Goals of this Project
- explain UCD
- report one large study's finding about museum web site users
- summarize many of the methods used in UCD of museum web sites
- reveal why UCD is a problem for museum web sites
- demonstrate what is successful UCD of museum web sites
- give solutions for achieving more UCD of museum web sites
This project analyzes literature available about UCD of museum websites. Generally, the literature about this topic focuses on testing methods and the ways and means of understanding museum web site users. For more information see my sources.
A cursory discussion of user-centered-design:
The term 'user-centered design' was first coined by Donald Norman in his 1986 book the Psychology of Everyday Things. The book, later renamed the Design of Everyday Things, Norman gives the principals of good and bad design. The term 'user-centered design' is almost synonymous with 'human-centered design' and 'emotional design.' However, for this project the shades of meaning that distinguish these terms is unimportant. This kind of design is centered on people, not things. UCD philosophy can be applied to web sites, product development and or other interfaces such as software and hardware design. This project, however, only looks at the web site as an interface, specifically the museum web sites.
User-centered design, or UCD for the remainder, is a "design based on the needs of the user, leaving aside what [is considered to be] secondary issues like aesthetics." (Wikipedia User Centered Design article) Three champions of UCD Jakob Nielson, Bruce Tognazzini and Donald Norman together form the Nielson Norman Group. Of the three Neilson focuses on web sites and internet applications. The user-centered design philosophy differs from other interaction design philosophies because UCD attempts to make the interface conform to how the user wants to work instead of demanding the user to change in order to conform to the system. (Nielson Norman Group)
This is an important distinction when considering the design of museum web sites. If the web site requires a lot of trial and error clicking to acclimate users to the environment then, the web site has failed at being a truly user centered design. However, creating user-centered design is not an easy endeavor even after thoughtfully creating an interface and carefully imagining the need and desires of the interface’s users, you must validate your design through testing. The Wikipedia article artfully explains this point "Such testing is necessary as it is often very difficult for the designers of an interface to understand intuitively what a first-time user of their design experiences, and what each user's learning curve may look like." (Wikipedia User Centered Design article)
User Centered Design continued
The phrase 'UCD' also refers to a process of designing which focuses on the cognitive aspects of learning, memory and problem-solving. Six techniques for creating user-centered design are listed on many web sites dedicated to explaining the topic.
- Create navigation aids that are clear and consistent
- An air of consistency and simplicity so users feel in-control
- Abolish dead in links
- Provide direct access to Information
- Offer visual confirmation of a user's location within the site
- Be mindful of connection speeds --From Wikipedia Techniques for creating a User Centered Design
The goal of UCD is to analyze and foresee how users will interact with an interface. Once the designer has designed the interface according to his or her assumptions about the user the design must test those assumptions by some form of usability testing. I would argue that a highly usable interface would require a designer to spend equal time and energy designing the interface as he or she does testing and refining the design. This is all by way of saying that testing and the methods used to test are a truly integral aspect of producing effective user centered design.
User Centered Design of museum Web sites
Gathering places have long been designed according to the needs of the public. Examples include situating the town well in the middle of the square, handrails on staircases, and bike racks in front of university buildings, with these examples usually function is the designer's goal.
- To design gathering places the designer must know
- the purpose of the place
- know the users
- know the users behavior
There is a bevy of information available to inform the design choices, bio-metrics, population statistics, and data on environmental factors, years of surveys and census data. The Museum buildings, in the physical sense, are and have been not only designed for users but also to display its works to maximal effect, these objectives sometimes conflict. This conflict between pragmatic function and artistic effect is intensifies in an on-line environment because the context is easily lost in on-line communication, and museum websites are not staffed like a physical museum. Web sites are a relatively new kind of gathering places for the public. Museum web sites offer a new mode of visitation the on-line visit to a museum. Yet museum industry professionals know little about those who use museum web sites.
