User-centered design is a philosophy and a process in which the needs, wants, and limitations of the end user of an interface or document are given extensive attention at each stage of the design process. It is often seen as an offshoot of the usability movement, and a progenitor of the experience design and interaction design movements.
#26544
Uncovering Users In Your Own Organization
Buying new clothes and looking at current fashions is usually much more interesting and exciting than digging through one's closet or laundry hamper. However, there is a lot one can learn by stopping and taking a minute to examine one's own clothes.
Rampoldi-Hnilo, Lynn. Boxes and Arrows (2005). Articles>User Centered Design>Methods
#25605
Uncovering Users In Your Own Organization
Buying new clothes and looking at current fashions is usually much more interesting and exciting than digging through one’s closet or laundry hamper. However, there is a lot one can learn by stopping and taking a minute to examine one's own clothes.
Rampoldi-Hnilo, Lynn. Boxes and Arrows (2005). Articles>User Centered Design>Methods
#21080
The purpose of this paper is to briefly discuss design misfits. A cursory overview of misfits is provided, along with a working definition. Eight types of design misfits are revealed. Three examples of each type of misfit are provided for clarification.
Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2001). Design>User Centered Design>Usability
#23039
Understanding Organizational Stakeholders for Design Success
User-centered design professionals pay special emphasis to one type of stakeholder—the users of the system—arguing that user experience needs to be carefully crafted to satisfy user needs. While understanding user needs and goals is certainly necessary, it is often not sufficient for producing a successful design.
Boutelle, Jonathan. Boxes and Arrows (2004). Articles>User Centered Design>Methods
#28797
Understanding Principles of Usability, Part 1
In this podcast, Karen Bachmann, manager of the Usability and User Experience SIG, provides an overview of the user-centered design process. This is part one of a two part series.
Bachmann, Karen L. Tech Writer Voices (2006). Presentations>Usability>User Centered Design>Podcasts
#13731
We conducted a phone interview study of users of the Arthritis Source in order to accomplish two related goals: (a) to gain insight into the effectiveness of the arthritis source and (b) to learn about patient conceptions of arthritis. To do this, we focused on two arthritis conditions -- Rheumatoid Arthritis and OsteoArthritis, identified ten Arthritis Source users with each condition, and completed a structured interview over the phone. The transcriptions of these interviews constitute our data. The analysis of the data focuses on (1) an initial characterization of conceptions, (2) an evaluation of the success of our questions, and (3) an evaluation of whether we are sufficiently educated about arthritis and the two conditions for us to conduct the interviews.
Liu, Kristina, Jennifer Turns and Tracey S. Wagner. PETTT (2001). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design
#29344
Understanding Users' Commitment to Specific Technologies 
Users often become committed to certain versions and features of technology, making them leery when upgrades roll around. You can make the transition easier with these communication techniques.
Kalvar, Shannon T. TechRepublic (2003). Articles>Technology>Communication>User Centered Design
#24282
Understanding Users' Work: Doing Task Analysis Before Design 
Are you interested in a gaining a better understanding of tasks and task analysis? Are you looking for practical hints on doing workflow analysis, job analysis, or procedural analysis? Are you used to writing about tasks based on product features, when you know the product would be better if the team had done task analysis first? If so, come participate in this demonstration/workshop in which we'll explore how to understand users' work by doing task analysis before designing the product.
Redish, Janice C. 'Ginny'. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>User Centered Design>Methods
#24918
Usability and User Experience Design: The Next Decade
Predicts that usability practitioners will need new skills to cope with changes in this field.
Wilson, Chauncey E. Intercom (2005). Articles>Usability>User Centered Design
#26499
With a small budget to create a website, many small businesses bypass usability testing. While it is not always possible to do a full-blown usability test on a small website, there are steps that website developers can take to help make sure users are not ignored during the process.
Weise Moeller, Elizabeth A. IEEE PCS (2005). Design>Web Design>Usability>User Centered Design
#22337
Unregelmäßig erscheinende Artikel über die aktuellen Problemen in Bereich Ergonomie/Usability und die mögliche Lösungen.
Sedelnikov, Andrei. Usability Gesucht. (German) Resources>Usability>User Centered Design>Blogs
#23861
Usability in Practice: Company Profile of Hylotek
Which companies are actually practicing usability, and what does usability mean to them? Who's investing time and money into usability, and what kind of return are they receiving on their investment in the real world?
Giangrossi, Diane. Usability Interface (2004). Articles>Usability>User Centered Design>Case Studies
#19598
Usability is a tool that should be in the kit of all software designers/programmers. It only became a profession when people found they could charge £1,000 a day by calling themselves Usability Engineers and pontificate on the mysteries of 'ease of use'.
#28215
Since I've started developing websites I've been looking for the ideal layout. Today I got another hint on the direction to take. Jacob Nielsen calls it the 'F-Pattern.'
Information Architects Japan (2006). Design>Web Design>Usability>User Centered Design
#19089
In recent years, technical communication programs have begun to introduce students to the principles of usability testing. A natural outgrowth of the traditional technical communication emphasis on audience analysis and user advocacy, usability testing also serves as an interesting and potentially lucrative career path for some technical communicators, and introduces a fascinating research trajectory for students and faculty alike. It’s no surprise that technical programs are incorporating usability testing instruction in one of two ways: some offer separate courses in usability testing at the undergraduate or graduate level. Specialized labs and corporate collaborations are often associated with such curriculum designs. Most incorporate usability into specific courses in a 'usability across the curriculum' model. Typically, existing computer labs double as usability testing facilities. These efforts are admirable, but leading scholars and practitioners agree that usability testing alone, because it occurs late in the product development cycle, no longer suffices. A gradual movement toward continuous user involvement at all stages of product development is underway.
Kitalong, Karla Saari. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>Usability>User Centered Design
#23279
Use Cases and Interaction Design
Use cases are widely used in large projects to capture the functional requirements of software systems. In the hands of interaction designers, use cases can serve as a powerful tool for brainstorming workflows and bridging the gaps between design and development.
GUUUI (2004). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>Interaction Design
#22121
"Use Cases" and "User Scenarios" Explained
This file contains the responses I received to a message I sent on January 21, 2000 to the TECHWR-L and WINHLP-L discussion lists. It was posted on the Techwhirl website for awhile but was removed during a reorganisation of the site. Other people's comments are included with their permission.
Hollis Weber, Jean. Technical Editors Eyrie (2000). Articles>User Centered Design>Methods
#23354
The Use of Narrative in Interaction Design 
What roles can narrative play in creating enriching experiences on the Web—not just for users, but also for design teams? Moving beyond the conceptual, we’ll discuss the practical application of narrative in web design, and describe how many of us within the industry already use narrative theory in our practice. Finally, we’ll show how even corporate projects can be approached within a holistic narrative framework and how this can benefit both usability and the design process.
Gallagher, Marisa, Nancy Broden, Jeff DeVries and Jonathan Woytek. IAsummit (2004). Presentations>Information Design>User Centered Design>Rhetoric
#31681
The Use of Stories in Design: The Get2Grip Design Project for Work Experience
The complexity of new technology demands more than one participant in the design process to imagine future products and systems, and this is practitioners in design might learn from other professions in the development phase. But that indicate that design industries might have to challenge themselves in changing work practice in the development phase of a design.
People and Product (2005). Design>User Centered Design>User Experience>Case Studies
#21983
Useful "Page Not Found" Error Pages
Ever encountered a "404 error" message on a site? Also known as a "page not found" error, it can really annoy visitors. Some of these folks may never return to your site. If you don't handle these people with care, you could drive important traffic away from your site.
Menon, Madhu. evolt (2000). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design
#26258
The User Advocate: Interactive Prototyping, Part 1: Easy PDF Prototyping
I've often observed that once wireframing begins, it's off to the races! In the rush to launch, we sometimes forget end-users. Is there a way to ensure that they get a voice during this always-hectic phase?
Rogers, David J. GotoMedia (2005). Articles>User Centered Design>Usability>Testing
#26260
The User Advocate: Interactive Prototyping, Part 2: Building a PDF Prototype
This tutorial shows a very high-fidelity prototype—based upon the current gotomedia site—that might be created very late in the design process.
Rogers, David J. GotoMedia (2005). Design>User Centered Design>Usability>Testing
#28665
User Assistance in the Role of Domain Expert
This article explores the role of user assistance in providing domain-centric online Help--rather than Help that simply explains obvious user interactions with well-designed user interfaces--and provides a pattern for and examples of expert guidance.
Hughes, Michael A. UXmatters (2007). Articles>User Centered Design>Help>Online
#14598
User Centered Design in Practice - Problems and Possibilities
This CID report is a summary of and a collection of the papers accepted to the workshop â*œUser Centered Design â*“ Problems and Possibilitiesâ** that was held in Seattle, the U.S., on November 14, 1998. User Centered Design has more or less been widely accepted as a model for or approachto IT development in general. But what does user centered design mean? We decided to put together this workshop to discuss whether the problems we were facing in user centered design were real or imaginary problems. Whilst preparing and conducting the workshop we discovered that user centered design still is an issue containing a great number of unsolved problems and different approaches. UCD is not the 'silver bullet' for designing for usability in cooperation with the users. Several examples were provided during the workshop and in the papers - some of which were success stories and some failures. We hope that this summary will give you an idea of the lively and interesting discussion that took place during the workshop. And that it may inspire you to pursue the quest for a solution to the problem of designing for usability in cooperation with users.
Gulliksen, Jan, Ann Lantz and Inger Boivie. Kungl Tekniska Högskolan (2001). Design>User Centered Design
#25610
The central premise of user-centred design is that the best-designed products and services result from understanding the needs of the people who will use them. User-centred designers engage actively with end-users to gather insights that drive design from the earliest stages of product and service development, right through the design process.
Black, Alison. Design Council (2005). Articles>User Centered Design
