Participatory human-centered design: User involvement and design cross-fertilization

Abstract

Design and development of new instruments requires much attention with respect to safety, performance and comfort. Introducing new technology is a matter of taking care of past user experience on current technology and anticipating possible user experience on prototypes incrementally developed. The intricate spiral combination of prototyping and formative evaluations provides excellent support to include end-users in the design and development process. Human-centered design is also a combination of both analytical and user-centered (experimental) approaches. We cannot get rid of analyzing human-machine interaction using methods such as GOMS for example, and neither using professional design expertise. These methods provide an envelope of usability and usefulness issues; some are directly applicable, others issues require an experimental user-centered evaluation, i.e., real professional users are needed. Usability engineering is now very much used in industry and provides good results. Crucial problems are not technical any longer; they are financial, legal, social and finally relational. The various actors who will have an influence on the product being developed should participate. Participatory design enables to improve awareness of product attributes, i.e., what the product is really for, and how it should be made and used. A running example of the design of a new flight attendant panel to be included in the cabin of commercial aircraft is presented to support methodological claims and demonstrate approach soundness. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.