriorate and our motor skills decline.
Twisting a medical pills container or a doorknob requires a great deal of dexterity and torque, making it difficult for children, those with arthritis and people with other disabilities to open doors.
Levers require less agility to manoeuvre than knobs, and a door with a lever can also be opened with a different body part like an elbow.
Inclusive design: The design of mainstream products and/or services so that they are accessible and usable by as many people as possible without the need for adaptation or specialised design. Inclusive design requires designing universally accessible products for all users including those with physical, sensory, perceptual and other challenges and impairments.
These should be products and services addressing the needs of the widest possible audience, irrespective of age or ability. The effects of rapidly ageing populations, and growing numbers of people with disabilities, are having a profound effect on new product and service development
For example, bathrooms companies can specialise in bathroom furniture for the elderly.
Users can customise their own bathing space based their individual needs.
If you were to watch a 75 year old use a smartphone you will notice the changes in motor control can make screens difficult to use.
Older people are one of the largest groups to use tablets. This is because the main difference is the size of the screen, and therefore it is easier to use.
Because people vary so much in size, many products need to be adjustable to suit a wide range of users, such as office chairs, bicycles and car seats. This walking frame not only allows you to adjust the height but also how you use it.
Users with severe arthritis need to cook but find it challenging to lift a saucepan from the heat, open jars, bottles, use a knife, open the fridge.
These videos feature sufferers and their aids.
Dropped curbs are a great example of how effective inclusive design can serve multiple purposes. The sloping ramps between the sidewalk and street were originally designed for wheelchairs, but parents with strollers, travellers with luggage and other pedestrians are able to use this design feature too.
What do you think the noblets are for, situated on the incline?
A designer needs to have a deep understanding of the user, task and the environment.
PRIMARY USER: The person utilising the product.
SECONDARY USER: The person who is being affected by the product or who is reaping the benefits or drawbacks of the product.
ADAPTABILITY: A product can alter as well, depending on the user.
TASK: The thing the product is supposed to do…
SECONDARY TASK: he user may have multiple uses for the same product.
For eg a water bottle- the bottle may be designed for carrying water only, but the users may use it for other liquids such as milk etc
ENVIRONMENT: The place where the product is likely to be used- indoors/outdoors, urban/rural, on Earth/in space
UCD is a design process:
paying particular attention to the needs of potential users of a product through involvement of users at all stages of the design process
considering how users are likely to use the product and tests products with actual users
with a user-centred approach that puts the design team in direct contact with the people they are designing for, that is, to empathise with potential users and so gain a better understanding of users’ thoughts, needs, values and beliefs
The user, task and environment has been considered for the Xbox Adaptive Controller as it will make gaming accessible to people with a broad range of disabilities.
The UCD Design Process pays particular attention to the needs of potential users of a product by involving them in all stages of the design process. The UCD process therefore represents a fundamental change in the traditional design process where design is developed largely in isolation.
Simply put, UCD involves the user into the design process most often and to play a more critical part in the development of an idea to realisation.
The five stages of UCD: research, concept, design, implementation, launch Inclusive design.
1. Research Learning about the people who use or are going to use your product, and the context in which they’ll use it. It can include ethnographic techniques such as shadowing, diary studies and interviews, as well as focus groups, benchmarking, usability testing.
2. Concept Examining the needs of your users and of your business, and coming up with innovative solutions to address those needs. During this stage, the visual design team works on concepts for brand interpretation. The visual and interaction ideas come together for concept testing sessions with target users.
3. Iterative design designing and usability testing mock-ups of your product through a series of repeated cycles. There’s interaction design, information architecture, visual design and content to be worked through in detail. The result of each cycle feeds into and refines the next, ensuring that the final user experience is simple and delightful.
4. Implementation. Build the development team often needs quick interaction solutions when they encounter unexpected technical constraints. There’s also accessibility checks and testing to perform, and a final usability test of the working product.
5. Launch The roll-out is managed to ensure users experience a smooth transition from any legacy product. Once the product is out, it’s important to gather feedback and metrics. This can include further usability testing and ethnographic work, along with web analytics.
UCD design teams are multidisciplinary and may include anthropologists, ethnographers and psychologists but could easily include further experts such as materials engineers, graphic designers, UX experts, medical experts, mechanical engineers, etc.
Anthropologists treat human society as a field of science and want to know why things happen. For example, we know how AIDS is spreading but do we know why? Anthropology considers how people's behavior changes over time, and how people and seemingly dissimilar cultures are different and the same.
Ethnographer is a researcher who studies a particular group of people in an effort to understand them and describe them to others as best they can.. An ethnographer often needs to be able to find patterns in and understand issues faced by a wide sample of people with diverse backgrounds.
Psychologists are concerned with the assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders. They often work in medical settings, clinical psychologists are not medical doctors and do not prescribe medications in most states.
UX: User Experience CX: Customer Experience UI: User Interface
Designing universally accessible products
Inclusive design requires designing universally accessible products for all users including those with physical, sensory, perceptual and other challenges and impairments.
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