A Wren Says

You might have seen the phrase before (possibly from me), user centered design. What is it? In the most simplified definition, it is exactly what the name would suggest. It is about making sure you are thinking about whoever is going to end up using your product, while you design it, to make sure it meets there needs. Often, this concept is described in terms of technology and app development, but this line of thinking could be used in the development of all goods and services.

There are four phases, as laid out by the Interaction Design Foundation:

1. “Understand the context of use”- Get to know who will be using your product. Try to understand where, how, and when they will use it.
2. “Specify user requirements”- Next figure out what they are looking for. What is it that they wan the product to do for them? What problem are they trying to solve?
3. “Design solutions”- This is the to focus on building out your product to meet the needs identifies in the last step. Your goal is to develop a product that is the solution they’ve been looking for.
4. “Evaluate against requirements”- Check to see if your product worked as intended. Particularly, make sure that you bring in potential users to give feedback on how the product performs.

These four phases can easily be used in product design needs far extending outside of tech. As I think about the poor race experiences that led me down this rabbit hole, I know that these principles would have led the organizers to design a much more successful event.  And of course, it doesn’t stop there. Taking a user centered approach is a great mindset for everyone to take no matter the type of product you’re developing. You are creating your product for a user. Make sure you design with them in mind.

Source used: Interaction Design Foundation. (n.d.) User centered design (UCD). https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/user-centered-design