EMBRACING USER-CENTRED DESIGN: THE REAL EXPERIENCE

摘要

This paper highlights the views of a small sample of practising industrial designers in relation to User-Centred Design (UCD). These views were considered important in order to compliment the literature in the area and inform the integration of UCD within undergraduate design training at Loughborough. UCD appears to offer benefits in relationship to enhancing the designing process, particularly in terms of sensitivity to ergonomics. A small scale survey of designers from diverse product areas shared their understanding and experience of User-Centred Design via an electronic questionnaire. This indicated that in industry these approaches are not always fully utilised. The discussion explores the limitations and perceived barriers to integrating such user centred methodology.