Human-Centered Design in Practice

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Oct 2016

Cynthia Putnam DePaul University ; Aaron Reiner DePaul University ; Emily Ryou DePaul University ; Morgan Caputo DePaul University ; Jinghui Cheng DePaul University ; Mace Allen DePaul University ; Ravali Singamaneni DePaul University

Abstract

Human-centered design philosophy proposes that end users be at the center of technical system designs. Building on a seminal study by Gould and Lewis, we present findings from two surveys that explored the practice of building interactive systems from the perspective of information and communication technology (ICT) professionals. We generated ICT job descriptions based on a lexicon derived from practitioners’ own words. We found that while “human-centeredness” has risen among ICT professionals, our respondents varied significantly in how they considered the original three Gould and Lewis principles with respect to their job titles and roles. We thus argue that tools that support clear communication among roles are critical; in this project, we analyzed personas as a common ICT communication tool. While personas were generally perceived positively, persona creators need to consider factors that contribute to buy-in from design teams, including quality research and effective presentation.

Journal: Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published: 2016-10-01
DOI: 10.1177/0047281616653491
Open Access: Closed
Topics: multimodality

Citation Context

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