#23967
Can Programmers Do Interaction Design?
In most of the organizations we encounter during our consulting work, programmers tend to think they’re the best-qualified people to design the form and behavior of a product. In the absence of trained interaction designers, they may be right. They know from experience that no one else is going to think through all the implications of serving up that snippet of data in just the right way, and no one else questions the idea of programmers doing the interaction design because they assume it’s a technology problem. As a result, executives who lead technology initiatives believe that they already get interaction design for free from their programmers. In their opinion, having interaction designers is unnecessary; if the product happens to be hard to use, they assume the programmers just need some sensitivity training. Having programmers design the product is anything but free, though; it's ineffective, inefficient, and risky.
Goodwin, Kim. Cooper Interaction Design (2003). Design>User Interface>Interaction Design
#23970
Five Ways to Get the Most from In-House Designers
Over the last two years, we've heard from increasing numbers of executives who want to bring interaction design in-house because they've realized how critical it is to product success. There are plenty of challenges involved in doing this, including hiring and training the right people. One of the challenges companies may not expect, though, is in deciding how to use those resources once they've been found.
Goodwin, Kim. Cooper Interaction Design (2003). Design>Project Management>Collaboration
#23977
Getting from Research to Personas: Harnessing the Power of Data
The usefulness of personas in defining and designing interactive products has become more widely accepted in the last few years, but a lack of published information has, unfortunately, left room for a lot of misconceptions about how personas are created, and about what information actually comprises a persona. Although space does not permit a full treatment of persona creation in this article, I hope to highlight a few essential points.
Goodwin, Kim. Cooper Interaction Design (2002). Articles>Usability>User Centered Design>Personas
#23996
It's easy to assemble a set of user characteristics and call it a persona, but it's not so easy to create personas that are truly effective design and communication tools. If you have begun to create your own personas, here are some tips to help you perfect them.
Goodwin, Kim. Cooper Interaction Design (2001). Articles>Usability>User Centered Design>Personas
#26073
The best designs and the best intentions won't always lead you to success, because the problem goes beyond your product and beyond your design or development process. Building better, more innovative, and more profitable products requires organizational change on a deep and difficult level.
Goodwin, Kim. Cooper Interaction Design (2005). Design>Project Management
#33346
Five Ways to Get the Most from In-House Designers
Increasing numbers of executives want to bring interaction design in-house because they've realised how critical it is to product success. There are plenty of challenges involved in doing this, including hiring and training the right people. One of the challenges companies may not expect, though, is in deciding how to use those resources once they've been found.
Goodwin, Kim. Cooper Journal (2003). Articles>Collaboration>Design
#33350
When design pilot projects fail, it endangers everyone's willingness to adopt design methods. Over the course of doing hundreds of design projects and teaching our methods to more than a thousand people, we've seen that several reasons for failure keep showing up. A discussion of these reasons follows, along with some solutions to consider.
Goodwin, Kim. Cooper Journal (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Design
#35507
Getting from Research to Personas: Harnessing the Power of Data
The usefulness of personas in defining and designing interactive products has become more widely accepted in the last few years, but a lack of published information has, unfortunately, left room for a lot of misconceptions about how personas are created, and about what information actually comprises a persona. Although space does not permit a full treatment of persona creation in this article, I hope to highlight a few essential points.
Goodwin, Kim. Cooper Journal (2002). Articles>User Centered Design>Methods>Personas
