User Centred Design

Intro

• In a broad sense, an interactive technology is any technology intended to help people complete a task, achieve their goals.
• Look and feel come second, what people need to do comes first.
• “Design is not about how things look. Design is about how things work.” – Steve Jobs

Usability

• Key thought is making interactive systems usable i.e. giving them usability meaning:
  • Effective
  • Efficient
  • Learnable
  • Memorable
  • Satisfying
  • Positive User Experience
    • Enjoyable
    • Fun
    • Entertaining
    • Aesthetically pleasing
    • Supportive of creativity
  • The system/its interface should be "transparent" to the user – the user should be concentrating on their task, not how to get the system to do the task.

Personas

• “The user” dehumanizes your users, making them abstract, and slippery to get a hold of in terms of knowing what their goals are and how they will act.
• Understanding that gives a first step to being able to conceptualize what the system should do.
• Are realistic representations of skills and attitudes towards technology.
• At their best when based on data and observation.
• A robust cast of characters that can be drawn on during design meetings and activities.

Persona Briefings

• The persona briefing captures different aspects of the user and collects them under broad categories.
  • e.g. A day in the life • Work actvties • Household & leisure activities • Goals, fears & aspirations • Computer skills, knowledge & abilities • Market size & influence • Demographic attributes • Technology attributes • Technology attiudes • Communicating • Quotes

Scenarios

• Scenario Based Design: Elaborate the design by writing scenarios (=stories) about the current domain and existing interactions.
• Problem scenarios - Describes current practice.
• Activity scenarios - Describes ideas of how to meet the users needs.
• Claims Analysis: Examine features of existing practice looking for good and bad aspects.

Conceptual Design

• There is a pervasive myth of the ‘dumb user’ in computing – that users are essentially incompetent knuckleheads who intentionally screw up the system.
• In reality, almost always, it is dumb design – the system has been constructed in such a way that it not only doesn’t take the human into account.
• The reason we can play any sport is because we have a clear view of the concepts (e.g. bat, ball, pitch), the relationships between those concepts (e.g. ball is bowled down the pitch to the bat), and the rules of how they work together (e.g. you can have two batters, one at each end).