ucd

Fortune 500 User Experience ROI

I currently work for a Fortune 500 company as a User Experience Designer/Manager. I was brought in to help enhance the user experience of certain applications both web and desktop. My problem is not many people see the value of user experience. As with most public companies they only care about the bottom line. UX is looked as an expense and not an investment. I wanted to ask if anyone here had compelling data about what Fortune 500 companies are spending on UX and the return on investment they are seeing.

The "magic place" between user research and design - tips & stories

Hi:

There is a "magic place" that exists between user research
(speaking with your users & stakeholders), taking all that goodness
and designing the product with that in mind and speaking to it.

Often, user research can fall into a chasm because there is no up
front thought put into how it can translate into the design.

So what has worked well for you?

For example:
* How do you translate findings from user research into design?
* What do you plan for up front in your user research to help
communicate your design?
* What do you use to tell a story around and to the design?
* H

How do you pitch UCD process (or design thinking)?

Hi all, I am a graduate student at Stanford doing a course project for
a design consultancy startup.

Where that ACD thing fits

So, I've spent much of the last month thinking about what Activity-
Centered Design (or ACD) might be and where it fits into other design
approaches. This long-winded email is an attempt to get these thoughts
out.

Before I start, the last time we went around on this, there was a
sentiment of "Who cares what we call it? My clients/co-workers don't
care what it is, as long as I produce great designs.

why the hate-on User-centered Design? (was practice vs. discipline & roles vs. people

Lately a lot of senior folks seem to be railing on user-centered design.
Now, I thought UCD was the idea of putting the users in the center of the
design choices. To do that, you can do it with a bunch of methodologies, or
visit the users in their native habitat then keep them in mind later, or
invite them to pick up a pencil and draw you some interfaces somewhere along
the way. And none of these seem like a particularly bad practice when done
in context of what you are trying to accomplish.