[Sigia-l] Human-Centered Design 99% bad

[Boniface Lau]

> From: Alexander Johannesen
>  
> On 7/29/05, Boniface Lau <boniface_lau at compuserve.com> wrote:
> > The difference lies in the word "particular". Is it that critical
> > to understand the "particular" users of a product? If so, what
> > happens when designing for the mass?
> 
> It is not that I don't actually understand the difference; there are
> some, yet they are not the same as human-centered design vs.
> activity-centred design.

What do you mean by that?


> 
> > When a design is based on the understanding of activities, the
> > specifics of individual users are no longer that important.
> 
> No, I don't agree with that one bit. Most people were happy with the
> viola until someone figured out that placing it on your shoulder as
> to compared to between your legs would improve things.

The shoulder-realization applies to users in general, not the
specifics of individual users. Thus, I am not sure of what you are
trying to say.


[...]
> The difference was that specific knowledge of certain users created
> the violin.

Your example is about users using their knowledge to improve what they
use. But what does that has to do with ACD's down playing of the
importance of adapting to individual user differences?


Boniface