Briefing

What is it?

User centred design is a process that helps to ensure your offering is shaped by user needs, rather than purely business wants. 

It is often driven by a mix of research and UX design activities to address the whole user experience, eliminating any guesswork and opinion from everyone involved in the project.

The process varies from business to business, but generally consists of four key steps:

• Identify the user and their needs. Who will use the product? What will they use it for? Under what conditions will they use it? What emotions do they feel when they use it?

• Identify requirements. These are the goals and outcomes of both users and the business. What will the user gain from this? What is the expected revenue? What is the scope of design? What problems need solving? 

• Design solutions. This part of the process is typically done in stages from low fidelity concepting to a complete design. 

• Evaluate.Analyse the solutions, against the requirements outlined in step two and through usability testing we can gain a better insight to insure that users needs are met.

Why is it important?

By following this process you can truly focus on your customers and still achieve your business goals. When the process is implemented we often see the following happen:

• Positive user experiences which increase loyalty and brand reputation
• Bounce rates are decreased
• Increases competitiveness as customers are less likely to choose other businesses if yours meets their needs more effectively
• Increase in sales as customers are more likely to buy if the product meets their needs
• Improve clarity of your product offering through feedback from users

What to do next?

It’s important to adopt this framework as early as possible. This will give everyone involved (from stakeholders through designers) on how they’ll benefit the project. 

User centred design allows designers to consider the users at every stage of the design process and can be applied to both waterfall and agile methodology. 

Speak to us if you need help with any of the aforementioned steps.