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User-Centered Design in Practice
Published in Haydee M. Cuevas, Jonathan Velázquez, Andrew R. Dattel, Human Factors in Practice, 2017
Raegan M. Hoeft, Debbie Ashmore
The goal of user research is to develop a solid understanding of the design challenge or problem space to guide the forthcoming design process(es). User research encompasses all the activities conducted to understand end user(s), including who they are, what their goals are, what their preferences are, how they currently complete their tasks, what their pain points are, etc. It can be a blend of a variety of different kinds of research, including field research, ethnography, ergonomic analysis, and knowledge elicitation activities, among other things. These tools are used to extract information from users and environments in various ways and apply a critical eye to interpret the findings in light of the problem space. Outcomes from user research include workflow and/or task analysis diagrams, user profiles, personas, scenarios, customer journey maps, and experience maps. User research findings are also used to compose the user-centered requirements that drive iterative design in the next phase of UCD. User research findings are the most reusable component of UCD because users often use multiple systems, have many tasks, represent part of a company culture, etc. An understanding of the characteristics of users and their environments is valuable beyond their application to a specific project.
Understanding the industrial designer’s self-perception of ideation
Published in International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation, 2020
Ying Sun, Sander Münster, Thomas Köhler, Carlo Michael Sommer
The mentioned methods could be allocated to three critical stages in our study: investigation, analysis and synthesis phase which combine in non-linear and iterative processes for a designer to cope with various sources during ideation. In the investigation phase, it is found that most designers seek to understand the context and people before generating ideas. Designers mainly use information collection methods during this stage, drawing on three primary sources: media, knowledge of different disciplines and dialogue with project stakeholders to gain a full understanding of the design surrounding conditions in which the trends and changes happen. Specifically, various media are widely used to find out about the latest developments of a particular industry in the digital age. Knowledge of different disciplines is made up of two parts: Personal expertise and knowledge of related areas. Ideation is a process rooted in individual knowledge and is often considered a precedent-based type of reasoning in which knowledge is continuously transformed to produce new ideas. Communicating with project stakeholders allows the designer to understand the specific area more efficiently in terms of workshop or interview for instance. It is supported by Halskov (2010) by stating that in addition to the systematically introduced sources of inspiration that form part of the communication format, a number of spontaneous sources of inspiration emerged during these communication processes. Specific user research methods are used to understand the users; the data is acquired via fieldwork to obtain an empathic understanding of people’s needs and their behavior patterns.