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User-Centered
Design (UCD) is a design methodology that considers who the user is, how
they perform their work, what they need in order to do their job, and any
limitations that might impede their progress and success. In terms of
communication, this means learning about the audience and their needs for
clear documentation. For user interfaces it means understanding the user's
job and workflow and designing an interface that meets or exceeds their
expectations. With UCD, software products are centered and built around the
user; not around the software. This means that the user does not have to
adapt to the software; the software should be built already adapted to the
user.
We have the
experience to conduct the following or we can train your designers and
developers in how to conduct them.
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Heuristic Evaluation
An heuristic evaluation is a systematic inspection of the user
interface design done for usability. An heuristic evaluation is
based on a set of criteria and is a relatively inexpensive method to
identify usability problems before they can become a part of the
finished product. |
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Card Sort - Classification
A card sort is a usability method used to determine how people group
things—it helps to find patterns in how users expect to find content
or functionality. This is often helpful in designing navigation
schemes for Web sites or in which menus to include specific
commands. |
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Audience Analysis / Persona
We can assist you to perform an audience analysis or conduct one on
your behalf. An audience analysis helps you see exactly who your
audience is and their characteristics. A "Persona" is a description
of your user or users that help you design and develop a product for
a specific person. |
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Needs Analysis
A needs analysis is conducted in concert with an audience analysis
and identifies the job/work needs of your target audience. |
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Task Analysis
A task analysis is a description of all of the tasks the user (your
target audience) performs in the course of their work. Conducting a
task analysis allows you to design your software to the specific
tasks the user needs to do. We also have self-paced training on how
to conduct task analysis. |
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Style Guides
Constructing a style guide can help a development come to consensus
on the characteristics of the user interface and help them to
standardize and keep the interface consistent. |
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Prototyping (Paper or Multimedia)
Based on the information gained from analyzing your target audience
and understanding your market and technology, we can construct a
paper or a multimedia prototype that you can use to guide the
construction of your interface. |
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Software and Documentation Inspection
Formal software inspection is a methodology, invented by Michael
Fagan at IBM, to identify defects in software design early in the
product life cycle. John Zuchero was the first technical
communications specialist to adapt Fagan-based inspections to user
documentation, which he documented in "Using Inspections to Improve
the Quality of Product Documentation and Code." Technical
Communication. August. 1995. Zuchero was also the first SEI
(Software Engineering Institute) facilitator who was not a software
engineer. |
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