{{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 American English|date=March 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}} '''Usage-centered design''' is an approach to 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 task analysis. It derives visual and interaction design from abstract 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, UML workflow models and task case and role profiles. Usage-centered design proponents argue for abstract modelling while many designers use realistic personas, scenarios and high-fidelity 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 activity theory.<ref>Constantine (2006).</ref>
==See also== * 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:Usability Category:Human–computer interaction
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