User centred design (UCD) User centred design (UCD) is a project approach that puts the intended users (audience) of a product or piece of technology at the centre of its research, design and development. It does this by talking directly to the user at key points in the project to make sure the product or
Definition of User Experience (UX) User experience (UX) is about how a person feels, appropriates, attributes and the emotions engendered when thinking about using a product, system or service. User experience highlights the experiential, affective, meaningful and valuable aspects of human interaction and ownership. It also includes a person’s perceptions (driven from a subject expert/specific
2011/03/28 – Published I have just been confirmed as a Fellow of the British Computer Society. Thanks to all my supporters. Additionally I have joined BCS ELITE Group (Effective Leadership in Information Technology) in order to progress the professional agenda of user experience. BCS ELITE Group
Clients don’t understand their customers, they just think they do! The most common problem with UX is based upon a limitation on research set by the clients themselves and the perception that they know ‘their users/customers’. Clients will often reduce or not pay for UX research, but this is like leaving out a building foundation because
2011/03/28 – Published Visual cognition principles are vital to user acceptance Pre-accepted and trusted visual standards are vital to user acceptance and experience as they encourage adoption of technology systems. This is vital so that users don’t need to learn new or counter intuitive interaction behaviours. Context of visual cognition in computing terms Just as the creators
2011/03/08 – Published UX design is flawed and has no proof its the right solution In recent years the flaws in user experience design (UXD) based in wireframe exercises have become more evident to professional IT people as the business has become flooded with unqualified people. UXD is focused on the designers view and has lost
2011/03/07 – Published FAQ’s are no longer relevant FAQ’s are very much vested in intranet thinking, that assumes if users want help they work for us and know the terminology and have similar tasks / goals to other users on the internal net. Websites conversely support users from every experience of life, who while focused on
2011/03/04 – Published UCD requirements gathering There are lots ways to elicit UCD requirements so I don’t intend on listing them all here, what I will note are some of the effective ways that I utilise. They can be described as structured, unstructured or a mixture of the two, but importantly the methods produce differing depth
2011/02/18 – Published Contextual usability dramatically effects outcomes While any kind of user testing is better than none, usability testing out of context is like testing a car on water, it gives some basic information and not a lot more. If performance and use are important at all, then testing should take place in an environment standard
2011/02/10 – Published People focused Capturing requirements is subject to other peoples availability, this remains one of the most painful parts of the process as few participants seem to understand just how important their experience is to the project. Often a participant can shape the final output without realising they have done so, I include a