Quilacio, Alloysius Mark A.
BSIT-III
Contextual design (CD) is a user-centered design process developed by
Hugh Beyer and Karen Holtzblatt. It incorporates ethnographic methods for
gathering data relevant to the product via field studies,
rationalizing workflows, and designing human–computer interfaces. In
practice, this means that researchers aggregate data from customers in the
field where people are living and applying these findings into a final product.
[1]
Contextual design can be seen as an alternative to engineering and
feature driven models of creating new systems.
5 models of contextual design
1. Flow model - represents the coordination, communication,
interaction, roles, and responsibilities of the people in a certain work
practice
2. Sequence model - represents the steps users go through to
accomplish a certain activity, including breakdowns
3. Cultural model - represents the norms, influences, and pressures
that are present in the work environment
4. Artifact model - represents the documents or other physical things
that are created while working or are used to support the work.
Artifacts often have a structure or styling that could represent the
user's way of structuring the work
5. Physical model - represents the physical environment where the
work tasks are accomplished; often, there are multiple physical models
representing, e.g., office layout, network topology, or the layout of
tools on a computer display.