User-centered design

I've been asked a lot lately about an apparent confusion in the digital design community: who does what. I mainly talk about usability and user experience because I think this is the best summary of user problems (the entire experience of using products, systems, and services).

However, some other agencies offer interaction design as a core service, which also makes me uneasy because I think they increase the risk of confusing their clients. In my opinion, it is very simple.

The ISO 9241-11 international standard defines usability as follows:

In a specific usage environment, a product can be used by specific users to achieve specific goals efficiently and satisfactorily.

Therefore, good usability is part of a great user experience, which is what we design our products, systems, and services for. Interaction design is part of our design process.

The latest published standard for user-centered design, ISO 9241-11 , says: Interaction design is how we design tasks and interactions between systems and users. It is very important to produce design solutions (meeting user needs). The steps of user-centered design are as follows:

There are seven standard definitions of interaction design activities (although only some of them are explicitly called interaction design):

Make higher-level decisions (e.g., initial design concepts, essential effects)

Identify the task and the next task

Assign tasks and next steps to users and other parts of the system

Identify interactive project requirements to accomplish the task

Identify and select appropriate dialog technology (see ISO 9241 parts 12 to 17 )

Designing the order and timing of interaction design

Design the information architecture of the user interface, the interaction system that allows for the effective use of interactive items.

Of course, such activities cannot be separated, and I think it is difficult to define the user roles with absolute clarity if there are many different people involved. Interaction design skills are valuable throughout the user-centered design process, helping to create visual designs that are easily understood and evaluated by users.

For example, on a recent project, our interaction designers were involved early in the project to create rapid mockups of design options for a CMS (a system used to help define and gain investment from business stakeholders).

However, for insurance providers, interaction design scripts and annotated fidelity wireframes were created to visualize summary conclusions and serve as design templates during the review and testing process.

Frankly, I really don't care what we call it as long as we can help clients develop or acquire systems that can effectively help their users, but I think this can also help us explain what we do and why it's important if we strive to achieve a common description for our services.

Learn more…

The User Experience Guide for Web Consulting Firms is a great resource for those seeking expertise in user research, with 26 departments specializing in usability and accessibility. Focusing on the UK market, the report covers recent market trends and also contains useful advice for finding a supplier.

These comprehensive reports (formerly known as the Usability and Accessibility User Guide) are highly relevant to companies that are keen to retain and engage website users and customers.