User-Centered Design – A Reality Check

ABSTRACT

In the past years scores of methods for user-centered design have been developed – and validated. But do they really work? In reality that is. In practice user-centered product development is hectic and messy, at best. This presentation discusses barriers and enablers for usability in the development practice of electronic consumer products, identified through three case studies across 10 product development groups.

About

During his PhD at the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering of TU Delft, Jasper van Kuijk studied how companies deal with usability in the development of electronic consumer products. He conducted three case studies in which he took a multi-actor, integrated approach, studying the product development process as a whole and not just user testing or design. Through his research he identified mechanisms of barriers and enablers for usability in practice. In December 2010 he defended his thesis ‘Managing Product Usability’. He is also the author of the product usability weblog (www.uselog.com) where he writes about consumer product usability.