User-Centered Design Stories

User-Centered Design Stories

by Carol Righi, Janice James
Released July 2010
Publisher(s): Morgan Kaufmann
ISBN: 9780080481555

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Book description

User-Centered Design Stories is the first user-centered design casebook with cases covering the key tasks and issues facing UCD practitioners today. Intended for both students and practitioners, this book follows the Harvard Case study method, where the reader is placed in the role of the decision-maker in a real-life professional situation.

In this book, the reader is asked to analyze dozens of UCD work situations and propose solutions for the problem set. The problems posed in the cases cover a wide variety of key tasks and issues faced by practitioners, including those related to organizational/managerial topics, UCD methods and processes, and technical/ project issues.

The benefit of the casebook and its organization is that it offers new practitioners (as well as experienced practitioners working in new settings) valuable practice in decision-making that cannot be obtained by simply reading a book or attending a seminar.

  • The first User-Centered Design Casebook, with cases covering the key tasks and issues facing UCD practitioners today.
  • Each chapter based on real world cases with complex problems, giving readers as close to a real-world experience as possible.
  • Offers "the things you don't learn in school," such as innovative and hybrid solutions that were actually used on the problems discussed.

Table of contents

  1. Front cover
  2. User-Centered Design Stories
  3. Copyright page
  4. Table of contents (1/2)
  5. Table of contents (2/2)
  6. Foreword
  7. Preface
  8. Acknowledgments
  9. PART I: Promoting, Establishing, and Administering a User-Centered Design Program
    1. CASE 1: Changing Products Means Changing Behaviors
      1. The Advocate
      2. Analyzing the Situation (1/2)
      3. Analyzing the Situation (2/2)
      4. The Compromise
      5. Creating Feedback Mechanisms
      6. The Presentation
      7. Thank You Mr. Gantt
      8. Doing It Right—Iterative Design Based on User Feedback
      9. Summary
      10. Further Reading
    2. CASE 2: Managing Politics in the Workplace
      1. The Cleveland Company: Evolving From Old to New Economy
      2. Sibling Rivalry
      3. The Team Meeting
      4. A New Leader Comes to New York City
      5. No, You Come to Me
      6. Bait and Switch
      7. Trench Buddies
      8. Finally, Success
      9. Summary
      10. Further Reading
    3. CASE 3: Raising Awareness at the Company Level
      1. Introduction
      2. Understanding and Integrating Into the Company
      3. Creating a Plan (1/2)
      4. Creating a Plan (2/2)
      5. Facilitating the Integration of UE (1/3)
      6. Facilitating the Integration of UE (2/3)
      7. Facilitating the Integration of UE (3/3)
      8. Summary
      9. Further Reading
    4. CASE 4: Usability Step by Step: Small Steps to a More Successful Site
      1. Stealth Usability
      2. Site Structure, Search Engine, and Search Results
      3. Value Versus Viewing Success
      4. Revising Sites and Redeeming Relationships
      5. The Plan and How to Work It
      6. Planning and Preparing the Test
      7. Project Logistics
      8. Team Structure and Deliverables
      9. Session Length and Activities
      10. Recruiting Participants
      11. Success with Sessions
      12. Initial Analysis
      13. Presenting Results
      14. Recommendations for the ADP Site
      15. “Selling” the Recommendations
      16. Long-Term Results
      17. Summary
      18. Further Reading
    5. CASE 5: Growing a Business by Meeting (Real) Customer Needs
      1. Evaluating the Current State of RevPhoto
      2. Developing an Action Plan
      3. Evaluating the Research Data With the Cross-Functional Leadership Team
      4. Summary
      5. Further Reading
    6. CASE 6: But the Usability People Said It Was Okay . . . Or, How Not to “Do Usability”
      1. Ellen Has a Problem
      2. The Usability Group at Fourier Software
      3. Ellen Remembers How She Got into This Mess
      4. Nancy’s Side of the Story
      5. And, Tom’s Version
      6. Fixing the Problem for Good
      7. Taking on a Project the Right Way
      8. How to Say No Gracefully
      9. Summary
      10. Further Reading
  10. PART II: Research, Evaluation, and Design
    1. CASE 7: Estimating a User-Centered Design Effort
      1. Tell Us What You Think It Will Take
      2. The Detailed Estimate
      3. What About Project Management and External Duties?
      4. What About the Development Timeline?
      5. Let’s Redefine and Get Started
      6. Now Is the Time for Course Correction
      7. Good Plans Shape Good Decisions
      8. Summary
      9. Further Reading
    2. CASE 8: A Case Study in Card Sorting
      1. Determining the Need for a Card Sort
      2. Planning the Card Sort
      3. Implementing the Card Sort Study (1/2)
      4. Implementing the Card Sort Study (2/2)
      5. Summary
      6. Further Reading
    3. CASE 9: The HURIE Method: A Case Study Combining Requirements Gathering and User Interface Evaluation
      1. The Context
      2. The Study (1/2)
      3. The Study (2/2)
      4. Summary
      5. Further Reading
    4. CASE 10: Two Contrasting Case Studies in Integrating Business Analysis with Usability Requirements Analysis and User Interface Design
      1. Case 1: The Thompson Institute: No Business Analysis
      2. Case 2: The City Police Department: Business Analysis Already Completed (1/2)
      3. Case 2: The City Police Department: Business Analysis Already Completed (2/2)
      4. Summary
      5. Further Reading
    5. CASE 11: A Case Study in Personas
      1. Introducing the Idea of Personas
      2. Planning the Field Research (1/2)
      3. Planning the Field Research (2/2)
      4. Conducting the Field Research
      5. Developing the Personas (1/3)
      6. Developing the Personas (2/3)
      7. Developing the Personas (3/3)
      8. Living With the Personas
      9. Summary
      10. Further Reading
    6. CASE 12: User-Centered Design for Middleware
      1. In Need of an Interface
      2. The Interaction Designer
      3. The Contextual Inquiry (1/2)
      4. The Contextual Inquiry (2/2)
      5. Designing VirtualCenter 2.0 (1/2)
      6. Designing VirtualCenter 2.0 (2/2)
      7. The First Usability Study
      8. Summary
      9. Further Reading
    7. CASE 13: Isis Mobile: A Case Study in Heuristic Evaluation
      1. Isis Mobile’s History and Direction
      2. Determining the Need for a Heuristic Evaluation
      3. Planning and Performing a Heuristic Evaluation (1/2)
      4. Planning and Performing a Heuristic Evaluation (2/2)
      5. Reviewing, Comparing, and Compiling the Findings
      6. Validating Design Changes
      7. Summary
      8. Further Reading
    8. CASE 14: Academic Manuscript Submission: A Case Study in Interaction Design
      1. Determining an Approach to Design
      2. Arriving at a Conceptual Design (1/2)
      3. Arriving at a Conceptual Design (2/2)
      4. Evaluating the Conceptual Design (1/2)
      5. Evaluating the Conceptual Design (2/2)
      6. Moving to Detailed Design and Project Completion
      7. Summary
      8. Further Reading
    9. CASE 15: The Mulkey Corporation: A Case Study in Information Architecture
      1. Gathering Requirements
      2. Designing the User Experience Using Information Architecture (1/3)
      3. Designing the User Experience Using Information Architecture (2/3)
      4. Designing the User Experience Using Information Architecture (3/3)
      5. Keeping the Integrity of the Information Architecture (1/3)
      6. Keeping the Integrity of the Information Architecture (2/3)
      7. Keeping the Integrity of the Information Architecture (3/3)
      8. Summary
      9. Further Reading
    10. CASE 16: Incorporating Web Accessibility Into the Design Process
      1. Travelers By Design
      2. Learning About Accessibility
      3. Accessibility and the TBD Products
      4. Putting the Accessibility Compliance Process in Place (1/2)
      5. Putting the Accessibility Compliance Process in Place (2/2)
      6. Implementing and Verification (1/2)
      7. Implementing and Verification (2/2)
      8. Ongoing Compliance
      9. Summary
      10. Further Reading
    11. CASE 17: From .com to .com.cn: A Case Study of Website Internationalization
      1. The Evolution and Expansion of a Website
      2. Solving the Site-Speed Puzzle
      3. Summary
      4. Further Reading
    12. CASE 18: Designing for a Worldwide Product
      1. Flexibility: Too Much of a Good Thing Can Be Bad
      2. Where Did We Go Wrong?
      3. Let’s Start Again
      4. Lessons Shared (1/3)
      5. Lessons Shared (2/3)
      6. Lessons Shared (3/3)
      7. Summary
      8. Further Reading
    13. CASE 19: Inspecting a User Interface
      1. Prometheus Bound
      2. Choosing a Method
      3. Establishing Context
      4. Refining the Study Design
      5. The Inspection
      6. Editing
      7. Analysis (1/2)
      8. Analysis (2/2)
      9. Reporting (1/2)
      10. Reporting (2/2)
      11. Summary
      12. Further Reading
    14. CASE 20: Billingsly: A Case Study in Managing Project Risks and Client Expectations
      1. Dissension in the Ranks
      2. Selling Paper Prototyping
      3. The Project Unfolds (1/2)
      4. The Project Unfolds (2/2)
      5. The Farmer and the Cowman Must Be Friends
      6. Summary
      7. Further Reading
    15. CASE 21: Aikot Corporation: A Case Study in Qualitative/Quantitative Remote Evaluation
      1. Decline of a Strong Brand
      2. The Nature of Quantitative/Qualitative Remote Website Visitor Research (1/2)
      3. The Nature of Quantitative/Qualitative Remote Website Visitor Research (2/2)
      4. Planning and Conducting the Quantitative/Qualitative Remote Study
      5. Analysis of the Data (1/2)
      6. Analysis of the Data (2/2)
      7. Summary
      8. Further Reading
    16. CASE 22: Using Technology to Automate Summative Usability Testing
      1. The Call That Started It All
      2. What’s Out There?
      3. Test Drive
      4. The Epiphany
      5. Execution
      6. Summary
      7. Further Reading
  11. Answers
    1. Case 1: Changing Products Means Changing Behaviors
    2. Case 2: Managing Politics in the Workplace
    3. Case 3: Raising Awareness at the Company Level (1/2)
    4. Case 3: Raising Awareness at the Company Level (2/2)
    5. Case 4: Usability Step by Step: Small Steps to a More Successful Site
    6. Case 5: Growing a Business by Meeting (Real) Customer Needs
    7. Case 6: But the Usability People Said It Was Okay . . . Or, How Not to “Do Usability”
    8. Case 7: Estimating a User-Centered Design Effort
    9. Case 8: A Case Study in Card Sorting
    10. Case 9: The HURIE Method: A Case Study Combining Requirements Gathering and User Interface Evaluation
    11. Case 10: Two Contrasting Case Studies in Integrating Business Analysis With Usability Requirements Analysis and User Interface Design (1/3)
    12. Case 10: Two Contrasting Case Studies in Integrating Business Analysis With Usability Requirements Analysis and User Interface Design (2/3)
    13. Case 10: Two Contrasting Case Studies in Integrating Business Analysis With Usability Requirements Analysis and User Interface Design (3/3)
    14. Case 11: A Case Study in Personas (1/2)
    15. Case 11: A Case Study in Personas (2/2)
    16. Case 12: User-Centered Design for Middleware
    17. Case 13: Isis Mobile: A Case Study in Heuristic Evaluation
    18. Case 14: Academic Manuscript Submission: A Case Study in Interaction Design
    19. Case 15: The Mulkey Corporation: A Case Study in Information Architecture (1/3)
    20. Case 15: The Mulkey Corporation: A Case Study in Information Architecture (2/3)
    21. Case 15: The Mulkey Corporation: A Case Study in Information Architecture (3/3)
    22. Case 16: Incorporating Web Accessibility Into the Design Process (1/2)
    23. Case 16: Incorporating Web Accessibility Into the Design Process (2/2)
    24. Case 17: From .com to .com.cn: A Case Study of Website Internationalization (1/3)
    25. Case 17: From .com to .com.cn: A Case Study of Website Internationalization (2/3)
    26. Case 17: From .com to .com.cn: A Case Study of Website Internationalization (3/3)
    27. Case 18: Designing for a Worldwide Product
    28. Case 19: Inspecting a User Interface
    29. Case 20: Billingsly: A Case Study in Managing Project Risks and Client Expectations (1/2)
    30. Case 20: Billingsly: A Case Study in Managing Project Risks and Client Expectations (2/2)
    31. Case 21: Aikot Corporation: A Case Study in Qualitative/Quantitative Remote Evaluation
    32. Case 22: Using Technology to Automate Summative Usability Testing
  12. Index (1/2)
  13. Index (2/2)
  14. About the Editors
  15. About the Contributors (1/2)
  16. About the Contributors (2/2)

Product information

  • Title: User-Centered Design Stories
  • Author(s): Carol Righi, Janice James
  • Release date: July 2010
  • Publisher(s): Morgan Kaufmann
  • ISBN: 9780080481555