| Da Vinci
User Centered Design Approach
The Da Vinci Usability User Centered Design methodology is a process
for incorporating usability engineering into the systems and web site
design process. Usability engineering, also known as usability, is
the process of making systems easy to use, and ensuring that they
meet the needs of their users. There are three principles of usability
that are essential to designing a successful user interface:
- Understand your users. To
design an effective user interface, you must know who will be
using your system, what they will use it for, and how they will
use it.
- Design visually and iteratively. Wireframes, mockups and prototypes are quick ways to visualize a design. Using these tools, designs can be created, reviewed and redesigned iteratively to produce a clear and intuitive user interface.
- Test designs with users. Integrating user feedback into the design through usability testing, beta testing, interviews and focus groups provides valuable ideas for improving the design.
Da Vinci Usability's user centered design methodology takes a structured
approach to incorporating these principles into the system design
process. It is intended to help project teams plan and execute the
appropriate user centered design tasks to ensure that systems are
easy to use and meet the needs of their users. UCD Methodology Overview
The following is a brief description of each of the tasks in our User
Centered Design (UCD) methodology:
-
User and Task Analysis
The purpose of a user analysis is to understand, at a high level,
who will be using a user interface and how they will use it. Da
Vinci Usability uses user profiling, interviews, focus groups
and contextual analysis to complete the user analysis. The purpose of the task analysis is to understand in detail what
tasks users want to accomplish within a user interface, and how
they want to accomplish them. Da Vinci Usability works with users
to create current and future state task flows that capture detailed
user needs.
- Information
Architecture The Information Architecture is a high-level
map of how information will be organized in a user interface.
In many ways, the correct design of the information architecture
is key to a successful user interface, as it provides a strong
foundation on which to build the detailed user interface screens.
- Initial User
Interface Design Once the information architecture has
been completed, detailed screens can be designed. Working the
the information that has been collected in the previous steps,
and where possible working directly with users, we will complete
a set of screen mockups or storyboards. The screen designs often
start as rough mockups, and are transferred into Visio or HTML
renderings as the are refined.
- Final User Interface
Design and Create a UI Prototype As the screens reviewed
and redesigned, they are transferred into an on-line prototype.
A user interface prototype helps users, the business team and
the systems team visualize what how the system or site will look
and feel. A prototype is also essential for conducting usability
testing.
-
User Interface Specification
After the user interface has been designed, the details of each
screen design are documented in a user interface specification.
- Usability Testing In usability testing, prospective users of a system or
a site are asked to use a prototype of the system or site to perform
realistic tasks. By observing users while they are trying to use
the screens, any usability flaws can be quickly uncovered and
fixed.
- User Interface
Style Guide The purpose of a user interface style guide
is to ensure that all related sites or applications have a similar
look and feel. The style guide captures the high-level standards
and guidelines behind a UI design, and provide a library of user
interface standards and conventions to be drawn upon in interface
design.
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