User-centered design

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“In broad terms, user-centered design (UCD) is a design philosophy and a process in which the needs, wants, and limitations of the end user of an interface or document are given extensive attention at each stage of the design process. User-centered design can be characterized as a multi-stage problem solving process that not only requires designers to analyze and foresee how users are likely to use an interface, but to test the validity of their assumptions with regards to user behaviour in real world tests with actual users.” ( Wikipedia)

Carr (1997) also makes the distinction between user-design and user-centered design: “In the former, users are engaged in the actual creation of their own systems in negotiation with leaders and designers. In the latter, users are considered central to the design specifications; however, design control remains firmly in the hands of professional designers and approval power remains with leadership”. We are not sure that every UCD theorist or practicioner can identifiy with this distinction

Types of user-centered design methodologies

Design methodologies have been developed in various contexts and can be sometimes combined. Carr (1997) identifies three methods that can help designers get a sense of how involve users in the creation of new systems of learning: ethnographic field methods, cooperative design and action research-based user-design.

Here is a provisional list of popular design approaches:

• Wikipedia:Extreme Programming
• Participatory design and cooperative design
• Activity theory-based approaches (such as expansive learning or the change laboratory method)
• Action research
• Ethnography
• Design-based research
• Story-based design (more a design tool than an explicit methodology)
• Scenario-based usability engineering (scenario-based design)

Related articles: Human-computer interaction and design and usability methods and techniques

References

• Carr,Alison, User-design in the creation of human learning systems, Educational Technology Research and Development, 45, 3, 9/18/1997, Page 5, DOI 10.1007/BF02299726 (This is an article DSchneider recommends, e.g. there is a list of user-design decision guiding questions).