What big companies can learn from start-ups about being ‘user centric’
From developing customer based personas to enhancing delivery, simplicity of design can reinvigorate outmoded models of user interaction, says Sam Williams.
The Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA) has just opened a ‘User-Centred Design’ Exhibit, which explores the evolution of wearable technology.
Featured is the August Smart Lock, which allows users to unlock doors with their smartphones, a telephone that is designed to hold between your ear and your shoulder while you multitask, a gear-powered wheelchair that helps users navigate rough terrain and Mimu gloves, which allow users to play music with hand gestures.
With the advent of design thinking and the growing emphasis on user interfaces, technology developers are increasingly aware of discovering what challenges their users are faced with and putting their needs at the centre of everything they do in developing new technology and apps. And I’m not just talking about the consumer domain either, where this approach has been employed for decades.
User centred design has to be adopted if enterprises are going to develop apps that are useful. This is particularly important since the majority of today’s workforce are now in their 20s and technology is the centre of their world.
