Process: User-Centered Design

As UX professionals, we have a great many analytical and descriptive tools available to us. In fact, there are so many that it can sometimes be difficult to decide which tool is most appropriate for a given task! Hierarchical task analysis (HTA) is an underused approach in user experience, but one you can easily apply when either modifying an existing design or creating a new design.

This technique has applications across a range of different problem domains, including time-and-motion studies, personnel selection, or training, and provides a broad and deep understanding of task performance. While there are core principles that guide a hierarchical task analysis, it’s possible to adapt the basic approach in a huge number of ways to support the needs of any domain under consideration. In this column, I’ll examine one approach to hierarchical task analysis that enables UX designers to quickly understand both what a system does and how its capabilities translate into the system’s user experience. You can also use this approach to support the UX development process. Read More

Explaining my work as a UX designer to my dad inspired this comparison, and I often find myself explaining my work to others in similarly relatable terms. When my dad, a civil engineer, asked me what I do as a UX designer, I was stumped. To my dad, my world of wireframes, prototypes, and user research seemed abstract and intangible. Then, inspiration struck: “Imagine you were building a house. You would’t start construction without understanding who will live there, right? In the same way, I design digital products to meet people’s needs.”

That analogy instantly clicked with him. Not only did it help me explain my work, but it also revealed a profound similarity between the process of constructing a house and designing a user experience. Both involve carefully planned phases, collaboration between experts, and a balance of creativity and technical precision. Read More

Personas are essential tools in adopting a user-centered approach to product design. Personas help a product team maintain a constant focus on their target users, ensuring that the designed product conforms to their needs and requirements. Personas are useful throughout the complete design lifecycle—from developing business requirements, product concepts, functional specifications, and Web content to interaction and visual design for the product user interface.

Alan Cooper pioneered the adoption of the Goal-Directed Design methodology, including the use of personas, as a practical approach to interaction design for high-technology products. Creating personas is a quick, efficient way of gauging the needs and requirements of a potentially diverse user base that would make use of a particular product, service, or system in different contexts and environments. Read More