Brief talk given at the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 2010 meeting.

1. What User-Centered
Design is Good For
Dan Saffer, Kicker Studio
@odannyboy @kickerstudio

2. Dilemma: Most of the
products we use,
including many we
love, weren’t made
using UCD techniques.

3. There are five major
approaches to
designing products.

4. Approaches = Ways
to Answer Questions
When we have to make a design decision in the middle of a project (or even when first
deciding the product strategy), how do we go about making that decision?

5. User-Centered Design
Focus on User Needs and GOALS. Designer is translator of user needs and goals. Users guide
the product decisions.

6. User-Centered Design
Activity-Centered
Design
Focus is on the tasks and activities that need to be accomplished. Users are the performers of
activities. Role of the designer is to provide tools to accomplish actions.

7. Data-Driven Design
User-Centered Design
Activity-Centered
Design
Focus is on watching which provided option is preferred. Users are sources of behavioral
data. Designers are creators of options.

8. Data-Driven Design
User-Centered Design
Systems Design
Activity-Centered
Design
Focus is on the components of the system: sensor, comparator, actuator. Users set the goals
of the system. Designers make sure all the parts are in place.

9. Data-Driven Design
User-Centered Design
Systems Design
Activity-Centered
Design
Genius Design
Focus is on the skill and wisdom of the designer. Users are a source of validation (often via
usability testing). Designer is the source of inspiration.

10. Data-Driven Design
User-Centered Design
Systems Design
Activity-Centered
Design
Where
Genius Design Most
Design
Happens
Of course, in practice, we’re constantly weaving between the different approaches.

11. The Dirty Little Secret
All of these methods rely on the skill of the designer in one way or another.

12. No matter how many
users you talk to, no
matter how much data
you collect, at the end
of the day, a human
has to decide.

13. User Input + Designer
= Design
Input can come AFTER the product is out, of course. And that input can be disastrous.

14. No amount of data
analysis can make up
for a lack of talent.
Jeffrey Zeldman
Takes the talent of the designer to determine what the results of a UCD process should be.

15. Users (and their data)
should be there to
inform designers, not
substitute for them.
The purpose of UCD should be to bolster, enlighten, or confirm designer’s judgement.

16. Many people suggest that "you guys
should optimize the UI to match the
feature usage data." ...The only
problem? We've already designed that
product, and it's called Office 2003.
Jensen Harris on Office 2007

17. Research can be wrong.
The conclusions you can
draw from research can
be wrong.

18. Just as one example, with small sample sizes (which is usually what you’re working with with
UCD), you can prove just about anything.
Blue cars get hit by rocks more often than other cars, therefore we should never paint our
cars blue.

19. Some design
approaches work better
for different problems
than for others.

20. Activity-centered
Design
• Good for intense, focused, complex activities
• Refining task flows
• Making actions more efficient
• Not good for big picture rethinking
• Can de-skill users

21. Data-driven Design
• Good for existing designs
• Incremental improvements
• Fine tuning of a design
• Not good at all for big picture rethinking
• Mind numbingly tedious
• Can end up with a real dog’s breakfast

22. Systems Design
• Good for large-scale designs
• Systems of Systems
• Models for large teams
• Not good for small projects
• Very analytical

23. Genius Design
• Good for rapid projects
• Possible to get a “purer” vision and more
radical jumps in products
• Flexible
• Not good for inexperienced designers
• Need domain knowledge
• Can be very, very wrong

24. User-centered Design
• Understand unfamiliar domains
• Empathy with users—focus on people
• Can catch problems (and opportunities) up front
• Hard for people to evaluate (and generate) new
product ideas—Ford’s “Faster Horse” analogy
• Are you focused on the RIGHT users?
• User goals can be slippery
• Does it scale?

25. The trick is to determine
what approach works
best for the project
you’re on...even for just
part of the project.
Honest appraisal of your own skills, what’s the problem is (do you understand the users for
instance?)

26. Theory: UCD is best for
evolutionary design
within an established
market/category.

27. Great ideas can’t be
tested. Only mediocre
ideas can be tested.
George Lois

28. Thanks.
dan@kickerstudio.com
@odannyboy on Twitter
http://kickerstudio.com
@kickerstudio on Twitter