What is the difference between user centered design and usability?
Until writing this column I didn't have the faintest idea. Fortunately
a quick search turned up a page that explains the difference quite nicely...
What is the difference between user centered design and usability?
Until writing this column I didn't have the faintest idea. Fortunately
a quick search turned up a page that explains the difference quite nicely:
UCD [user centered design] is often mistakenly considered a synonym for
usability. UCD is much more encompassing - it addresses the total user
experience, which is broader than usability. UCD is a multidisciplinary
approach.
I've encountered user centered design in some of my projects, though
it didn't know that its principles had a name. Indeed, this approach
must be multidisciplinary or fail miserably.
Multidisciplinary approach
Although a Web site development team generally includes a usability
expert--whose task it is to make sure that the forms are simple, the
navigation is easy to use and that users can find what they're looking
for--user centered design is the responsibility of every single member
of the team, programmers no less than graphical designers, database
wizards no less than usability experts.
Graphic designers think in terms of images, forms and colors.
Programmers think in terms of code. Those mindsets aren't wrong -
they're the expression of the strengths of each team member. However,
the same team members can get carried away by the disadvantages of
specialization. When that happens, someone has to put on the brakes and
say:
Please think of your users.
In fact think of your users usually means keep it simple,
and any sufficiently experienced Web development professional can break
through complex technical or artistic arguments and say this. Sometimes
even people who don't actually build the site, like salespeople or
project managers, express excellent ideas about user centered design.
More than once I've seen that of all the team, the project manager
was best able to think like a user, because the other team members were
too absorbed in the mindset of their specialization. This is not a
general rule; some project managers will fail miserably in this role,
but it does show that you cannot exclude any team member from the
process of user centered design.
Intuitive navigation
Complicated thinking within the development team is usually
countered by the other team members. The largest danger to user
centered design, however, comes from the outside.
One day a salesman, who'd sold a site to a client, came to my desk
and informed me of his promise that the navigation would be
"intuitive", and that the whole site would download within 5 seconds
even on old modems.
Both of those aspects of design and production--user-friendliness
and short download times--are important for user centered design, but
in this case they contradicted each other. In the context of the
proposal made to the client, "intuitive navigation" clearly meant
"images". Apart from the question whether these images would be
intuitive for every user, a graphical navigation usually takes longer
than 5 seconds to load over an old (say, 33.6kbps) modem.
Therefore I sent the salesman back to the drawing board. Needless to say, we lost the Web site to another company.
If the salesman had forgotten about the intuitive navigation and had
instead concentrated on the download speed, he would have given an
excellent example of user centered thinking, and we might have gotten
the job.
Client centered design
But he didn't. What did he do wrong?
- First of all he didn't have the experience to appreciate
simplicity. That's something he'd have learned in time. Besides, any
other team member could gently correct him (as I did).
- Second, and most importantly, he didn't practice user centered design but client centered design.
Thinking purely from the we've got to sell this proposal point of view the salesman wasn't wrong. Most clients are impressed by moving bits and graphical stuff, regardless of whether the subject of the site calls for it.
As soon as a client expects something "multimedial" it's hard to
guide the site back to something its users will appreciate, unless, of
course, the purpose of the site is to provide "multimedial"
entertainment.
Thus we've defined one reason for creating complex sites: client
expectations. How do we counter these expectations? How do we keep it
simple?
Countering client expectations
Unfortunately there is no general rule for the task of keeping a
client's expectations within reasonable limits. Some clients are easily
convinced by someone who knows what he's talking about, while others
will rigidly maintain their point of view, aided by their nephews
who've gone through a Front Page book and therefore know everything
there is to know about Web sites.
Nonetheless there are some specific rules. They won't
always work, but they'll give you some rough guidelines on how to work
with the client toward the goal of simplicity.
- First of all, don't promise too much, which is an easier
mistake to make than you'd think. Avoid talking about multimedia,
applications, animations and such. Once you've mentioned these
possibilities, the client is more likely to assume they'll be used in
his site, than to assume you're suggesting them.
Not promising anything is far better than going back on what the client perceived as a promise. - Find
out what the client expects from his site. If this is different from
what the users of the site expect, count on some hours of patiently
convincing the client. If you don't have the budget for this, either
refuse the job or resign yourself to client centered design.
- Don't try to explain your job to the client. Don't talk about usability, accessibility or compatibility, unless the client specifically asks for information.
Good clients assume you'll take care of these issues, because that's
what you're paid to do. Bad clients will disagree with you without
having the slightest idea what they're talking about, and will get
angry because you disagree with them.
All clients will get a slightly hazy look in their eyes and might
interpret your words wrongly, leading again to perceived promises on
which you can't deliver without sacrificing user centered design.
Professionalism
The issue underlying all these problems is professionalism. Site
design and development has only existed as a professional trade for ten
years at most... and more likely something like eight years. Further,
there are a lot of amateurs, good and bad.
Therefore Web design is seen by a lot of people not as a job, but
more of a glorified hobby. Thus people will assume they know all about
it and will only think of what they themselves like, instead of what
their users will like, and will generally work against the goals of
user centered design.
This problem will be solved when Web design is universally
recognized as a profession. Meanwhile the best you can do is to keep it
simple.
- Article courtesy of Peter-Paul Koch - www.digital-web.com
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