User is the center of any product or service
Users - Needs- Opportunities - Solutions
Studying USERS we discover which are their NEEDS, and needs are translated to INNOVATION OPPORTUNITIES through design SOLUTIONS of products and services
User Centered Design bring the right knowledge to develop products and services that fit with the people's reality
How can we know what users THINK, FEEL and DO?
User studies allow us to understand which is the user experience by researching the usage environments and the established relations between products and people
User centered design's objective is to understand user's needs and experience in order to create successful products and services.
Identify uncovered user needs bring an important innovation opportunity to companies
User Studies have different names depending on the field where are applied and the research objective and procedure.
Some synonymous are:
- Human Factors - Consumer Understanding - User Centered Design - Experience Design - User Centered Innovation - Usability -
User centered design is based on understanding the user experience in order to identify unsatisfied user needs and develop products and services adapted to people's reality. To achieve this, some methodologies from the social sciences are used.
User centered design methodology is based on in-context research of user's experiences.
Researchers observe users on the real usage environment (for instance going with them to the supermarket, observing how they cut the garden grass, et.) and ask them open ended questions in order to understand the activities and the experience's social and emotional meanings.
In-context user research's objective is to understand which are their activities, in which environments are happening, through which interactions, with which objects and which users are involved.
User Studies bring information that can be translated to useful knowledge to:
innovate mass consumption products
design urban spaces
qualitative market studies
any product or service with high user interaction