User-centered design
An approach born in human-computer interaction that puts the person using a system at the center: their tasks, their abilities and their errors.
What it’s for
It keeps systems from being designed around technology, with people forced to adapt to them.
Principles
Early contact
Get to know users and their tasks before designing.
Measure
Observe and measure real use, rather than giving opinions.
Iterate
Test, fix and test again.
How it’s done
Get to know the people and their tasks before designing.
Observe and measure how they use a prototype.
Fix it and test again until it works.
Applications in design
When to use it
When a system has to help people do specific tasks effectively and without errors.
Avoid
Leaving user testing for when nothing can be changed anymore.
Don’t fall for it
Measure whether people complete their tasks, not just whether they like it, and also think of those who don’t use the system but are affected by it.
Connections
Authors and works
- 1985
John D. Gould and Clayton Lewis
Summed it up in three principles: early focus on users, empirical measurement and iterative design.
- 1986
Donald A. Norman and Stephen W. Draper
Named it in a book about designing systems from the point of view of the people who use them.
Sources
Original sources
- Gould, J. D., & Lewis, C. (1985). Designing for usability: Key principles and what designers think. Communications of the ACM, 28(3), 300–311. View source: Gould, J. D., & Lewis, C. (1985)
- Norman, D. A., & Draper, S. W. (Eds.) (1986). User centered system design: New perspectives on human-computer interaction. Lawrence Erlbaum.
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