User centred design

User centred design is a design philosophy that we saw rise to prominence in the mid 1990s, a rise which we certainly took part in and benefited from. However, user centred design seems to be under constant attack - not because there is anything wrong with the philosophy of course - but because other factors in the production of interfaces compete with the need to focus on the user. Today (and in fact throughout the history of product development), the biggest factors prohibiting attention to user needs in design are the timely delivery of finished product and attention to the bottom line or budget, along with web-specific aspects of production such as search engine optimization, marketing and other factors that compete for attention and budget.

The tug of war between budget constraints and proper attention to user centred design is apparent in numerous recent cases. In 2009, Sitepoint.com's launch of flippa.com was much-maligned by users. Windows Vista has been roundly criticized for critical problems with usability - issues that nearly crippled this much-ballyhooed operating system. In 2008, the Seattle Post Intelligencer published the full copy of Bill Gates' rant to Microsoft engineers (from 2003) who seemed to have forgotten to test the usability of the then-newly-developed Windows Movie Maker. Applying the subject line "Windows Usability Systematic degradation flame," Gates detailed a terrible user experience he had with the product, calling the whole process of using it "an absolute mess." Even at a world leader like Microsoft, Gates found reason to be "disappointed at how Windows Usability has been going backwards and the program management groups don't drive usability issues." So attention to user centred design is under siege everywhere.

In web development shops across the world, this same lack of attention to user centred design results in the development of subpar products. Don't let your company be one of the many throughout history that has rushed product to market without adequate attention to user needs. At Interpix Design we apply our many years of experience to balance our budget requirements against your need to create a user centred design that will fully satisfy the needs of your customers or users.

Read a case study of one of our full scale user centred design projects.

The user centred design process
The user centred design process at Interpix Design is based on our years of experience with consulting, designing and building. We provide several services under our list of detailed interface design services including project consulting while you are in the design phase, to redesign for usability, to a tactical user centred interface design. We can tailor our process to the exact needs of your project.

Read more about the basics of user centred design process or take a closer look at what it means to be user centric.

Contact us about our user centred design consulting services.