View source for Usage-centered design

{{Short description|Approach to user interface design with focus on user intentions and usage patterns}}
{{Hatnote|Compare Use-centered design and [[User-centered design]].}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}}
'''Usage-centered design''' is an approach to [[User interface design|user interface design]] based on a focus on user intentions and usage patterns. It analyzes users in terms of the roles they play in relation to systems and employs abstract (essential) use cases<ref>See Constantine (1995) and Constantine and Lockwood (2001)</ref> for [[Philosophy:Task analysis|task analysis]]. It derives visual and [[Interaction design|interaction design]] from abstract [[Software prototyping|prototypes]] based on the understanding of user roles and task cases.

Usage-centered design was introduced by Larry Constantine and Lucy Lockwood. The primary reference is their book.<ref>Constantine and Lockwood (1999); see also Constantine (1996)</ref>

==Usage-centered design methods==
Usage-centered design is largely based on formal, abstract models such as models of interaction between user roles, [[Unified Modeling Language|UML]] workflow models and task case and role profiles.
Usage-centered design proponents argue for abstract modelling while many designers use realistic personas, [[Scenario (computing)|scenarios]] and high-fidelity [[Software prototyping|prototypes]]. The techniques have been applied with particular success in complex software projects, some of which have been reported in case studies.<ref>See, for example, Windl (2002) and Strope (2003)</ref>

==Usage-centered design and activity-centered design approach==
Usage-centered design share some common ideas with activity-centered design. It is concerned more with the activities of users but not the users per se. Constantine (2006) presents an integrated framework where the models of Usage-centered design are enriched with concepts from the [[Philosophy:Activity theory|activity theory]].<ref>Constantine (2006).</ref>

==See also==
* [[Engineering:Ergonomics|Ergonomics]]
* Understanding by Design

==References==

=== Citations ===
<references/>

=== Bibliography ===
*Constantine L. Activity Modeling: Toward a Pragmatic Integration of Activity Theory with Usage-Centered Design, 2006
*Constantine L., and Lockwood, L. "Structure and Style in Use Cases for User Interfaces." In M. van Harmelan, Ed., ''Object Modeling and User Interface Design.'' Boston: Addison-Wesley, 2001.
*Constantine L., and Lockwood, L. ''Software for Use: A Practical Guide to the Essential Models and Methods of Usage-Centered Design.'' Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1999. (Russian translation 2004, Chinese translation 2004, Japanese translation 2005.)
*Constantine, L. “Usage-Centered Software Engineering: New Models, Methods, and Metrics.” In Purvis, M. (ed.) ''Software Engineering: Education & Practice.'' Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society Press, 1996.
*Constantine, L. "Essential Modeling: Use Cases for User Interfaces.” ''ACM Interactions, 2'' (2): 34–46, April 1995.
*Strope, J. (2003) “Designing for Breakthroughs in User Performance.” In L. Constantine, ed., ''Performance by Design: Proceedings of forUSE 2003, the Second International Conference on Usage-Centered Design.'' Rowley, MA: Ampersand Press.
*Windl, H. (2002) “Designing a Winner: Creating STEP 7 lite with Usage-Centered Design.” In L. Constantine, ed., ''forUSE 2002: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Usage-Centered Design.'' Rowley, MA: Ampersand Press.

==Further reading==
* [http://www.foruse.com/questions/index.htm Usage-centered design FAQ]

{{Engineering approaches}}
{{Design}}

[[Category:User interfaces]]
[[Category:Human–computer interaction]]


{{Sourceattribution|Usage-centered design}}