"Foundations of User Experience (UX) Design" by Google:: User-centered design
"Week 2/4"
Hi there,
In this video, we're going to explain the user-centered design. Why is it important that designs are centered on the user? Because the user buys and uses your product. In addition, it's also important to solve problems that people actually experience, rather than only trying to solve problems you personally experience. Focusing on real user problems reduces the impact of designer bias. Larry Page, one of Google's founders, highlighted just how important user-centered design is when he said, "There is no substitute for personally watching and listening to real people." At Google, we take this to heart. Larry's statement has morphed into one of Google's core values today: Focus on the user and all else will follow.
User-centered design puts the user front and center. Focusing on the user means considering their story, emotions, and the insights you've gathered about them. To keep our focus on the user, the user-centered design process has four steps: understand, specify, design, and evaluate. Following this framework helps us build products people actually want to use. First, understand how the user experiences the product or similar products. Really understanding the end-user requires a lot of research, and we'll talk more about this later. Next, specify the end user's needs. Based on your research, you'll narrow down which end-user problem is the most important to solve. Then, design solutions to the end user's problem. This is where you'll come up with ideas for what the product might look like and actually start building the product.
Finally, evaluate your design against your end user's needs. Does your design solve the end user's problem? You'll find out here, and you'll also do it by testing your product with real people. It's important to keep in mind that as you go through this process, iteration is key. Iteration means doing something again, by building on previous versions and making tweaks. Let's think about an example of user-centered design in the real world. Five years ago, we launched Google Photos as a place to store photos and keep them organized. Over time, we noticed that users also wanted to revisit memories and relive treasured moments. To make it easier for users to do this, we use the user-centered design process to redesign Google Photos. Now users can easily search to find their memories.
Now you understand the importance of user-centered design and why designers always keep the user front and center. Up next, we'll check out two additional frameworks that are popular among UX designers. See you there..