So, what separates the good from the bad? And how can you incorporate techniques that make the difference. The best use a technique known as user-centered design<\/strong> (UCD).<\/p>\n\n\n\n User-centered design is a series of processes that focus intensely on user needs and preferences. It considers the target user\u2019s requirements, objectives, and feedback. It engages actual users consistently, using research and engagement. Every design decision is evaluated in the context of whether it delivers value to the user. User-centered design gives you a way of adding an emotional impact to your products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n User-centered design includes multiple phases: identify need<\/strong> considers the people who will use the product; context of use<\/strong> examines what they will use it for and under what conditions they will use it; specify requirements<\/strong> identifies any business requirements or user goals that must be met for the product to be successful; produce design solutions<\/strong> typically includes rough concept to finished design; evaluate designs<\/strong> considers usability testing to ensure direct feedback from real users; and finally system satisfies<\/strong> involves deploying the product and evaluating that it satisfies user needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As touched on earlier, UCD makes your product desirable \u2014 and keeps people using it. The process helps to understand users\u2019 needs and preferences regarding features of a product, task, goals, user flows<\/a>, and more. At the end of the day, UCD has become one of the most important user experience requirements \u2013 that of being user-centered. It should be implemented throughout the entire customer experience<\/a>, no guessing, no personal opinion. What matters is what your users say and do. Every \u201ctouchpoint\u201d that the customer has with the product should be analyzed, well designed and developed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Donald Norman, a cognitive science researcher, often considered the godfather of UX whose 1988 book The Design of Everyday Things <\/em>remains a sort of UX bible, said that design decisions should be based on the needs and wants of users, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n User-centered design creates a unique chance to design together with communities. User-centered designers deeply understand the folks they\u2019re trying to serve. They create lots of ideas and make innovative new products rooted in people\u2019s actual needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To design in a user-centric way, identify the people who will use the product, what they\u2019ll use it for, and the conditions under which they will use it. Observe people\u2019s lives and hear their hopes and needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s an example of some steps in the UCD process you might use to design a dashboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By nature, dashboards serve the executive and management levels of an organization; even so, the individuals of this user base will be diverse. To better understand who you are designing for, determine their experiences and abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n T<\/em>he user of this dashboard not only is experienced with sales management, but also holds the analytical capabilities needed to make the connections between these diverse data visualizations. The grouping of information, connections through color, and visual explanations of charts enhance the user\u2019s ability to detect trends.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n A dashboard can be used in many ways so designing with the user\u2019s workflow in mind will add structure to the design decision process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consider the user\u2019s environment<\/strong>: Will they be using the dashboard in their own office or in the field? Will the user be in-doors, out-doors, or both?<\/p><\/li>\n\n\n\n Know how the user will typically view the dashboard<\/strong>: Is it to be shown on a large presentation screen, a mobile device, or on a piece of paper?<\/p><\/li>\n\n\n\n Understand the amount of time<\/strong> the user has to review the data: Will they slowly and meticulously review each metric, or do they need to quickly and deliberately scan the dashboard for key numbers?<\/p><\/li>\n\n\n\n Consider collaboration<\/strong>: Would it serve the user to be able to share or export information from the dashboard? Does the dashboard need to format to print?<\/p><\/li>\n\n\n\n Connectivity of the dashboard<\/strong> may serve your audience as well: Will your audience require an internet connection to achieve their goals? Do they require live data sources?<\/p><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n An essential part of user-centered design is usability testing, also known as user testing<\/a>. Unlike functionality testing that verifies that the functions of a product or service works as intended, user testing measures the ease of use and intuitiveness of a product or service. It asks users to perform a task and observe what they do, where they succeed and where they have difficulties, which is the essence of UCD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are many options for how to user test, from in-person meetings to remote user testing to moderated or unmoderated user testing. Remote user testing is a way to test how easy it is to use your software with people who are in different geographical locations. It can include testing a design prototype of your software before coding begins or even to test an already built-out website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For those designing software, remote user testing lets a developer or usability analyst get fast feedback before a developer writes the code that turns the design \u2014 or prototype \u2014 into a completed app. It differs from traditional usability testing that brings users and researchers together in one place to conduct the test. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Indigo.Design<\/a> is a complete design-to-code system from Infragistics that is built on the concept of UCD by integrating prototyping, design systems, user testing, and code generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Indigo Design System is a Sketch library that is included with Indigo.Design and contains various components (symbols) that allow a designer to create intricate user interfaces and leverage pre-made palettes, typographies and assets such as icons and illustrations. On top of that UI components are built to offer design time flexibility through various states and templates. To improve your productivity there is also a collection of patterns such as product details layouts, various forms, and pricing tables among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To see how this works, check out how to create a Sketch artboard<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Indigo.Design also offers prototyping and usability testing. You can import your Sketch document and share it in cloud.indigo.design as an interactive prototype. This will allow your stakeholders to view your prototype on any device and give feedback via comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you are ready to user test your prototype, Indigo.Design offers a strong user testing function. Here\u2019s what you can learn:<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The above example shows an Indigo.Design usability test <\/em>with 3 tasks, and each task has multiple steps. Once users complete the test, designers or analysts will have direct feedback on the prototype\u2019s usability.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat Is User-Centered Design?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"User](\"http:\/\/static.infragistics.com\/marketing\/Blogs\/Migration\/00\/00\/00\/03\/12\/0804.user-centered-process.png\" "\\"User")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhy User-Centered Design Is Important<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Designing a Dashboard with User-Centered Design<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Who is my Audience?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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![\"](\"http:\/\/static.infragistics.com\/marketing\/Blogs\/Migration\/00\/00\/00\/03\/12\/3527.user-centered-design-dashboard.png\" "\\"")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nHow Will the Dashboard be Used?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Usability Testing \u2014 Essential Part of User-Centered Design<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Design, Usability Testing and More with Indigo.Design<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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![\"How](\"\/products\/indigo-design\/help\/images\/setting_up_a_usability_test_1.png\" "\\"How")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Indigo.Design\"](\"https:\/\/static.infragistics.com\/marketing\/Blog-in-content-ads\/IndigoDesign\/indigo-design-blog-ad.jpg\" "\\"Indigo.Design\\"\/")
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