Framework | RAPIDMIX

This page is our how-to guide for using User-Centred Design (UCD). For more details, please see D 2.1 User-Centred Design Methodology

What is UCD?

UCD is “a philosophy and methods, which focus on designing for and involving users in the design of computerized systems” (Abras, Maloney and Preece, 2004). Design is driven and refined through iterative cycles of development and user evaluation.

A generic UCD cycle might look like this:

Our UCD framework puts forward an actionable and systematic approach for UCD techniques to be used throughout the lifetime of a project. We propose a method of UCD actions: these are research actions, where a UCD technique is deployed to answer a question about the design.

What do we want to know?

Questions that may be answered and refined through UCD actions:

What are the opportunities for a new technology to positively impact a given set of users in a given context?
What is the design space of possible technologies?
How might a particular design approach impact users in a given context?
How does a particular design instantiation impact these users in this context, in reality?
What are the consequences of different designs for users’ efficiency, effectiveness, satisfaction, ways of thinking and acting, relationships with each other, etc.?
How do these change with time, experience, context, and type of user?
Where are possible usability problems in a given design, and how might they be mitigated or corrected?

Possible UCD actions

UCD actions where UCD techniques may be applied to answer these questions might include:

public events, such as hackathons and workshops.
interviews, questionnaires, targeted development sections with small numbers of developers.
Periodic review of feedback from developers, e.g. via bug reports, feature requests, etc.
Observation and interviews with personnel interacting with prototype technologies.

How we applied it!

Here we illustrate how this might be deployed over a three year period, drawing on our experience in RAPID-MIX:

UCD actions must be tailored to suit the specific scenarios, through asking questions such as:

What are we trying to find out about the product or prototype?
Who will be the users engaged in this session?
What techniques will be used?
Who will run and document this action?
What activities and/or materials need to be prepared in advance?
What documentation will be collected?

Responding to these questions, the following techniques might be deployed:

Method	Purpose of study	User group	Data output	Cost	Stage cycle
Ethnographic interviews and observation	Assessment of user needs and insights; Identify design opportunities for SMEs; Interpret user behaviour	Small groups; SME stakeholders; End users	Quantitative and qualitative	High	Early stage and throughout the project
Online surveysOffline surveys	Assessment of user needs, insights and feedback	Large groups; End users	Quantitative and qualitative	Medium	Early stage and throughout the project
BrainstormingBootleggingVideo brainstorming	Assessment of user needs and insights; Ideation, identify scenarios and design themes	Small groups; SME stakeholders	Qualitative	Low	Early stage
SketchingStoryboarding	Assessment of user needs and insights; Ideation, identify scenarios and design themes	Small groups; SME stakeholders; End users	Qualitative	Low	Early stage
Cultural probesTechnology probes	Explore users’ culture, attitudes towards environment and use of new media	Small groups; SME stakeholders; End users	Qualitative	Medium	Early stage
Design workbooks	Collect and document ideas and perspectives	Small groups; SME stakeholders	Qualitative	Low	Beginning of project
Lo-fi prototyping	Assess prototype compatibility with SMEs production roadmap	Small groups; SME stakeholders	Qualitative	Low	At initial stage and throughout project
High fidelity prototyping	Testing prototypes with SMEs and assess their compatibility with SMEs production roadmap	Small groups; SME stakeholders; End users;	Qualitative	High	Mid point in the project
Usability tests	Identify usability problems; Benchmarking and validation of MIX interfaces	5 to 12 participants; End users	Quantitative	High	Mid-to-final stage
Hacking, Do-It-Yourself and Appropriation	Identify new affordances in existing technologies and unexpected uses	Small groups; End users	Qualitative	Low	Final point in the project
Logging	Identify patterns of use, usability and technology problems both for API and MIX products	Small groups; SME stakeholders	Quantitative and qualitative	Medium	Mid point and final stages
Focus groups	Evaluation of prototypes with end users; extract quantifiable UX metrics	Small groups; SME stakeholders; End users	Qualitative	Low	Final stage
Longitudinal studies	Studying technology engagement over longer periods of time	Variable size groups; SME stakeholders; End users	Quantitative and qualitative	High	Throughout the entire project

References:

Abras, C., Maloney-Krichmar, D., & Preece, J. (2004). User-Centred Design. In Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction. Sage Publications