User-Centred Design
Design with users—not just for an imagined “average person.”
By the end of class, you should be able to…
Explain UCD
Describe UCD and explain how users are involved across its five stages.
Use the U-T-E lens
Analyse the user, task and environment together.
Recognize trade-offs
Explain advantages and disadvantages of a UCD approach.
Apply usability thinking
Use user evidence to identify design opportunities.
UCD begins with empathy.
Understanding needs, wants, limitations and behaviours helps designers avoid solving the wrong problem.
What must work?
Requirements linked to function, safety, access or task completion.
What would improve the experience?
Preferences may influence desirability but still need evidence.
What constrains use?
Physical, sensory, cognitive, contextual or environmental constraints.
UCD has its own five stages.
Research → Concept → Design → Implementation → Launch. Users should be involved throughout. These stage names are related to—but not interchangeable with—the DP design process labels from Lesson 2.
Investigate users, tasks, environments and needs.
Keep user needs visible while possible directions are explored.
Develop and test the proposed product with users.
Keep users involved as the developed design is put into use.
Continue learning from users when the product reaches real use.
Use the User–Task–Environment lens.
UCD teams develop a deep understanding of all three because the same person can struggle with a product in one situation and succeed in another.
Who is interacting?
Characteristics, capabilities, behaviour, needs and motivations.
What are they trying to do?
Sequence of actions, goals, difficulty and critical points.
Where does use happen?
Physical, social and technological context can change the design requirement.
Same product, different context
A reusable water bottle is easy to open at a desk but difficult for a cyclist wearing gloves.
What explains the difference best?
Complex user problems rarely belong to one expert.
Experience + form
Connects user needs to product decisions and prototypes.
Function + performance
Tests feasibility, loads, mechanisms or technical performance.
People + interaction
Studies capabilities, behaviour and usability.
Production reality
Adds insight about materials, construction and repeatability.
Why UCD is powerful—and demanding.
UCD can improve relevance and usability, but involving real users takes planning, time and careful interpretation.
Evidence-based decisions
Direct user involvement helps reveal real needs and pain points.
Better fit to diverse users
Testing can expose requirements a designer would not predict alone.
Time + access
Recruiting users and gathering useful feedback can be difficult.
Conflicting needs
Different users may want incompatible things; the designer must justify trade-offs.
Choose methods that reveal different kinds of evidence.
| Method | Useful for |
|---|---|
| Field research / observation | Seeing actual behaviour, context and unspoken difficulties. |
| Interviews | Exploring motivations, explanations, priorities and experiences. |
| Surveys | Collecting responses from a broader user population efficiently. |
| Focus groups | Exploring reactions and discussion among several users. |
| Task analysis | Breaking a goal into steps to identify critical points for improvement. |
Personae represent patterns found in research.
A primary persona should be grounded in user-centred research—not invented to make the project look professional.
“Frequently carries a laptop and lunch between buildings; values one-hand access.”
Traceable to observed behaviour and interview data.
“Alex loves technology and hates boring products.”
Sounds detailed, but may have no research behind it.
Usability objectives make experience testable.
B1.1 requires five usability objectives that can be applied when evaluating a product.
Can competence be learned?
After a defined period of training, can the user operate at the required level of competence?
How quickly can the task be done?
Once learned, does the design support fast, effective use?
Can the user return later?
Is it easy to remember how to use after a gap?
What goes wrong—and how does it feel?
Consider mistakes, recovery and overall user response.
UCD in a design decision
Three users say a pill organizer is hard to open. One user has reduced hand strength; another has long fingernails; the third struggles to see which compartment is open.
What is the strongest UCD response?
User evidence informs professional judgement.
What do users report?
Preferences, frustrations and priorities matter.
What do users actually do?
Behaviour can reveal needs users do not verbalize.
What is feasible + responsible?
Safety, technical constraints and conflicting requirements still need designer judgement.
Analyse a classroom object using U-T-E.
Choose a chair, desk, door handle, water fountain or backpack.
Who uses it? What capabilities or limitations matter?
What sequence must the user complete?
What physical/social context affects use?
What evidence would you still need before redesigning?
Eight UCD terms to retrieve
Retrieve first. Then check.
Can you retrieve it without looking back?
Apply UCD to an unfamiliar product.
Before you leave…
User-Centred Research Methods
Keep the evidence chain moving: user → research → decision → test.
Explain today’s key ideas without notes, then apply one idea to a different product, user or design context.