#32940
Making Decisions About User Research
We know that we should do user research for projects. All the user-centred design material says so, we talk about it at conferences, we put it in proposals. We just know that it is a good thing to do. But when I talk to people about their actual projects, I find that very few people actually do user research. There are many many reasons (no time, no money, already know what users need etc etc etc). I think that part of the reason it doesn’t happen is also that we don’t have good tools to tell us just how much research to do, and even when it isn’t necessary at all to do research.
Spencer, Donna. DonnaM (2008). Articles>Research>Usability>User Centered Design
#32952
Why Users Can be Hard to Design For 
To know the mind of others is one of the fundamental problems of being human. Much of our energy is spent trying to do so. For web designers, knowing the mind of users is complicated by having very little interaction with them. It is possible, on some projects, to design and redesign web sites without ever talking to one user.
Porter, Joshua. Bokardo (2008). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design>Usability
#32956
Are Designers Focused Enough on User Needs?
I find that many designers give much more of their time to learning the latest standards trick than learning the latest “designing for users” trick. Here are a few reasons why this may be so.
Porter, Joshua. Bokardo (2008). Articles>Web Design>Standards>User Centered Design
#32976
An Ethnographic Approach to User Experience: A Bibliography
A 2002 bibliography of writings in the area of ethnography and user experience.
Ferguson, Louise. Louise Ferguson (2002). Articles>Bibliographies>User Experience>User Centered Design
#32981
I first heard of ethnography in Sociology 101. In his sonorous voice, our professor regaled us with tales of intrepid anthropologists immersing themselves in little-known cultures in exotic settings. We discussed Margaret Mead's seminal work, Coming of Age in Samoa. We examined the rigors of fieldwork, the tension between observation and participation and the challenge of analysis. It was a great class and I even opted for Soc 102. And that was that. Ethnography faded into the recesses of my mind until reawakened with a start a few years ago when I began hearing it applied to Web design. And it scared me spitless.
Rogers, David J. GotoMedia (2006). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design>Ethnographies
#32991
Accessibility in User-Centered Design
A brief introduction, with linked resources, for those unfamiliar with accessibility and/or user-centred design.
Henry, Shawn Lawton. UIaccess (2004). Articles>User Centered Design>Accessibility
#32992
Lather-Rinse-Repeat: A User-Centered Design Approach
User-Centered Design.hmm.seems intuitive, doesn't it? Obviously, if we're launching something onto the World Wide Web, we must be expecting someone to use it — duh. Though this may be true, many companies are missing the mark and their audience and, consequently, their business objectives by failing to successfully integrate the user. A User-Centered Design approach can create successes by merging business and user objectives to deliver a service that users value, while generating a benefit for the business.
#32993
User-Centered Design and Web Development
User Centered-Design (UCD) is a philosophy and a process. It is a philosophy that places the person (as opposed to the 'thing') at the center; it is a process that focuses on cognitive factors (such as perception, memory, learning, problem-solving, etc.) as they come into play during peoples' interactions with things. UCD seeks to answer questions about users and their tasks and goals, then use the findings to drive development and design.
Katz-Haas, Raissa. STC Usability SIG (1998). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design
#32996
Adapting the Design Process to Address More Customers in More Situations
While user-centered design (UCD) is a commonly used process for designing mainstream hardware, software, and web interfaces; design for accessibility is relatively uncommon in education and practice. As a result, the scope of users and the situations in which they operate products is not as inclusive as it could be. Designing for accessibility does not require a whole new process. Accessible design techniques fit well into established UCD processes for designing a range of products, from a handheld device, to office software, to a government web site. By integrating accessibility into the design process, designers can efficiently create products that work effectively for more people in more situations.
Henry, Shawn Lawton. UIaccess (2001). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design
#32997
Adopting User-Centered Design Within An Agile Process: A Conversation 
eXtreme Programming and other agile processes provide a middle ground between chaos and over-elaborate processes sometimes referred to as 'death by documentation'. A particular attrtactive aspect of the agile approach for many teams is its willingness to accomodate change no matter how advanced development might be. However, this very flexibility can cause user interface design issues and ensuing usability problems. Adopting a user-centered approach to user interface design can address these issues, as the following simulated conversation between a user-centered design consultant and an XP team leader will explain.
Hudson, William. UIaccess (2002). Articles>User Centered Design>Agile>Project Management
#32999
Art, Science, and Magic: What Really Happens During User-Centered Design?
One of the great debates in user-centered design (UCD) centers on whether UCD is an art or a science. If one were to examine the research literature on how concepts are formed, some surprising insights emerge with respect to this important dilemma. A primary concept from this area of research is "subsumption." Can the concept of subsumption be helpful in resolving the "art vs. science" question for UCD? The answer is, well...maybe!
Righi, Carol. ViewPointz (2002). Articles>User Centered Design
#33000
Among the things that have surprised me recently happened on a brief consulting gig. We had come to talk to them about a process for user-centered design for their websites (both external and internal). Among the problems they were facing on their internal websites were implementations of enterprise software to facilitate things like tracking human resources issues (vacation days, sick leave) and financials (payroll, accounts payable, etc.) The problem wasn't one of features and functionality -- the software did everything they wanted it to do. The problem was one of design -- learning how to use this system was quite difficult, and often ran contrary to how people currently worked.
PeterMe.com (2002). Articles>User Centered Design
#33002
What is the difference between user centered design and usability? Until writing this column I didn't have the faintest idea.
Koch, Peter-Paul. Digital Web Magazine (2002). Articles>User Centered Design>Usability
#33004
Delivering Expected Value to Users and Stakeholders with User Engineering
The success of a product or service depends on how well it is received by its intended audience. Usually success results from a systematic design process that involves the intended users. The user experience consists of how a product or service is perceived by users, and the goal is to make the experience consistent and supportive. User Engineering (UE) is an evolving discipline that focuses on designing the total user experience, from initial awareness and acquisition of a product or service—the “offering”—to first use, then day-to-day use, onward through the life cycle of the offering.
Berry, D., C. Hungate and T. Temple. IBM (2003). Articles>User Centered Design
#33005
User-centred design is now widely accepted, but the emphasis on its usability component under-estimates people’s abilities and limits innovation.
Macdonald, Nico. Guardian Online (2003). Articles>User Centered Design
#33006
Designing for the "Average User"
User advocacy is one of the central goals of usability. User advocacy can be defined as the process an IT professional (with an interest in user experience) goes through in re-sensitizing herself to the world of the "average user."
Spillers, Frank. Demystifying Usability (2006). Articles>Usability>User Centered Design
#33008
Human-Centered Design Considered Harmful
Human-Centered Design has become such a dominant theme in design that it is now accepted by interface and application designers automatically, without thought, let alone criticism. That’s a dangerous state – when things are treated as accepted wisdom. The purpose of this essay is to provoke thought, discussion, and reconsideration of some of the fundamental principles of Human-Centered Design. These principles, I suggest, can be helpful, misleading, or wrong. At times, they might even be harmful. Activity-Centered Design is superior.
Norman, Donald A. uiGarden (2005). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>User Centered Design>Activity Theory
#33009
在设计界，以人为中心的设计已经成为一个占统治地位的主题，以至于它经常被界面和应用设计人员不加思考地加以采用，更不要说是用一种带有批判的眼光加以采用。这是一种危险的状态――当某些事情被当作是被广泛认可的知识来对待时。这篇文章的目的就是要引起人们对于以人为中心设计方法的基本原理的重新思考和讨论。我认为，这些原理可能是有益的，有误导性的，或是是错误的。有时候，它们甚至可能是有害的。以活动为中心的设计是更好的一种方法。
Norman, Donald A. uiGarden (2005). (Chinese) Articles>Human Computer Interaction>User Centered Design>Activity Theory
#33010
HCD has developed as a limited view of design. Instead of looking at a person’s entire activity, it has primarily focused upon page-by-page analysis, screen-by-screen. As a result, sequences, interruptions, ill-defined goals – all the aspects of real activities, have been ignored. And error messages – there should not be any error messages. All messages should contain explanations and offer alternative ways of proceeding from the message itself.
Norman, Donald A. uiGarden (2006). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>User Centered Design
#33013
The key revolution of the Web is customer empowerment and engagement. The Web empowers the customer more than it empowers the organization. The implications are enormous.
McGovern, Gerry. New Thinking (2006). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design>User Experience
#33015
Accessibility in User-Centered Design: Personas
Personas are "hypothetical archetypes" of actual users. They are not real people, but they represent real people during the design process. A persona is a fictional characterization of a user. The purpose of personas is to make the users seem more real, to help designers keep realistic ideas of users throughout the design process.
UIaccess (2007). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design>Personas
#33016
Generally, user group profiles are not developed for all user groups, rather they are developed for the primary user groups and for user groups that designers don't know well. Because many designers start out with little or no knowledge of accessibility issues, adding accessibility considerations to user group profiles is particularly important.
UIaccess (2007). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design>Personas
#33017
Bringing Your Personas to Life in Real Life
The way you communicate personas and present your deliverables is key to ensuring consistency of vision. Without that consistency, you’ll spend far too much time arguing with your colleagues about who your users are rather than how to meet their needs. Let’s start with a review of what we know about personas, and why they are useful.
Freydenson, Elan. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Articles>User Centered Design>Personas
#33042
很多人难以理解我的那篇“以人为中心的设计是有害的”文章。 （哈哈，下面这样说可能有些保守！关于这个问题，肯定有五百篇评论和博客文章。） 特别地，我没能够清楚地说明“以活动为中心的设计”是什么意思，以及它和“以人为中心的设计”是如何的不同。 一些人好像认为我彻底抛弃了我以前说过的话。另外一些人则简单地认为我疯了。还有一些人则急匆匆地出来解释我那样说的含义。
Norman, Donald A. uiGarden (2006). (Chinese) Articles>Human Computer Interaction>User Centered Design
#33056
From Producer Logic to User Logic: The Greatest Challenge You May Have
Moving an intranet structure from a producer logic to a user logic is probably the hardest thing an intranet manager will ever have to do, especially in large, complex organisations.
NetStrategy-JMC (2007). Articles>Web Design>Intranets>User Centered Design
