If you have picked up this book and are browsing the Preface, you may well be asking yourself"What makes this book different from the large number I can find on amazon. com?". Well, the answer is a blend of the academic and the practical, and views of the subject you won't get from anybody else: how psychology and linguistics influence the field of requirements engineering (RE). The title might seem to be a bit of a conundrum; after all, surely requirements come from people so all requirements should be user-centred. Sadly, that is not always so; many system disasters have been caused simply because requirements engineering was not user-centred or, worse still, was not practised at all. So this book is about putting the people back into com puting, although not simply from the HCI (human-computer interaction) sense; instead, the focus is on how to understand what people want and then build appropriate computer systems.

Written by psychologists, this book focuses on the design of computer systems from the perspective of the user. The authors place human beings firmly at the centre of system design and so assess their cognitive and physical attributes as well as their social needs. The model used specifically takes into consideration the way in which computer technology needs to be designed in order to take account of all these human factors. The text comprises a careful mix of theory and applications and is spiced throughout with practical examples of do's and don'ts in designing systems.

Looks at the application design process, describing how to create user-friendly applications.

A new product can be easy or difficult to use, it can be efficient or cumbersome, engaging or dispiriting, it can support the way we work and think - or not. What options are available for systematically addressing such parameters and provide users with an appropriate functionality, usability and experience? In the last decades, several fields have evolved that encompass a user-centred approach to create better products for the people who use them. This book provides a comprehensible introduction to the subject. It is aimed first and foremost at people involved in software and product development – product managers, project managers, consultants and analysts, who face the major challenge of developing highly useful and usable products. Topics include: The most important user-centred techniques and their alignment in the development process Planning examples of user-centred activities for projects User-oriented approaches for organisations Real-life case studies Checklists, tips and a lot of background information provide help for practitioners

How do you design engaging applications that people love to use? This book demonstrates several ways to include valuable input from potential clients and customers throughout the process. With practical guidelines and insights from his own experience, author Travis Lowdermilk shows you how usability and user-centered design will dramatically change the way people interact with your application. Learn valuable strategies for conducting each stage of the design process—from interviewing likely users and discovering your application’s purpose to creating a rich user experience with sound design principles. User-Centered Design is invaluable no matter what platform you use or audience you target. Explore usability and how it relates to user-centered design Learn how to deal with users and their unique personalities Clarify your application’s purpose, using a simple narrative to describe its use Plan your project’s development with a software development life cycle Be creative within the context of your user experience goals Use visibility, consistency, and other design principles to enhance user experience Collect valuable user feedback on your prototype with surveys, interviews, and usability studies

The Authors demonstrate that by using scenario based engineering processes they are able to establish the scope, complexity, and size of the situation to be addressed by the projects of the SEP approach.

Foundations for Designing User-Centered Systems introduces the fundamental human capabilities and characteristics that influence how people use interactive technologies. Organized into four main areas—anthropometrics, behaviour, cognition and social factors—it covers basic research and considers the practical implications of that research on system design. Applying what you learn from this book will help you to design interactive systems that are more usable, more useful and more effective. The authors have deliberately developed Foundations for Designing User-Centered Systems to appeal to system designers and developers, as well as to students who are taking courses in system design and HCI. The book reflects the authors’ backgrounds in computer science, cognitive science, psychology and human factors. The material in the book is based on their collective experience which adds up to almost 90 years of working in academia and both with, and within, industry; covering domains that include aviation, consumer Internet, defense, eCommerce, enterprise system design, health care, and industrial process control.