How Designers Choose Colors
In product design, seemingly small choices have huge impacts on a design’s success in the marketplace and in use. One of the most important choices is color. The colors incorporated …
User-Centered Design: Phase 4 Implement
This is the final installment in our series delineating the user-centered design process. We’ve talked about Why Usable Isn’t Enough, and we’ve walked through Phases 1 Discover, 2 Define, and …
User-Centered Design: Phase 3 Ideate
For this installment in our series looking at the User-Centered Design (UCD) process, we get to the part that most people think of when they think about designing products. This …
User-Centered Design: Phase 2 Define
This is the second in our series that’s diving into the User-Centered Design (UCD) Process. In this article, we’ll be walking through the second phase of UCD, which is Define. …
User-Centered Design: Phase 1 Discover
In a recent post, I talked about the importance of embracing both usability and usefulness in user-centered design in order to ensure the market success of a product. I argued …
Why Do Design Research – Part 2: How to Do Design Research on a Dime (and a Deadline)
In Part 1, Why do design research: Deconstructing the excuses we examined the reasons people often give for eliminating design research from product development when budgets and schedules get tight. …
Why Do Design Research – Part 1: Deconstructing the Excuses
It happens. A project has a tight budget or schedule or (gasp) both and the team decides something has to go. Design research is often that something. On the surface, …
Silence is Deadly
My posts always argue that as designers (and engineers, manufacturers, etc), we have a responsibility to create smart, beautiful, and useful products for our users. But lately, I’ve realized that …
How To Tick Off Your User….
The other night I was peacefully asleep, enjoying a pleasant dream, when suddenly…. After a few confusing seconds, I realized it wasn’t my alarm clock. It was my Personal Diabetes Manager (PDM) …
How To Avoid the #1 Mistake in User Research
“So, you really think we need to talk to them [users]?” – Anonymous client As a product design firm, Daedalus advocates understanding the users of the products we design and …