General discussion

For way too many years we have used that phrase to explain to developers that it is important for them to try to understand their users.

Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.

When it didn’t work, we tried to explain about users using most of the standard, and many of the non-standard techniques:

Content strategy has emerged as a key component to a successful web-based project. Much like User-Centered design (UCD) is essential to create a good user experience, the basis for a good content strategy has always been a keen understanding of end users and the context in which they access your information, an understanding of the business goals of the website, an understanding of the target terminology and nomenclature used.

QR codes have become very popular in print advertising because they can provide a direct link between the physical and virtual worlds. They can also significantly increase the conversion rate because they can deep link into very specific areas of your web presence that is most appropriate to that user.

We’ve designed a lot of user interfaces over the course of our careers, and one theme has been present across them all--a desire to create something that is easy to use for the novice user. Can mom use it, many clients have asked?

This approach may be great for a small company or for a simple website that perhaps users would only access once or twice. But what about mobile or web-based applications where the users do “their work” each day using the application?