USER KNOWLEDGE IN A CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT PROJECT OF A BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS DIRECTORY SERVICE
DS 48: Proceedings DESIGN 2008, the 10th International Design Conference, Dubrovnik, Croatia
Year: 2008
Editor: Marjanovic D., Storga M., Pavkovic N., Bojcetic N.
Author: Mannonen, P.; Runonen, M.
Section: Knowledge intensive design
Page(s): 833 - 840
Abstract
Existing process descriptions and methods of user-centred design emphasize the understanding of users and context of use and evaluating the usability of designed products. The descriptions of user research methods and usability evaluation techniques are rich and large in numbers. There however seems to be a lack of analysis and descriptions of what kind of role the gathered user knowledge plays in designing and what kind of impact does it have. This paper describes a concept development project of a business-to-business directory service and presents an analysis of the amount and characteristics of user related information gathered and utilized during the concept development process.
Keywords: user knowledge, user-centred design, concept design