Comments on: Donna Maurer on User Centered Design http://www.webword.com/wp/2006/12/26/donna-maurer-on-user-centered-design/ The usability blog of John S. Rhodes Sat, 05 Jul 2008 03:42:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.3 by: Ian http://www.webword.com/wp/2006/12/26/donna-maurer-on-user-centered-design/#comment-44856 Thu, 04 Jan 2007 20:55:18 +0000 http://www.webword.com/wp/2006/12/26/donna-maurer-on-user-centered-design/#comment-44856 I have to agree with the part that says 'design' is what we should be doing, and not 'usability'. We need to sell the idea that design isn't about making something look nice, but about making it work well (LukeW's site has a nice list of quotes about design). Well designed products are usable because the item's use was taken into consideration during the design. As for not being the center of the universe, I recently joined the UPA and the poster they send out (a board-game metaphor for UCD makes many of the developers I share space with laugh. Actual development of a system doesn't happen until near the end of the game. While I strive to be on the software development team from the very beginning and push design first, then code, there are plenty of things developers can be doing (database structure, connections and formatting of other data sources) at the same time as the design. I have to agree with the part that says ‘design’ is what we should be doing, and not ‘usability’. We need to sell the idea that design isn’t about making something look nice, but about making it work well (LukeW’s site has a nice list of quotes about design). Well designed products are usable because the item’s use was taken into consideration during the design.

As for not being the center of the universe, I recently joined the UPA and the poster they send out (a board-game metaphor for UCD makes many of the developers I share space with laugh. Actual development of a system doesn’t happen until near the end of the game. While I strive to be on the software development team from the very beginning and push design first, then code, there are plenty of things developers can be doing (database structure, connections and formatting of other data sources) at the same time as the design.

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