7.4 Strategies for user-centered design (UCD)

Topic 7

7.1 User-Centered Design (UCD)

7.2 Usability

7.3 Strategies for user research

7.4 Strategies for user-centered design (UCD)

7.5 Beyond Usability

Essential idea:

Users have a central role in evaluating whether the product meets their wants and needs.

Nature and Aims of Design

Nature of Design

For designers to successfully integrate usability into the design process, they require a holistic understanding of how a product, service or system is used. Designers must identify user requirements through the use of careful observation and interviews. A clear strategy for UCD will improve acceptability and usability, reducing costs and effort, while fulfilling user requirements. (1.6, 3.5)

Aims of Design

Aim 9: By including potential consumers in the testing of designs and prototypes, designers gain valuable data relating to how they will interact with a product.

Guidance

As DP Design Technology student you should:

Field research
Method of extremes
Observation, interviews and focus groups
Questionnaires
Affinity diagramming
Participatory design, prototype and usability testing sessions
Natural environments and usability laboratories
Testing houses versus usability laboratories

Concepts and principles:

A variety of research strategies are listed below. Resources and examples are included.

Also, check out User Research Strategies for additional links

User Research Strategies

All of the examples and strategies listed below are important first steps in your IA inquiry. The research you do using these strategies should inform and justify your Design Opportunity (A1) and Design Brief (A2)

Field Research

Field research takes place in the user's environment: their place of work, home, office, or other area where they use or interact with a product or service.

This type of research can be very reliable as it is based on reality, not on assumptions by designers or companies.

Field research is especially valuable when redesigning a product. A design team might use this method to uncover sources of consumer's frustrations with a product and also identify new opportunities.

Tom Kelly of IDEO discussing how field research lead to innovation in developing toothbrushes for children.

Advantages

gather first hand knowledge about the user and their needs
gather first hand experience

Disadvantages

Data can be very narrow as it is only gathered about specific users
Can be emotionally taxing as researchers can become very close to users

Method of Extremes

The Method of Extremes is a sampling method that selects users in the extreme ranges of a population - the 2.5 percentiles and the 97.5 percentiles. By designing for these extremes we can ensure that a greater number of users' needs will be met.

Selecting the appropriate extreme depends on the context and goal of the design. Learn more about percentiles in Topic 1.a.

Designing for the ExtremesOne of the biggest mistakes companies can make is designing services and products for the average user. The average user is an artificial and static representation of real users that generates dysfunctions. Interestingly, the solution lies in the extremes.

Advantages

More inclusive of a greater number of users

Disadvantages

May be difficult or sensitive to involve users who are in the extremes

Observation and User Trials

A trial whereby the user uses the product the expert observes.

User Observations could be used in several situations:

Observing users interacting with an existing product to understand the context and possible limitations
As part of the iterative design process, users might be given a product in the final stages of design. Experts or designers would observe how they use the product in order to identify any critical issues or problems before proceeding to full-scale production.

Advantages

easy and economical to arrange
users can identify unexpected health and safety issues (which are often difficult for a designer to predict)
Provide valuable data for refining a design.

Disadvantages

data may be difficult to analyze, particularly if it is qualitative and based on interviews.
Can be time consuming which may delay bringing the product to market
potentially higher cost due to multiple products needing to be manufactured for testing by a number of people.

Interviews & Focus Groups

Interviews and Focus Groups gather users opinions about a product or service. They are usually conducted face to face and consist of the interviewer asking the subjects questions. The goal is gather opinions about the product in a more informal manner.

Subjects of interviews or focus groups are stakeholders in the design: users, secondary users, or experts. In some cases the product or a prototype may be given to the subjects to interact with during the interview.

Each of the above tools gathers largely qualitative data - information about the subjects' opinions, beliefs, responses, and ideas.

Resources

User Voice: Best Practices for Interviews and Focus Groups

Advantages

Body language and facial features can also be observed, which helps give depth to the responses.
Highly personal; ability to ask follow-up or clarifying questions of subjects

Disadvantages

expensive and time consuming to arrange and analyze data
Subjects are typically compensated (paid) for their time, which adds additional cost.
Small sample size may limit accuracy or relevancy of the data.

Questionnaires

Questionnaires are more structured and consist of sets of questions to focus the responses. They can be done face to face, on paper, or through an online form.

Before creating a questionnaire, survey, or interview, be sure to review our guidance for successful surveys.

Advantages

Possible to have a large sample size
Low cost to implement
Easy to collate data (especially if done online and using multiple choice responses)

Disadvantages

Not all subjects may complete the questionnaire; only those who are interested may complete it, creating a bias in the results.
No ability to ask follow up questions or delve deeper into subjects' responses.

Affinity Diagrams

A graphic organizing tool that helps to identify common themes and key facts.

Creating an Affinity Diagram is very similar to the Generate-Sort-Connect-Elaborate visible thinking routine from Harvard Project Zero.

Steps to creating an Affinity Diagram

Identify a general theme: This is the theme, design context, or design problem you are going to investigate.
Generate and collect facts, information and data: Start to collect notes, quotes, and other research related to the theme.
Record the information in a common format: Organize the information in a common format that can be easily manipulated. Post-it notes are common and idea tool for this.
Identify groups and clusters of content: Rearrange the information into groups or clusters that are defined by sub-themes, categories, or characteristics.
Cluster the information: Move the Post-its into groups.
Identify super groups of content: Repeat steps 4 and 5 to organize the groups into larger groups.
Present the Results: Present the refined and organized information

Adapted from "The Certified Quality Engineer's Handbook", page 292

Advantages

Cost effective
Helps build team cooperation as everyone participates

Disadvantages

Can be time consuming
Can get large and complex, so might not be ideal for some situations.

Participatory Design

Participatory design seeks to include all stakeholders (designers, clients, users, etc.) in the design process. The belief is that by doing so the needs of everyone involved can be met. This is in contrast to most design processes where the designer works more or less outside of the community of users.

Resources:

Advantages

Can include a wide range of users
Potential to develop unique solutions ideally suited to the needs of the community.

Disadvantages

Can be time consuming
The design team may lack key people to drive the process forward or to achieve success.

Paper Prototyping and Usability Testing.

Prototyping testing involves giving the user a prototype of the product and observing how they use it.

Advantages

Fast and affordable
Ability to trial ideas with users rapidly and iterate easily and make changes

Disadvantages

Typically low-fidelity prototypes may not communicate accurately what the final product may look like.

Natural Environment and Usability Laboratories

Natural Environment research involves the user or client using the product in the environment in which it is intended.

Usability Laboratories are specialized places where user testing takes place. These types of laboratories typically focus on ergonomics and health and safety criteria related to the product and design context. They are equipped with specialized experts, tools, and equipment which can gather data on how a product is used.

Advantages

Natural Environment: Data can be gathered from the real context
Usability Laboratory: Data can be gathered in a controlled environment; Highly specialized testing (e.g tracking of eye movement) can be carried out.

Disadvantages

Natural Environment: Accuracy measurements and certain types of tests may not be possible.
Usability Laboratory: Expensive to operate; May be uncomfortable for users as they are in an unfamiliar environment.

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