Putting the User at the Center of the Process

As consumers, we’re all affected by design, for better or worse, by the products we use, the information we receive, the services we’re subject to, etc. Good design improves our quality of living. Bad design invariably causes us to suffer. There are many possible reasons why a design may fail, but as a rule, good design is user-centered. This article is intended as a very basic primer on user-centered design and how it can positively impact your bottom-line, foster trust and build brand loyalty.

What Is User-Centered Design?
User-centered design (UCD) produces experiences that anticipate and deliver on users’ wants and needs to the point of delight, while achieving business goals. Design for commercial products and services, after all, is an exercise in solving business problems, and if the effort between satisfying the business and the user isn’t balanced, the outcome won’t be optimal.

Why Is It Important?
User-centered design makes good business sense. It helps an organization increase sales as products and services fulfill users’ needs and expectations, positively influencing their decision to purchase. User-centered design can help reduce costs in a number of ways as well, such as by decreasing development time, by minimizing users’ dependence on call-center support, by eliminating the need for expensive redesign efforts, and by helping avoid perhaps the most expensive failure; the decimation of brand perception caused by disappointed users. Not only does, user-centered design help avoid negative perceptions about brands, it actually builds brands as positive user experiences boost brand perception and increase the likelihood of loyalty and advocacy. Businesses also benefit from user-centered design because it facilitates efficient collaboration. UCD principles, tools and methods create a universal language, a unified approach and smooth integration points between all team members, improving productivity and shortening time-to-market.

How Do You Do It?
User-centered design frameworks and methodologies vary from company to company to fit their business model, but in general they share these principles:

• Successful solutions gracefully bridge business goals and user needs through their form, meaning and behavior.
• The user is at the center of the process. Put the user first, and business success can follow.
• The process follows a deductive line of thinking: Planning, research and strategy precede ideation and design, which in turn come before development.
• Team members and stakeholders collaborate closely and avoid working in isolation.
• Ideas are tested with users, early and often, until acceptance targets are achieved.
• There is an emphasis on thorough documentation. (But note, this can create strain on timelines and budgets if not managed carefully.)

Who Can Do It?
True user-centered design is a multi-disciplinary effort, often including activities from the fields of ethnographic research, strategic brand marketing, visual communications, advertising, architecture, filmmaking, journalism, storytelling, human factors engineering, interaction design, product design and software engineering. Listed below are some core roles that need to exist to support a user-centered design process.

The person leading the process of defining the problem-space/design requirements needs to be able to grasp the big-picture, have business acumen and understand people and their motivations. It helps if they have in-depth, hands-on experience developing solutions in the targeted media. This person is often responsible for creating the documentation for the project as well. They must have superior analytical skills, be excellent communicators and strong consensus-builders.

Designers also need to have a big-picture, creative, yet business-minded approach to problem solving. They must have an intense curiosity about people. They need to collaborate well with other disciplines, ask for feedback, and be open-minded. They need to have a sound foundation in design and have experience designing for the targeted media. They must understand the technological capabilities and constraints of the platforms and environments they are designing for.

Engineers must connect with the big-picture, and be part of the process from the beginning, not as an afterthought at the end. They need to be structured thinkers and have thorough attention to detail. They must have strong analytical skills. They need to be open to ideas, creating systems and efficiencies that allow for quick responses to design changes as the team iterates through possible solutions and gains feedback from users and the client.

Project Managers, like other roles, must understand the big-picture. Like Engineers, they need to be analytical and structured thinkers. They must have strong leadership skills, be diplomatic, great communicators and have strong attention to detail.

How To Get the Most Out of UCD
If you are managing user-centered design services, either in-house or outsourced, here are some things to consider:

Embrace a user-centered mindset. Align yourself and stakeholders in the process with the basic principles of user-centered design mentioned above. To persuade others to this way of thinking, remember to refer back to how UCD positively impacts the bottom-line.

Act as advocates for your users. Understand your users’ needs and assign them equal importance as your business goals. Measure the merit of proposed solutions against feedback from users as well as business stakeholders.

Ask your users to help you. Don’t just decide what your users want and how they want it, then foist it upon them. Get them involved in designing your products and services, then validate the way in which they are delivered.

Get out of your own way. Don’t put your own interests before your users’. As you face challenges on projects, strive to maintain a balance between business goals and user needs with every decision. Sometimes it takes some deep thinking and creativity, but the answer is almost always there.

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Implementing and following a user-centered process takes know-how and experience but the benefits, as most strong brands demonstrate, are significant. If things seem to be missing the mark at your company and you aren’t perceived in the market quite the way you want to be, or your productivity and profits are not optimal, then chances are that some improvements to your process could help quite a bit. When identifying opportunities for improvements, look for ways to incorporate the user into the process more. You’ll be glad you did.