What is User-Centered Design?
User-Centered Design (UCD) is a user interface design process that focuses on usability goals, user characteristics, environment, tasks, and workflow in the design of an interface. UCD follows a series of well-defined methods and techniques for analysis, design, and evaluation of mainstream hardware, software, and web interfaces. The UCD process is an iterative process, where design and evaluation steps are built in from the first stage of projects, through implementation.
ISO 13407 Human centred design process for interactive systems states: User-centered design is an approach to interactive system development that focuses specifically on making systems usable. It is a multidisciplinary activity. [4]
While the basic principles and techniques are the same, there are different variations of user-centered design processes. The following example is typical of a UCD process for designing software user interfaces.
Example UCD process phases and steps
For an example User-Centered Design project redesigning a website, see "WAI Web Site Redesign Project".
User-Centered Design can be broken into three main phases: Analysis, Design, Evaluation.
The Analysis Phase typically includes steps such as:
1. Vision, goals, objectives
2. User analysis
3. Task analysis
4. Information architecture analysis
5. Workflow analysis
The Design Phase typically includes:
1. Conceptual/mental model, metaphors, design concepts
2. Navigation design
3. Storyboards, wireframes
4. Detailed design
5. Paper or other low-fidelity prototypes
6. Medium-fidelity prototypes, for example, online mockups
7. Functional, high-fidelity prototypes
Evaluation uses techniques such as:
1. Design walkthroughs, cognitive walkthroughs
2. Heuristic evaluations
3. Guidelines reviews
4. Usability testing: low fidelity through high fidelity; informal through formal
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