User-Centered Design of Information Technology - Fundamentals and Assessment Tools for Occupational Ergonomics - page 125

7
User-Centered Design
of Information
Technology

7.1 Primer: The Need for User-Centered

Design (UCD) ............................ 7-1

7.2 Introduction to UCD ...................... 7-3

Use of UCD † Summary
7.3 Common Tools and Techniques for UCD .......

7-8

V. Kathlene Leonard
Kevin P. Moloney
Julie A. Jacko
Georgia Institute of Technology

Overview † Understanding Users, Their Needs, and Their
Work † Testing and Evaluation of Proposed Design Solutions
7.4 Conclusions . ............................. 7-34
7.5 Message from the Authors ................... 7-35

7.1 Primer: The Need for User-Centered Design (UCD)

Increasingly, terms such as Easy to use, User-friendly, Usable, and similar others, pervade the way in which
systems are described in their marketing to users and organizations. While the use of these terms in the
advertizing and sales vernacular are becoming more and more (if not already) clich´ , the attention which
they are paid is not unsubstantiated. In a business sense, it is intuitive — if the systems in place are not
accepted by the employees, or if they are inefficient, ineffective, and inconsistent with the organization's
goals, then the financial consequences can be devastating. Poor design can take a tremendous toll on pro-
ductivity and employee satisfaction as well as increase the costs of maintenance. Attention must be paid
to the user interface to maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace (Shneiderman, 1998).
Several examples of the severe implications of poor design fill the headlines of the popular press.
Perhaps the most recently infamous is the butterfly ballot design from Palm Beach County, FL that
caused much turmoil in the 2000 U.S. presidential election. Using this punch card ballot system,
voters were instructed to punch out the hole in the center next to the arrow, which points from the
candidate of choice. This setup is depicted in Figure 7.1. From an UCD perspective, the design of
this ballot violates the principles of mapping and alignment (Lidwell et al., 2003). The actual punch
cards, which are slid into a frame, have no candidate names written on them, so if improperly inserted,
they have a high probability for error. The misalignment of the holes and candidate names has been
identified as the source of error. Several ballots cast in Palm Beach contained two votes with the
holes punched for candidates listed adjacently on the ballot. A surprisingly high number of votes
were also cast for Pat Buchanan. Several voters reported that they inadvertently voted for Buchanan
because the placement of his punch hole was in between Bush's and Gore's names (Van Natta and
Canedy, 2000).

7-1