User-centred design
The most successful digital projects are those that put the needs of their users first. User-centred design is an approach that helps us to do just that.
What is User-Centred Design?
Putting users at the centre of the design process
User-Centred Design works around the principle that a product built around the needs of its users will be more successful and that the only way to deliver this is to fully understand the variety of users and their needs.
In its simplest form, a User-Centred Design process consists of identifying the people who will use the end product, their needs and working with them to deliver design solutions to meet those needs.
Process
User-Centred Design for Digital Projects
As a term coined in the 1970s, User-Centred Design was originally employed to design physical products that were intuitive to use, but more recently the process has been adopted by digital teams to great effect.
Starting by understanding users, their needs and how they align with an organisations objectives, digital UX designers will devise a set of features that a digital product could comprise.
These features are then developed iteratively and evaluated with real users as they grow from a rough concept to a completed feature ready to be released into the wild.
Examples of user-centred digital products
Benefits of User-centred Design
Understand and engage your users
One of the key benefits of involving the end users of a product in the design process is that the design team will inherit an understanding of an organisation's audience that can be transferred to future deliveries.
Avoid costly mistakes
Delivering features to meet validated user needs reduces the likelihood of doing the wrong thing and involving users at all stages of the design process means that the delivery team stays focussed and on track throughout. Any deviation is quickly corrected, through user testing, before large amounts of the project budget is wasted.
Deliver positive experiences
Users are more engaged in a product that they intuitively feel is built for them and that will only reflect positively on the organisation that releases it. This dedication to deliver for users leads to brand loyalty and a clear improvement in a brand's reputation.
