Talk:User-centered design

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This article fails to cite one of the most widely accepted definitions and references for UCD - the ISO standard ISO 13407: Human-centred design process. --Lkantrov (talk) 15:10, 28 March 2008 (UTC) __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lkantrov (talk • contribs) 15:08, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

This article, along with the article about 'User centered design' needs more reference to the study of Anthropology and Ethnography and its application throughout the design process. UCD focuses on the need to understand physical or cognitive properties of an individual or group, or of a social behavior specific to humanity relative to products, services, interactions, experiences, etc. 'Human centered Design' is a more appropriate title --K.Weigelt March 27, 2008 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.138.227.10 (talk) 09:05, 27 March 2008 (UTC) This page was blanked soon after creation by its creator, but I can't honestly see any problem with the info, although the article could possibly be moved to a better name. It's not copyvio as far as I can tell. -- Graham :) 23:06, 4 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Contents

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should this page have a link to human-centered computing for contrast?

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The following paragraph needs work : "The chief difference from other interface design philosophies is that user-centered design tries to bend and structure the functioning of a user interface around how people can, want or need to work, rather than the opposite way around."

It isn't at all clear what the phrase "rather than the opposite way around" means here : what is the opposite of "tries to bend and structure the functioning of a user interface around how people can, want or need to work" - NOT structure the interface around how people need to work? -- Agreed this is awkward and a bit unclear. How about something simpler like "The chief difference from other interface design philosophies is that user-centered design tries to structure a user interface around how people naturally work, rather than requiring users to learn how the interface works." - BMcCarthy 00:03, 20 November 2006 (UTC) (I think I got the time right!)

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The following paragraph could be expanded: "While user-centered design is often viewed as being focused on the development of computer and paper interfaces, the field has a much wider application. The design philosophy has been applied to a diverse range of user interactions, from car dashboards to service processes (such as the end-to-end experience of visiting a restaurant, including interactions such as being seated, choosing a meal, ordering food, paying the bill etc).

I'd like to suggest appending something like: "In product design, this is sometimes referred to as the "out of the box experience," referring to all tasks the user must complete from first opening the box the product is shipped in, through unpacking, reading the directions, assembly, first use and continuing use." In expanding this paragraph, I might also consider removing the parentheses around the restaurant example. - BMcCarthy 00:09, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] External Links

The External Links section is not for self-promotion. See Wikipedia:External Links Guide --Ronz 14:56, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Changing focus citations?

The focus section, though interesting, ignores the very origins of user-centered design in the 80s. I marked it with "citation needed", but figure the "last decade" phrase should just be removed. I certainly don't know of any shift in thinking or application, though I see people new to the field asserting that they are making this shift without knowledge that this type of perspective has always existed. --Ronz 14:58, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Someone removed the "citation needed", so I removed all reference to any supposed change in focus. --Ronz 15:42, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Consolidation Needed

There are two UCD pages...one with a hyphen, and one without...these should be combined.

There are also a number of related pages/topics that should be linked somehow:

Lkantrov 22:18, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Yep, and more. Wikipedia:Merging and moving pages gives details on how to do a merge. Placing the merge proposal links is fairly easy to do.
As for the cross-linking, they are to some degree through internal links within the articles, with "See also" sections, and through categories. It certainly could be improved.
Techniques for creating a User Centered Design is a strange article from my perspective. I added a couple of tags to it. There's a chance that everything in the article is already covered elsewhere. --Ronz 22:33, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Agreed. User Centered Design, however, refers frequently to "documents" as the object of design, while User-centered design is more general, referring sometimes to software. I think the resulting merged article should be general and explicitly mention it can apply to documents, software, signage, or any artifact meant to be used in some way by a person. BMcCarthy 01:27, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree that consolidation is useful, because the term does exist philosophically above the uses, and I think the hyphenated version is just a convention of use within a particular discourse community rather than a change in the term's meaning or use. BUT, we need to understand that the term does carry nuances of difference within each area: software, hardware, architecture, industrial design, technical writing, web design, etc. I think a single article that starts at the philosophical level then proceeds to discuss UCD within each of those contexts would be the way to go. Mark David Anthony 17:59, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes, obviously the articles should be merged. Kla’quot (talk | contribs) 02:42, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Designing Pleasurable Products

Moved from article for discussion. Neither the book nor the author are notable, nor is any source provided. Without a source, this looks like a NPOV violation:

Other books in a similar vein include "Designing Pleasurable Products" by Patrick W. Jordan, in which the author suggests that different forms of pleasure should be included in a user-centered approach in addition to traditional definitions of usability.

--Ronz 21:10, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Ronz strikes again with an overzealous cut! I support this link being included. Just read the book description on this Amazon link. Also check out the "Buy Together Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman today!" section Amazon Link To Book. Ronz, you state "neither the book nor the author are notable". When does a book become such? Are there any guides-line other than Ronz's feeling that a book or author become notable? -Buttysquirrel 16:38, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

Please see WP:TALK. --Ronz 17:15, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Overly focused on software and 'documents'

Coming fresh to this article I found it strangely focused on software design (or at least 'interface' design) and design of 'documents'. Are these 'documents' meant to be screen-based ones? A lot of the entry about 'document' design seems common information design principles, except some of the 'legibility' section. I think someone (a web-page designer?) has written this from their perspective, ignoring wider applications and relevance of user-centred-design. Notwithstanding the section on 'Focus on more than just computers . . ', this article could do with a broader orientation and less-blinkered view. At least, the intro shouldn't just be limited to 'interface or document' design. I also think the Jordan book (see entries above) is very relevant to user-centred design. Bristolian46 (talk) 15:58, 24 March 2008 (UTC)