What is user-centred design?

User-centred design means putting the experience of your users at the heart of how you develop your interactive system or online communications service.

Don't start from the functions you want to deploy, or from the information you want to provide. Start from how the people are going to approach the product, and how this is going to fit into their working, learning or leisure lives.

Focusing on users does not mean design by a committee of "amateurs". It means viewing all the creatively and technically challenging design options through the eyes of the people you want to engage.

Why do we use user-centred design?

Through DJ Associates, we promote user-centred approaches because we've seen plenty of applications of Information and Communications Technology that remind you of architects' occasional fallibility - those buildings that may look great on a first visit, but don't help the people inside live and work the way they want to.

How do we use user-centred design?

At DJ Associates we draw on our experience in design fields like Human-Computer Interaction and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, which have always focused on users. We apply tools and techniques for understanding and facilitating communications patterns, and building "concrete" prototypes that help both users and designers clarify their ideas.

[Our Approach - Target Market - Network of Collaborators - User-centred Approach - Code of Practice - Guidelines]