Q 5.

The guiding principle of User-Centered Design is that the human user should be the
central focus in designing the elements of computer systems they must interact with.
Identify an Information System object that appears to have been designed using this
principle, and explain the keys to its ease of use.

What is User-Centered Design?

User Centered-Design (UCD) is a philosophy and a process. It is a philosophy that

places the person (as opposed to the 'thing') at the center; it is a process that focuses
on cognitive factors (such as perception, memory, learning, problem-solving, etc.) as
they come into play during peoples' interactions with things.

User-Centered Design (ucd) is a user interface design process that focuses on usability
goals, user characteristics, environment, tasks, and workflow in the design of an
interface. ucd follows a series of well-defined methods and techniques for analysis,
design, and evaluation of mainstream hardware, software, and web interfaces.
The ucd process is an iterative process, where design and evaluation steps are built in
from the first stage of projects, through implementation

UCD seeks to answer questions about users and their tasks and goals, then use the
findings to drive development and design.

UCD seeks to answer questions such as:

 Who are the users of this 'thing'?

 What are the users’ tasks and goals?
 What are the users’ experience levels with this thing, and things like it?
 What functions do the users need from this thing?
 What information might the users need, and in what form do they need it?
 How do users think this 'thing' should work?
 How can the design of this ‘product’ facilitate users' cognitive processes?

UCD can improve the usability and usefulness of everything from "everyday things" (D.
Norman) to software to information systems to processes. . . anything with which people
interact. As such, User-Centered Design concerns itself with
both usefulness and usability.

Usefulness

Usefulness relates to relevance; do the functions, information, etc., match what the user
actually needs?

Usability

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Usability relates to ease-of-use—a simple concept, but not always easy or intuitive to
implement.

  

Usability Guidelines

There are certain global usability principles, or guidelines. As they apply to web
development, many of these guidelines can be summarized as follows:

Visibility
Visibility helps users form correct mental models of the 'thing'—models that help users
predict the effect(s) of their actions. Important elements (such as those that aid
navigation) should be highly visible. Users should be able to tell at a glance what they
can and cannot do.

Memory Load
The site should reduce user memory load. Screen elements should be meaningful and
consistent across the site so users can recognize, instead of remember, what elements
mean from one page to another. New items and functions should relate to ones the user
already knows.

Feedback
When a user performs an action, she should receive immediate feedback. For example,
when the user clicks a button, something on the screen should change so the user
knows the system has registered her action.

Accessibility
Users need to find information quickly and easily:

 Offer users a few ways to find information (such navigational elements, search

functions, site map, etc). However, don’t offer too many options at once as this
confuses many users.

 ‘Chunk’ information into small, digestible pieces and organize them into some
type of schema or hierarchy that is meaningful to the user.

 Enable skimming; provide clues that allow users to find their ‘nugget’ of
information’ by scanning rather than reading.

Errors
An error is an incorrect action by the user such as clicking the wrong link. It is important
to minimize user errors and provide users with mechanisms that allow them to recover
quickly from errors.

Advantages:

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 1. Products are more efficient, effective and safe.
2. Assists in managing user,s expectations nad levels of satisfaction with the
product.
3. Users develop a sense of ownership for the product.
4. Products require less redesign and integrate into the environment more
quickly.
5. The collaborative process generated more creative design solutions to
problems.

Disadvantage:

1. It is more costly.
2. It takes more time.
3. May require the involvement of additional design learn members.
4. May be difficult to translate some types of data into design.
5. The product may be too specific for more general use, thus not readily.
transferable to other clients; thus more costly.