USER CENTERED

DESIGN and
USABILITY & USER
EXPERIENCE
CS214 HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION
Week 2 and Week 3 Topics
USER-CENTERED DESIGN
User-Centered Design (UCD) is an approach to product
design that focuses on creating a product or service that
meets the needs and desires of its intended users.
USER-CENTERED DESIGN
Seeks to answer the following:
● What is the important to the users
● The task users do, how frequently, and in what order
● The user’s work environment
● The user’s problems and constraints
● User’s expectation in terms of the functionality
● Output required and in what form
USER-CENTERED DESIGN
Goal is to create a product more useful and usable.
● Ease to use product
● Satisfy customer
● Decrease expenditures on technical support and
training
● Advertise ease-to-use successes
● Ultimately increase the market share.
UCD Principles
● Set business goals
● Understand the users
● Design the total user experience
● Evaluate the designs
● Assess competitiveness
● Manage by continual user observation
P1: Set Business Goals
Determining the target market, intended users, and
primary competition is central to all design and user
participation.
P2: Understand Users
If you want a user to understand the product, you must
understand the user first.
P3: Design the total UX
Everything the customer’s perceives is designed to
satisfy user’s needs.
P4: Evaluate the Designs
Users’ Feedback
P5: Assess Competitiveness
P6: Manage User Observation
User Personas
● A user persona is a fictional representation of a
target user or a specific user segment that captures
their characteristics, goals, motivations, behaviors,
and preferences.
● Personas are created to help designers and product
teams better understand and empathize with their
users, enabling them to design products and services
that meet user needs effectively.
User Personas
● A user persona is a fictional representation of a
target user or a specific user segment that captures
their characteristics, goals, motivations, behaviors,
and preferences.
● Personas are created to help designers and product
teams better understand and empathize with their
users, enabling them to design products and services
that meet user needs effectively.
User Personas
Developing User Personas
1. Conduct User Research
2. Identify Patterns and Group Users
3. Define Persona Categories
4. Create Persona Profiles
5. Validate and Refine:
Example of User Persona
Persona: Sarah the Student
Background:
Name: Sarah Thompson
Age: 21
Education: College student majoring in Psychology
Goals: Perform well academically, manage time
effectively, and stay organized
Tech proficiency: Comfortable with technology and uses a
smartphone, laptop, and various productivity apps
Example of User Persona
Scenario: Managing Study Schedule
Context: Sarah is in her second year of college and
wants to create a study schedule for her upcoming
exams. She has multiple subjects to cover and wants to
allocate her time efficiently.
Usability & User Experience
Usability - refers to the ease with which users can
interact with a product or system to achieve their goals
effectively and efficiently.

User Experience - encompasses a broader range of

factors that shape a person's overall experience while
interacting with a product or system. It encompasses the
user's emotions, perceptions, preferences, and attitudes
towards the design.
Designing for Usability
● User-Centered Design: Place the needs and goals of the
users at the forefront of the design process. Understand
their tasks, preferences, and context of use through user
research and involve users in the design process through
testing and feedback.
● Clear and Consistent Interface: Use a clear and
consistent design language throughout the interface.
Maintain a logical and predictable layout, grouping
related elements together and providing clear visual cues
for interaction.
Designing for Usability
● Simplicity and Minimalism: Keep the design simple and
avoid unnecessary complexity. Remove any extraneous or
redundant elements that might confuse or overwhelm
users. Strive for simplicity in terms of navigation, actions,
and visual presentation.
● Learnability: Design with the goal of making it easy for
users to learn how to use the product. Use familiar
conventions and metaphors, provide informative
instructions and tooltips, and consider progressive
disclosure to reveal complexity gradually.
Designing for Usability
● Feedback and Response: Provide immediate and clear
feedback to users when they perform actions.
● Error Prevention and Handling: Anticipate and prevent
errors whenever possible. Use clear error messages that
explain the problem and suggest solutions. Allow users to
undo actions and provide a straightforward way to
recover from errors without losing progress.
● Efficiency and Speed: Optimize the product's
performance and minimize the time required to complete
tasks.
Designing for Usability
● Usability Testing: Regularly conduct usability testing to
gather feedback and identify areas of improvement.
Observe how users interact with the product, analyze
their behavior, and make iterative design changes based
on the insights gained.
● Continuous Improvement: Usability is an ongoing
process. Collect user feedback, monitor analytics, and
gather insights to continually refine and enhance the
product's usability over time.
Designing for User Experience
● User Research: Gain a deep understanding of the target users, their
goals, motivations, and behaviors. Conduct qualitative and
quantitative research, such as interviews, surveys, and observation,
to uncover user needs and preferences.
● User Personas: Create user personas, fictional representations of
your target users, to guide the design process. Personas help
designers empathize with users and make informed design
decisions that align with their characteristics and goals.
● Information Architecture: Organize and structure information in a
way that is intuitive and easy to navigate. Design clear hierarchies,
categorize information logically, and use meaningful labels and
terminology.
Designing for User Experience
● Interaction Design: Design intuitive and efficient interactions that
enable users to accomplish tasks seamlessly. Consider the flow of
user actions, provide clear and consistent feedback, and minimize
cognitive load by reducing unnecessary steps.
● Visual Design: Create visually appealing interfaces that reflect the
brand identity and resonate with users. Use appropriate color
schemes, typography, imagery, and layout to enhance aesthetics,
legibility, and overall visual coherence.
● Prototyping and Iteration: Develop prototypes to test and refine
the design. Use low-fidelity wireframes or interactive prototypes to
gather user feedback and iterate on the design based on user
insights.