User-centered design: Why we're looking for a few users to test a form
February 21, 2025 5:35 AM Subscribe
The MetaFilter Moderation Oversight Committee is looking for a few interviewees to test out our intake form. Please consider signing up! This process is a part of user-centred design, which has been around for a long time. But in the age of AI, human-centred design may be more important than ever.
- Five reasons to test even when you "know" the answer (video)
- Why useability testing is important
- The power of user involvement (article is on Medium)
- getting into the discovery mindset
Counterpoint: "When we choose to talk to specific people, we are also choosing not to talk to others. I have six words of caution about making those choices: Take care to do no harm. When choosing the people you’re going to build and design for and with, set out from the beginning to choose them with care. Be aware of who you’re not talking to and talk openly about what that might mean."
- Five reasons to test even when you "know" the answer (video)
- Why useability testing is important
- The power of user involvement (article is on Medium)
- getting into the discovery mindset
Counterpoint: "When we choose to talk to specific people, we are also choosing not to talk to others. I have six words of caution about making those choices: Take care to do no harm. When choosing the people you’re going to build and design for and with, set out from the beginning to choose them with care. Be aware of who you’re not talking to and talk openly about what that might mean."
Hooray for interviewing users :)
posted by stevil at 8:13 AM on February 21 [1 favorite]
posted by stevil at 8:13 AM on February 21 [1 favorite]
>How many things were meant to be great big breakthroughs, but they just don't work because they don’t take into account what humans want from the technology?
Like 'to still have jobs'? If the thing that worries you about AI is that maybe it won't be as cool as it could be, you are existing at a level of optimism that is not supported by the current state of the world.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 8:58 AM on February 21
Like 'to still have jobs'? If the thing that worries you about AI is that maybe it won't be as cool as it could be, you are existing at a level of optimism that is not supported by the current state of the world.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 8:58 AM on February 21
The most famous piece that IDEO worked on was the Apple mouse. It was our project—we invented the technology and did the industrial design.
Douglas Engelbart had a chorded multi-buttom device in the Mother Of All Demos (youtube) (Wikipedia) at Xerox Parc in 1968 before this needed them to invent it. I grew up with a different GUI paradigm than the Macintosh, with 3 buttons on my mouse, and hated the industrial design of the square single-clicky-button and the round LC-III era Apple mouse These aren't bona fides.
I'm glad that putting users at the core is a success story, so I'm also going to suggest that, for human-centric design, you need Sasha Costanza-Chock's Design Justice. "Nothing for Years Without Users."
posted by k3ninho at 4:57 PM on February 21
Douglas Engelbart had a chorded multi-buttom device in the Mother Of All Demos (youtube) (Wikipedia) at Xerox Parc in 1968 before this needed them to invent it. I grew up with a different GUI paradigm than the Macintosh, with 3 buttons on my mouse, and hated the industrial design of the square single-clicky-button and the round LC-III era Apple mouse These aren't bona fides.
I'm glad that putting users at the core is a success story, so I'm also going to suggest that, for human-centric design, you need Sasha Costanza-Chock's Design Justice. "Nothing for Years Without Users."
posted by k3ninho at 4:57 PM on February 21
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posted by ginger.beef at 6:18 AM on February 21 [4 favorites]