USER
CENTRED
DESIGN
Product Design Principles
Does this make you
mad?
How about this?
Or this?
User-centred design is a framework of processes in which usability goals and the user
characteristics are given extensive attention at each stage of the design process.
User-centred design can be characterized as a multi-stage problem-solving process
that not only requires designers to analyse and envision:
•
the most likely way to consume or use a product
•
validate their assumptions of user behaviour with quantifiable tests.
Tests are conducted with/without users during each stage of the process from concept
development, pre-production models to post production - completing a circle of proof
back to and ensuring that "development proceeds with the user as the centre of
focus."
Such testing is necessary as it is often very difficult for the designers of a product to
understand intuitively what a first-time user of their design experiences, and what each
user's learning curve may look like.
What is UCD?
The goal of the User-Centred design is to make products which have very
high usability – which includes manageability, effectiveness and how well the product
meets to the user requirements.
User-Centred Design process:
•
Specify the context of use: Identify the people who will use the product, what they
will use it for, and under what conditions they will use it.
•
Specify requirements: Identify any requirements or user goals that must be met
for the product to be successful.
•
Create design solutions: This part of the process may be done in stages, building
from a rough concept to a complete design.
•
Evaluate designs: Evaluation - ideally through usability testing with actual users is as integral as quality testing is to good software development.
This procedure is repeated to finish the product.
Why use UCD?
How to test UCD?
Function
Design is sometimes thought to be about form, style, and how things look, but it’s also
very much about function, or what something does. With new technologies making it
possible to develop new functions, this is now more true than ever.
Aesthetics
Visual appeal and inane attractiveness. The power of beauty is vividly illustrated by the
success of companies like Apple. Competing on price and product features is no longer
enough.
Experience
Design is not just about the object created, but also about the way that creation makes
us feel, think, or learn. It’s about the human response to the things we make for the
world.
Emotional Appeal
Today we are increasingly designing for the right brain by focusing on the emotional
aspects of design and by asking “How will it make people feel?” in addition to “How will
it look?” and “How will it work?”
What are the elements
of (user-centred) design to test?
Unfortunately, the nature of USD means your personal
ideas about good design must be dismissed.
Instead you must develop a “metric” or a system or
standard of measurement (specifically a system in
this case) based of established principles which the
elements of design can be test.
Grade the effectiveness of each element according to
the principles and philosophy of established wellregarded industrial designers as the basis of this
metric.
What Metric?
Ten principles for good design
• Good design is innovative
• Good design makes a product useful
• Good design is aesthetic
• Good design makes a product understandable
• Good design is unobtrusive
• Good design is honest
• Good design is long-lasting
• Good design is thorough down to the last detail
• Good design is environmentally friendly
• Good design is as little design as possible
Example: Dieter Rams
How does Function, Aesthetics, Experience and Emotional
Appeal apply to these two examples of industrial design?
Remember to grade the effectiveness of each element
using the principles established by Dieter Rams
Your Turn