User Centered Designs

 

Keywords: user centered designs , user centered design, user centred design, user centered web design, user centered design approach, user centered design techniques

 

• Tips to design User Centered Designs

 

User centered designs, also termed as UCD, refers to an approach of design where the processing of information is focused on the users who will use the said product. Through phases comprising planning, design and development, a product is finally produced because of adopting the user centered design approach.

 

Tips to design User Centered Designs with the User Centered Design approach:

 

• Ask Questions:
  This is one of the most vital elements of user centered web design. By using this approach, one needs to ask questions about the users, their tasks and goals, and conclude as to how these findings can be used to drive development with design. The following basic questions are integral to user centered design. Some basic questions relating to user centered web design are as follows:
  • Who are the users?
  • What are the tasks and goals of the users?
  • How have the users’ experience levels been with this product?
  • What functions do the users expect or require from this product?
  • What kind of information would the users find useful?
  • How can the user centered design propel the development of the users' cognitive processes?
• Useful and Usable:
  All user centred design must essentially be useful and usable. Usefulness implies that the user must be able to relate to the relevance, carry forward with the functions and utilize this information. Usability, on the other hand, refers to the ease of use for a user. These two factors are integral to make a user centred design to be effective.
• Reduce Memory Load:
  User centered design techniques should reduce the user memory load. To make users recognize rather than memorize or remember, it is important for screen elements to be meaningful and consistent.
• Information Accessibility:
  User centered design techniques should help the users find information quickly and easily by providing information in small nuggets rather than in loads. Another good option is to provide clues so that users can find information by scanning instead of reading.
• Easy Navigation:
  A lot of web users report feeling lost on a site. User centered designs should provide easy navigation experience. The links, for example, should be descriptive in a way that lets users understand what to expect when they click the link. The pages should also have visible elements to let a user know what page they are visiting, how it is related to the concept they want to know more about and how to get to other related pages. There should be no ‘usability’ issue when pressing the back button which is the most commonly used option by web users.
• Text Legibility:
  The text should be easy to read. Ornamental fonts may be strictly avoided. Italics are also a strain to read, so it is best to avoid the use of italics. Sans serif font is a very easy font to read for the body text.
• Language:
  Last but not least, to ensure clarity, it is best to use short sentences, active voice and active verbs along with simple, easy to understand sentence structures. Avoid the use of idioms, puns, metaphors and the such.

 

To sum up, it can be stated that user centered designs definitely help users who are highly goal-driven on the Internet, to accomplish their set objectives. So with these tips, give a boost and develop your user centered designs in the most compelling, result driven way.