User-Centered Design

User-centered design (UCD) is a design philosophy and a process in which the needs, wants, and limitations of end users of a product are given attention at each stage of the design process. 

User-centered design can be characterized as a multi-stage problem solving process that not only requires designers to analyze and foresee how users are likely to use a product, but also to test the validity of their assumptions with regards to user behaviour in real world tests with actual users. 

Such testing is necessary as it is often very difficult for the designers of a product to understand intuitively what a user of their design experiences, and what each user's learning curve may look like. The main difference from other product design philosophies is that user-centered design tries to optimize the product around how users can, want, or need to use the product, rather than forcing the users to change their behavior to accommodate the product. 

For example, the user-centered design process can help software designers to fulfill the goal of a product engineered for their users. User requirements are considered right from the beginning and included into the whole product cycle. These requirements are noted and refined through investigative methods including: ethnographic study, contextual inquiry, prototype testing, usability testing and other methods. 

Generative methods may also be used including: card sorting, affinity diagraming and participatory design sessions. In addition, user requirements can be understood by careful analysis of usable products similar to the product being designed. 

UCD answers questions about users and their tasks and goals, then uses the findings to make decisions about development and design. UCD of a web site, for instance, seeks to answer the following questions:

• Who are the users of the document? 
• What are the users’ tasks and goals? 
• What are the users’ experience levels with the document, and documents like it? 
• What functions do the users need from the document? 
• What information might the users need, and in what form do they need it? 
• How do users think the document should work? 

As examples of UCD viewpoints, the essential elements of UCD of a web site are considerations of visibility, accessibility, legibility and language. 

Visibility 

Visibility helps the user construct a mental model of the document. Models help the user predict the effect(s) of their actions while using the document. Important elements (such as those that aid navigation) should be emphatic. Users should be able to tell from a glance what they can and cannot do with the document. 

Accessibility 

Users should be able to find information quickly and easily throughout the document, regardless of its length. Users should be offered various ways to find information (such as navigational elements, search functions, table of contents, clearly labeled sections, page numbers, color coding, etc). Navigational elements should be consistent with the genre of the document. 

"Chunking" is a useful strategy that involves breaking information into small pieces that can be organized into some type meaningful order or hierarchy. The ability to skim the document allows users to find their piece of information by scanning rather than reading. Bold and italic words are often used. 

Legibility 

Text should be easy to read: Through analysis of the rhetorical situation, the designer should be able to determine a useful font style. Ornamental fonts and text in all capital letters are hard to read, but italics and bolding can be helpful when used correctly. Large or small body text is also hard to read. (Screen size of 10-12 pixel sans serif and 12-16 pixel serif is recommended.) High figure-ground contrast between text and background increases legibility. Dark text against a light background is most legible. 

Language 

Depending on the rhetorical situation, certain types of language are needed. Short sentences are helpful, as well as short, well-written texts used in explanations and similar bulk-text situations. Unless the situation calls for it, do not use jargon or technical terms. Many writers will choose to use active voice, verbs (instead of noun strings or nominals), and simple sentence structure. 

A user-centered design is focused around the rhetorical situation. The rhetorical situation shapes the design of an information medium. There are three elements to consider in a rhetorical situation: audience, purpose, and context. 

Audience 

The audience is the people who will be using the document. The designer must consider their age, geographical location, ethnicity, gender, education, etc. 

Purpose 

The purpose is what the document is targeting to or what problem is the document trying to address. 

Context 

The context is the circumstances surrounding the situation. The context often answers the question: What situation has prompted the need for this document? Context also includes any social or cultural issues that may surround the situation. 

User-centered design involves simplifying the structure of tasks, making things visible, getting the mapping right, exploiting the powers of constraint, and designing for error.

Tomorrow, I will talk about analysis tools used in user-centered design.

Information Architecture and Usability

The distinction between information architecture and usability may seem like semantics, but there are significant differences between the two disciplines.

Though they are often discussed interchangeably, and practitioners are often well-versed in both, information architecture and usability differ in their scope and areas of focus.

The difference between information architecture and usability is important to understand because information architecture is more than just understanding what users want and need. A usability-only approach to information architecture is only one piece of the puzzle.

Information architecture problems often account for a large percentage of usability problems, but there are many other things unrelated to information architecture that have an impact on usability.

Usability encompasses two related concepts:

• Usability is an attribute of the quality of a system: "we need to create a usable intranet". 
• Usability is a process or set of techniques used during a design and development project: "we need to include usability activities in this project". 

In both cases usability is a broader concept, whereas information architecture is far more specific.

Usability is a detailed subject, taking into account things like font size, colors, visual proximity, usage context, search, error messages, navigation, form design, and labeling. Of these, only a few are true information architecture issues. Navigation, labeling, site architecture and search results all have an impact on the usability of a site, but they are not the only things that affect usability.

An effective information architecture is one of a number of attributes of a usable system. Other factors involving the usability of a system include:

• visual design 
• interaction design 
• functionality 
• content writing 

The process for creating an effective information architecture is a sub-set of the usability activities involved in a project. Although weighted to the beginning of the project, usability activities should continue throughout a project and evaluate issues beyond simply the information architecture.

In terms of great usability information architecture, it is the information architecture that makes it easy for users to find desired information or functionality. On a website, the information architecture can also add important context to the current page (for example when a user begins their visit deep within the website, having come directly from a search engine).

A "bricks and mortar" architect must balance the demands of aesthetics, structural integrity, heating, lighting, water supply and drainage when creating building blueprints. Similarly, an information architect must create navigation schemes for web sites, content management systems, etc. that are at once concise, descriptive, mutually-exclusive, and intuitive. Both types of architects seek to create spaces for humans that are safe, predictable, enjoyable, and inspiring.

Usable navigation systems should: 

• Be easy to learn. 
• Be consistent throughout the web site, CMS, etc. 
• Provide feedback, such as the use of breadcrumbs to indicate how to navigate back to where the user started. 
• Use the minimum number of clicks to arrive at the next destination. 
• Use clear and intuitive labels, based on the user’s perspective and terminology. 
• Support user tasks. 
• Have each link distinct from other links. 
• Group navigation into logical units. 
• Avoid making the user scroll to get to important navigation or submit buttons. 
• Not disable the browser’s back button. 

Steps to develop an intuitive information architecture: 

1. Find out what the mission or purpose of the website is: why will people come to your site?

2. Determine the immediate and long-range goals of the site: are they different?

3. Pinpoint the intended audiences and conduct a requirements analysis for each group.

4. Collect site content and develop a content inventory.

5. Determine the website’s organizational structure, which can include:

• hierarchical
• narrow and deep 
• broad and shallow 
• sequential  
• tag-based 

6. Create an outline of the site, which can include:

• Content Inventory: a hierarchical view of the site content, typically in a spreadsheet format, which briefly describes the content that should appear on each page and indicates where pages belong in terms of global and local navigation. 
• Site Maps: visual diagrams that reflect site navigation and main content areas. They are usually constructed to look like flowcharts and show how users will navigate from one section to another. Other formats may also indicate the relationships between pages on the site. 

7. Create a visual blueprint of the site, which can include:

• Wireframes: rough illustrations of page content and structure, which may also indicate how users will interact with the website. These diagrams get handed off to a visual designer, who will establish page layout and visual design. Wireframes are useful for communicating early design ideas and inform the designer and the client of exactly what information, links, content, promotional space, and navigation will be on every page of the site. Wireframes may illustrate design priorities in cases where various types of information appear to be competing. 

8. Define the navigation systems:

• Global navigation: Global navigation is the primary means of navigation through a website. Global navigation links appear on every page of the site, typically as a menu located at the top or side of each web page. 
• Local navigation: Local links may appear as text links within the content of a page or as a submenu for a section of the website. Local navigation generally appears in the left-hand margin of a web page and sometimes is placed below the global navigation. 
• Utility links: Utility links appear in the header or footer of every page. These may include infrequently used links such as: Contact Us, About Us, Customer Support, Customer Feedback, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, Site Map, Press Room, etc. Search boxes often appear in the header of the site as well, so the Search feature is available on every page of the site. 

9. Conduct user research. Once you have a draft navigation structure, conduct appropriate usability research to collect feedback from the target audience. Methods may include: card sorting, cognitive walkthroughs, contextual task analyses, and usability testing.