More successful applications with User Centred Design

Maximise customer retention rates and satisfaction levels.

Basing application development on user feedback is something everybody talks about, but how often does it really happen?

User Centred Development (UCD) provides you with a structured framework for doing just that. And while the benefits can be tremendous, there are also some pitfalls to be avoided.

More successful applications with User Centred Design

Our thanks to Fiona Murphy and Malachy Spollen of frontend.com for their contributions. Please refer to their website for more interesting articles around usability and design.

What is User Centred Design?

User Centered Design (UCD) is an approach to user interface design (or web application design) where the end user is placed at the heart of the development process. It could even be described as a „Design Philosophy“. Knowing who your users are, what they want and if your system is fulfilling their needs is central to UCD.

The key principle of UCD is integrating users that represent the profiles of the target user group/s into the development process. In order to integrate unbiased user feedback into the design process, one needs to follow the following steps:

1. Define the target audience: one common method is to use general descriptions of target user groups to create a set of personas. This makes it easier for design and development teams to understand users’ needs by creating tangible descriptions of real people and looking at the system from their perspective. Personas also make it easier to identify an appropriate panel of end users to gather feedback from
2. User task analysis: the aim is to identify and thoroughly understand the end users' goals and tasks. One must first establish tools they currently use, the mental model they adopt for the tasks at hand, limitations and problems they encounter, what alternatives/substitutes are available to them, changes & additions that will enhance their experience, etc... This analysis can be conducted by making a number of assumptions (based on the definition of your target audience) and ideally, by gathering feedback from real users and/or observing them conducting key tasks
3. Create a prototype: these can vary from pieces of paper with the proposed designs sketched on them to fully interactive systems that look like and seem to function exactly like the end product. Prototypes have two purposes. The first is to define how they system will work from the user interface perspective; the second is to test on real users. The decision which type of prototype (simple or complex) to use is a question of cost and target group, as well as oft he nature oft he application
4. Test prototypes with REAL users: this is central to UCD. Testing is normally conducted on relatively small groups of people, typically no more than 5 representatives of each target user profile. The reason for this is that you are looking to identify problems and create design solutions as opposed to discovering how many people have the same problem. Five users typically identify approximately 80% of all problems. Therefore it makes more sense to test, analyse, redesign, test again, analyse, redesign, etc... Eventually fewer problems will be encountered and the system is ready for release.
5. Beta Release: in some cases a pre-release of the system is released to a restricted number of users for evaluation. Unlike the prototype this version incorporates all the functionality that is available in the final system. Feedback can be gathered from users to fine-tune the system further. Often beta versions incorporate software to track usage and identify where and when problems occur
6. Ongoing Evaluation: rarely is an application or website launched and never refined or expanded. A true UCD process continues to evaluate the system after it is launched. Feedback can be used to benchmark against user requirements and competitors products. Customer service can also provide invaluable feedback as to how the system is performing in the real world. What is important is that you gain insight in what needs to be improved in the next iteration of the system from the users perspective.

How to go about it?

In order to make the UCD process a valid one, a certain number of pitfalls should be avoided:

• Remember that friends, family and most of all colleagues are not representative of the target user base
• Designers should have a thorough understanding of user requirements and therefore must be an integral part of the team
• Even if it will be necessary to converse with participants during the test phase, it is important to observe and listen as opposed to direct them. This makes it possible to identify what users do, where they have difficulties and why they have problems
• Recording testings is a good way of avoiding the „false memory syndrome“ and to substantiate findings to colleagues and management

One good way of doing it is to involve designers, in-house specialists and external consultants.

What are the costs and benefits of UCD?

Whilst UCD will be somewhat more time consuming and expensive than a direct approach based on in-house experience and beliefs, it normally leads to more efficient and innovative solutions; improvements which normally might take several releases to be implemented can often be conceived, designed and put in place in a single development step. The process works well and is easy to use as long as one concentrates purely on the mechanics of a given process.

However, the use of UCD can also be more challenging for an organisation when end users don’t react in the expected way or somehow indicate that the service proposed does not totally respond to their real needs. This is when objectivity, honesty, detailed analysis and a good dose of common sense (people don’t always know what they really need or want) are required internally in order to maximise the gains from these new findings!

To summarise, one might say that UCD is like many useful tools: it can bring great benefits if it is applied thoroughly.

If you would like to talk about the benefits UCD could bring to YOUR company, do not hesitate to contact Grégoire Depeursinge.