User+Trip

=Carrying out a User Trip=

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 * A commitment to understand and involve the intended user is an essential part of designing. If you want a user to understand your product, it is important to first understand the user.**

- establish new problems - draw comparisons between different solutions to the same problem
 * Carrying out a user trip can enable you to :
 * -** gain a deeper understanding of a given problem

- What does the user want the product to do? - How will the product be used? - In what sort of environment will the product be used? - What are the priorities when using the product? For example, which functions will be used most often?
 * The sorts of questions you will need to ask yourself are :
 * -** Who will be using the product?


 * Basically, to carry out a ‘user trip’, the designer must go through the whole process of using a particular product or system as a critically observant user. There are several stages involved as follows......

Decide on the perspective you will take** - this could be as consumer, operator, administrator etc’. (You may also consider the activity from the point of view of others; eg. a disabled user, a child.)


 * Decide on the limits and variations** - you could extend the user trip into the activities that both precede and follow on from the immediate use of the product. The user trip could be carried out at different times of the day or in different locations which may present new insights into the problem.


 * Decide on the method(s) of record keeping** - you will probably need to make written notes, or these could be done for you by an observer. It may also be appropriate to make an audio-tape, photographic or video record for analysis later, or you may decide on a combination of all of these.

You could use proformas similar to those shown below to record your thoughts.


 * [[image:USER1.JPG]] || [[image:USER2.JPG]] ||

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