On Jun 24, 2008, at 1:57 PM, Robert Hoekman Jr wrote:
I agree 100%, but I also wonder if this is how UCD, GDD, and others
came
about in the first place
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User-centered_design
It's interesting to note how little there is about design in an entry
titled "user centered design." I will also note, that a statement like:
"In broad terms, user-centered design (UCD) is a design philosophy and
a process in which the needs, wants, and limitations of the end user
of an interface or document are given extensive attention at each
stage of the design process."
Could only come from a group of people with little industrial design
or graphic design training. Both ID and GD are rooted in things like
communication, context and audience. To ignore the audience or the
customer is inherently bad design process. In other words... UCD at
best is redundant as a concept and at worst, allows an opening to
engage in poor design practice by ignoring the balance that is need in
creating products between use, technology and commerce.
My experience has been that UCD came into being because too many
people without design backgrounds were thrust into an environment in
software and interface design where they had to go toe to toe with
hard-nosed engineers or business types. Since too many people lacked
design training or lacked the ability to work through the means to
communicate with those types of people who think in terms of pure
business or pure technology, early folks in this industry fell back to
what they knew since many of them came from backgrounds that were more
rooted in research or process: They invented a "process" that forces
the team back to consider the user at every stage to create the balance.
Good design assumes an understanding of audience, context and aims to
fully communicate and converse. And even so, good design is ultimately
a balancing act to address a large set of concerns, of which the user
is but one piece.
--
Andrei Herasimchuk
Principal, Involution Studios
innovating the digital world
e. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
c. +1 408 306 6422
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