| The first step in many design projects is to
understand the people who will use the software. How is the software used? How does it fit
into each person’s larger job? What works well, and what problems can the interface
design help solve? Analysis Techniques
Cognetics uses a variety of approaches to bring these insights to the design process.
- Contextual Inquiry is used to observe people engaging in the task which
the software will support. By seeing the user in context, the analysis includes not only
the use of the interface, but the related tasks and other intangibles.
- User Interviews are often used along with contextual inquiry. These
interviews are structured interactions during which the user describes their work and
contributes to a discussion of solutions. Interviews are especially important when the
software is intended to change a work model, not simply improve and existing work flow.
- Satisfaction Surveys such as QUIS (Questionnaire on User Interface
Satisfaction) can be helpful in benchmarking existing software and identifying issues
across a large user community.
These techniques are used along with brainstorming analysis sessions to build a picture
of the typical users of the product and their tasks.
The final report on a user analysis identifies target user segments, key tasks and work
flow, environmental or business considerations which affect their use of the software and
design implications which emerge from the analysis of the data. |
