User centred design | Analysis

user centred tendency Analysis insane asylumNowadays, User focus on Design has been embedded in umpteen radiation diagram works. This essay seeks to explore the nature of this approaching. This essay is split in to four well-nigh sections.The first section is to volunteer a rendering for User Centered Design while the second section will explain the benefits of utilise this approach with examples. I will then move on to debate the limitations of User Centered Design and a conclusion will complete afterwards.What is User Centred Design?User Centred Design is an approach which aims at increase the usability of crossroads, and therefore make them more effective in meeting phthisisrs necessarily. This approach requires the purposeer to focus on the users throughoutThe planning, design and development of the product. (UPA resources, no date)Norman (1999) described user centred design asTransforming difficult labours into gentle ones.It requires the designer to debate th e users before designing.User Centred Design approach a great deal requires a great deal of involvement from the users during the process. Carrying out this approach very much includes collecting end users opinion right before the start of the project, as well as during the design process, and designing with them. The objective of this is to allow the designers to turn in a good understanding of the defers who will use the product. Therefore, good interaction in the midst of designers and users is the observe under this approach.UCD is widely recognized and there is an supranational measurement which serves as a benchmark and a guideline. International standard ISO 13047Human- touch on design process outlines the 5 stages of a typical UCD design, which atomic number 18 identifying learn for human pertain design, specifying the mount of use, specifying requirements, creating design ascendants and evaluating designs. (UPA Resources, no date) These move de exquisite only cosmopolitan procedures precisely non exact methods. In fact, these standards do not outline how each phrase should be carried out. For instance, specifying the context of use evoke be done by surveys, observations, interview and many other methods.Advantages of User Centred DesignNorman (1999) first suggested UCD is essentially a series of procedures that simplifying difficult tasks through exploiting natural properties of population and of the world, simplifying the structure of tasks, making both execution and evaluation sides of an action visible, exploiting natural constraints and designing for error. aesthetics is not considered as a compulsion in his original definition of UCD.Needs of end-users in study during a UCD process should not be only those associated with functions of a product, however also users unexpressed of necessity including, but not limited to, need for aesthetics. Norman (2004) introduced three levels of user centered design namely visceral desig n, Behavioral design and Reflective design.Visceral design is about the appearance of the product which aims at capturing races attention that they would never forget it or replace it with others. A design that people venerate it when they see it the first m is a successful visceral design.The Muji privy Radio is essentially a radio which is receipting to be employ in bathrooms and it fits in with the bathroom with a playful element. This product is designed by Industrial Facility. It is fun only when it gathers with the Muji refillable shampoo bottle, they appear to be a family the bottle itself and even the label of the shampoo atomic number 18 of the said(prenominal) size with the speaker of the radio. Using it is very straightforward, simply turning the expire to adjust the volume and on or off while the AM and FM tuning section is at the bottom. The radio is sealed to hold it is water resistant to protect the radio due to the environment that it is macrocosm used (F ig. 1-3). (Industrial Facility, 2009)Behavioral design is the functional part of a design. The product needs to be functional and easy to use. Norman suggested that even some products be entangled and users need to learn how things works but it should be learnt once only.Apple increased the usability of Mac computers by making the interface of softw be written for Mac OS similar. Therefore, once the basic controls argon learnt, users can manage a variety of software for this system good and quickly.Another good example would be hook-and-loop fastener which makes tying piazza easier and serves as an alternative to shoelace. It is also a design that focuses on users. tie a shoelace is an everyday but potentially difficult task for children and infirm adults due to its inherent complexity. Hook-and-loop fasteners simplify tying shoes and provide an easy alternative to shoelaces. Many whitethorn argue that this example is not significant but as Norman (1999) suggested this simple design caters the needs of users and solves the difficulties of a large segment of population.Reflective design is about the heart and soul the product gives to the user and the way the product represents the person who uses it. Some meters people buy a product is not for the physical outcome but the psychological outcome. The main selling orchestrate of this type of design is not their functionality but things like prestige that owning the design brings. For instance, People drink Fair-trade coffee may not really concern about the farmers benefit in the third world. They may do so to show to others how kind and too-generous they are.Nowadays, many businesses father incorporated this ideology into their product range. Creating products which consumers actually need and want often feeds through to higher(prenominal) sales and hence higher profit. Brand image will also be benefitted. One of the key benefits of UCD approach is that it allows designers to attain some level of unde rstanding of the users needs. According to Parsons in Blueprint November 2009 (2009, p.54), before UCD is being widely adopted, designers have to use their do it and knowledge to guess the needs of users. This in turn may hold a mismatch between the product and the needs of end-users. UCD ensures efficient use of time and resources.Limitations of User Centred DesignHowever, UCD is by no means a perfect model and may not be the ideal solution in some cases. I am going to illustrate the limitations and disadvantages of UCD in the following paragraphs.UCD is often characterized as time-consuming and costly. Many UCD designers commit that marketplace research is generally not an appropriate way to understand the demeanor of the end users. Users may not do what they told market researchers and there are often unexpressed needs such as those associated with attractiveness and aesthetics. For the stake of gaining a full and reliable understanding, UCD designers often observe their u sers directly such as observing how end-users actually carry out specific tasks. observe a range of subjects can be expensive and definitely takes a great deal of time as well as effort. However, it is thinkable these observations are subjected to Hawthorne Effect whereby individuals change their behavior when they know they are observed. (Campbell, Maxey and Watson, 1995) These observations may not be reliable after all.Moreover, end-users may not know what they truly need. They may not know if they really need or desire the product until they actually see it. Therefore, participation of users in the introductory stages may not be too helpful.Furthermore, without the technical background as a professional designer has, what users think qualification work might not work in practice. Also, too much commitment to accomplish the needs of a particular targeted users group may overly complicate the design which reduces its usability by other users.Norman (2005) suggested that If a u ser pinch fails to fit within this design model, it should be discarded.A balance between doing what consumers want and maintaining the usability should be achieved.UCD is an ideology, which is the manifesto of many designers. However, usage of UCD procedures does not warranty the product is useful for the users. Although there is an international standard which outline the general structure for typical UCD projects, the methods to go about these procedures are decided by the designer. Besides, due to time and budget constraint, designer can only study the behavior of a particular sample. There is again no attempt the sample is representative for all the targeted users since everyones needs are somewhat different. In addition, the sampling method used directly determines the reliability of these observations.Users needs are influenced by many external factors and hence needs are subject to changes. This is especially the case for visceral design and reflective design, which is su bject to changes in the social culture. What is trendy at this moment may not be so in the next. Under UCD, designers spend a long time to gather input from users and encourage them to get involved in the design. By the time the product is produced, users needs may have changed and thus it no longer meets the raw needs.There are many examples where products, which have not gone through UCD procedures, are highly successful. Moreover, these products require the users to adapt them, which is barely the opposite of what UCD is about. (NORMAN, 2009) For instance, chopsticks require the users to learn and adapt them. Learning to use chopsticks can be difficult and there are a couple of new products aiming to replace chopsticks. However, they are still used by a commodious segment of the population.Individuals have different preferences and needs. A product aiming to satisfy the needs of one group may in turn compromise the need of another group. Take hook and loop fasteners as an exam ple again, they are not as flexible in the adjustment of the tightness of moderate as shoelace and versatile. This design is originally targeted to young children, elderly and disabled. As Norman (1999) suggested, hoop and loop fasteners are not used in sports shoes such as football shoes and boxing boots.User centered design does provide a general benchmark to legal expert the quality of a design upon. However, using this principal as a basis of design may not be beneficial as it limits the creativity of a designer. The following example will illustrate this.The tint is the first unique cooker which extraordinarily holds both gun and induction heating (IH) hobs and it is designed to accommodate a variety of preparedness type and level. It is designed by Industrial Facility and produced by KichenAid. It owns three professional gas burners, ii induction plates, cast-iron grates, cast-iron grill, solid ergonomic controls with inherent electronic ignition and with a Vitroceramic and stainless surface. The hobs are divided into two levels. The gas hob with the grill is higher and far from the social movement because it needs to handle heavy pans. The induction heat surface is at the front and is the same level with the worktop and able to provide an extra space for the work. (Industrial Facility, 2009)Gas is ceaselessly perfect for heavy cooking whereas induction heat is normally for fine cooking and one is not happened to perfectly replace the other. From the user centered design view, in this case, consumers could enjoy cooking without sacrificing either one cooking method.From my point of view, this is neat and modern but after all it is nevertheless a combination of two brisk product. Why spend time to work on how to re-design something instead of creating a new cooking technique? You will never know if something works unless you have tried. UCD sometimes keep designers to start from scratch. It often places too much emphasis on the point tools ad apts human which limits the creativity of the designer. In fact, in many cases, needs go up only when a new product launches. For instance, before telephone and SMS messages were launched, people did not know they demanded communication in these forms.ConclusionFinally, I believe every products starting point is human centered. Every single existing product is human centered. We design because we want to improve peoples life by using our products. Every project, we work on the appearance, functionality, and narratives of the design. Although the priority may vary, we design useful products, no matter it physically does the job or psychologically does the job, it definitely have a positive outcome. A design could have been better does not mean it is not a good design. Without a doubt, listening to the end-users opinion is wise and helpful in design in many cases. However, basing our designs solely on what consumers want can be problematic. This is because users often lack the expert ise. Having users involved is beneficial but they cannot replace the job of designers. (Parsons, 2009) I believe striking a balance between the two is essential.Bibliography publish MaterialsJournalCAMPBELL, J., MAXEY, V., WATSON, W.,1995,Hawthorne Effect Implications for Prehospital Research Annals of Emergency Medicine, Volume 26, depicted object 5, Pages 590-594Books NORMAN, Donald. Emotional Design Why we hate love (or hate) Everyday things, The MIT Press. 2004 NORMAN, Donald. The design of Everyday things, The MIT Press. 1999Articles in PeriodicalsParsons, Tim. User centred design, through enlightened in theory. Blueprint, November 2009, p.54. meshwork MaterialBath Radio, Industrial Facility. http//www.industrialfacility.co.uk/if.html, 13 Dec 09.Step, Industrial Facility. http//www.industrialfacility.co.uk/if.html, 13 Dec 09Human centered design considered harmful, NORMAN, Donald. http//jnd.org/dn.mss/humancentered_design_considered_harmful.html, 13 Dec 09.What is UCD?, UPA Re sources. http//www.upassoc.org/usability_resources/about_usability/what_is_ucd.html, 13 Dec 09.Step 90cm, Walter Dix Co. http//www.wdix.co.uk/Products/RangeCookers/KitchenAid/Hobs/Step90cm/tabid/457/Default.aspx, 13 Dec 09.