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The secret of user-centered design: How to make product design truly close to user needs?
User-centered design (UCD) is an important design framework that focuses on user needs and characteristics. This approach pays attention to usability goals, user characteristics, usage environment, tasks and workflows at each stage. UCD is not just a design concept, but also a complete process that covers every step from demand planning, prototype development to post-product testing. In particular, the testing performed during this process can help designers better understand the first-time user experience and the learning curves of various users.
UCD is based on user needs, priorities and experience, ultimately improving the practicality and usability of the product.
UCD differs from other design philosophies because it attempts to optimize around how users interact with a product, rather than forcing users to change their behaviors and expectations. By understanding the user's thought process, behavior, and needs, UCD is able to create intuitive and efficient products. This process puts the user at the core, then considers the product's context, goals, and operating environment, and finally the detailed design of task development, organization, and processes.
History of User-Centered Design
The term user-centered design (UCD) was first proposed by Rob Kling in 1977 and later adopted and popularized by Donald A. Norman of the University of California, San Diego. Norman elaborated on this concept in his 1986 book User-Centered Systems Design: A New Perspective on Human-Computer Interaction, and further explored what constitutes “good” design and its implications in his 1988 book The Design of Everyday Things. The psychology behind it. Norman emphasizes the importance of design in our daily lives and the consequences of getting it wrong.
The design should simplify the task structure so that the possible behaviors at each moment are intuitively visible and the correct correspondence between expected results and required actions is achieved.
Norman also proposed several core principles of design, emphasizing the need to base design on user needs rather than less important aesthetic issues.
Models and methods of user-centered design
The user-centered design process considers user needs from the beginning and is continuously revised and improved throughout the product life cycle. Design teams can use methods such as ethnographic research, contextual inquiry, prototype testing, and usability testing to gather requirements. In addition, generative methods such as card sorting, affinity diagramming, and participatory design are also very common. UCD draws inspiration from several important models, including co-design and contextual design, which emphasize the importance of user participation.
Design must be based on a clear understanding of users, tasks, and context, and keep users engaged throughout the design and development process.
The process of user-centered design
The goal of UCD is to create highly usable products, which includes convenience, manageability, and effectiveness. Generally speaking, the main stages of the UCD process include:
- Specify usage context: Identify the primary users and their needs, reasons, and usage contexts.
- Clarify requirements: Determine the detailed technical requirements of the product to help designers plan development and set goals.
- Create design solutions and development: Establish product testing and improvement cycles based on product goals and requirements.
- Evaluate the product: Conduct usability testing at every design stage and collect user feedback.
These phases are adjusted and repeated based on different design goals, teams and their timelines, product development environments, and other factors.
Analysis Tools
UCD's analysis tools include personas, scenarios, and essential use cases. During the UCD process, the design team might create personas, which are archetypes that represent the product’s users and help guide decisions about product features, navigation, interactions, and aesthetics. Personas are often synthesized through a series of ethnographic interviews, capturing the user's behavior patterns, goals, skills, attitudes, and environment, and may add some fictitious personal details to make it more personalized.
Thinking
In the UCD process, how can we ensure that every user can have a voice in the design and truly influence the final product? Will this change our perception and expectations of design?
