A user-Centered approach means to approach a design project from a mindset of “Users first” starting from very early in the design project. It also means that the target audience are the test subjects, and their reactions to early builds of the project should be analyzed and used to improve the design.
Reflection on the Topic
The user centered approach, defined as the “iterative design process in which designers focus on the users and their needs in each phase of the design process.“ (User Centered Design. (N.D.)) is a process used for designing something. It works so well because the people are are using to create your standard is your target audience. They are going to be the people who know the target work flow best, and they would be the best ones to offer improvement suggestions and possible new features to a program, as most of their suggestions would likely be something that the users know they need and the developers had know idea even existed.
The process works like this, you start with an idea or a need, create a solution, and evaluate that solution with an intended user. You take that feedback and do it again and again until you have gotten the project to fulfill its intended purpose for a variety of users. It works somewhat like this flowchart:
User Centered Design. (N.D.). User-Centered Approach Flowchart
My Thought
“My favorite part from the book was when the three principles of a user centered approached were proposed to be used as a standard, many people rejected it because they felt it was too obvious. I’ve seen this happen a million times in the IT world, never underestimate the value of a standard, and for that matter, documentation. Because you WILL forget something” (L. Spencer, 2018).
Reference List
User Centered Design. (N.D.). Retrieved from https://www.interaction-
design.org/literature/topics/user-centered-design
User Centered Design (N.D.). User-Centered Approach Flowchart. Retrieved from
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/user-centered-design
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