As explained in these texts, there are many different ways to approach projects involving interaction design. According to Saffer, there are four major approaches; User-centered design (UCD), activity-centered design, systems design and genius design. Despite focusing on different aspects, they can all be used to create successful products. The decision of which approach to use is most often up to the designer. Designers usually have one way they feel most comfortable with but it is important that they are aware of the approaches to be able to choose the best one for the project in question.
The two approaches I found most interesting are user-centered design and genius design, which generally are each others opposites. UCD’s focus lies, as you could guess, in the user and his/hers needs and goals. The user is a big part of the project and is there every step of the designing process. This means that designer shouldn’t let his/her own preferences interfere with the project and they should think in the terms of “you are not the user”. UCD does not always give the best result, though. If the focus group isn’t ideal, the designers might be basing their work on the wrong type of user, which means that the product won’t be adapted for the actual users.
Unlike UCD, genius design is a bit less complex approach with only one or a few determing forces, i.e. the designers. However, for genius design to really work the designer must be incredibly experienced. They use their personal knowledge to make the design decisions and don’t involve the user until the end of the process. There can be several different reasons why someone would choose this way of design making, two of them being shortage of resources and privacy. Genius design is a considerably faster way of working than UCD, which is one of the big advantages.
My question for discussion is if there can come a point where you have involved users too much in the design process, and in that case, when is that point?
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