User-Centered Design: Principles and Practices

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10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design

  • Visibility of system status: Inform users about what is going on through appropriate feedback within a reasonable time.
  • Match between system and the real world: The system should speak the users' language, with words, phrases, and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order.
  • User control and freedom: Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked "emergency exit" to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue. Support undo and redo.
  • Consistency and standards: Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions.
  • Error prevention: Even better than good error messages is a careful design that prevents a problem from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action.
  • Recognition rather than recall: Minimize the user's memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.
  • Flexibility and efficiency of use: Accelerators—unseen by the novice user—may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions.
  • Aesthetic and minimalist design: Dialogues should not contain information that is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.
  • Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors: Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.
  • Help and documentation: Even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user's task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.

Problem-Solving Questions

WHO

  1. Whose problem is this?
  2. Is this your client?
  3. Have you checked that the problem does exist?
  4. Can you prove it?

WHAT

  1. What is the essence of the problem?
  2. Can you explain it easily?
  3. How do you know that this is a problem?

WHY

  1. Why is the problem worth solving?
  2. What benefits do you find in this solution?

WHERE

  1. Where does the problem appear?
  2. In what context does the customer experience the problem?
  3. Have you seen the problem in its context?
  4. Can you describe this context?

WHEN

  1. When does the problem appear?
  2. Is the problem permanent or does it appear periodically?

HOW

  1. How can you solve the problem?

Six Thinking Hats

  • Red Hat: Emotions - Subjective impressions, intuition, emotions.
  • "What do you feel about the suggestion?"
  • White Hat: Facts - Objectivism, neutrality, facts.
  • "What is the available information?"
  • Black Hat: Pessimism - Pessimism, what can go wrong, look into the future, looking for faults.
  • Yellow Hat: Optimism - Optimism, chances, earnings, dreams.
  • "What are the advantages of applying the solution?"
  • Green: Capabilities - Capabilities, alternatives, creativity, ideas.
  • Blue: Organization - Analysis, organization, priorities, plan.

User-Centered Design Process

The process that places human needs and limitations in higher priority compared to other targets during thinking and production of the software.

Iterative design process where designers focus on users and their needs in each phase of progress.

It is based on an understanding of users, tasks, and environments, and the user is involved throughout design and development.

The design team includes multidisciplinary skills and perspectives.

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