The afternoon programme of the symposium will consist of two workshop sessions. For each of these sessions you can participate in one of the following workshops. In each of these workshops you will be actively involved in gaining insights and hands on information on the latest tools and methods for user centred design.

Workshop 1: The UCD Kick-off tool – Creating a plan of approach for your user-centred product development process

Research indicates that complaints about product use originate from how the product development process is organized and monitored. Product development teams which have a complete, univocal and accurate view of the planned user-centred product development process are better at developing products that meet the desired use characteristics. Until now these user-centred plans of approach had to be defined based on experience as no support tools were available. This workshop lets you explore the UCD Kick-off tool, which supports you in systematically defining a user-centred plan of approach based on characteristics of both the specific design assignment and company characteristics.

Workshop 2: Improving usability decision-making – How to prevent unawareness in your design practice

During the course of product development projects, many usability issues are identified and fixed. However, some remain undetected due to ‘unawareness’ of the people involved in the decision-making process, and this can cause a great deal of damage. In this workshop you learn how to prevent this; we present a theory, based on observations from practice, that increases your understanding of unawareness in design. You will explore the factors influencing unawareness and how to handle them. ‘Aware’-designers lead to better decisions, and thereby to more usable products.

Workshop 3: Interaction between Product and User profiles – How to increase users’ satisfaction and avoid mistakes

Product and user profiles are design techniques which help designers to foster a better understanding of target users and the product in development. When designing for ‘all’, the ‘product profile’ helps you anticipate usability problems of your next generation products at the start of the product development process. When designing for a specific user group, the ‘user profile’ helps you to better understand the target group and predict usability problems in practice. In this workshop you will experience these techniques hands-on, so that you can gain insight into the applicability in your own practice. At the end of the workshop we will discuss the participants’ experiences.

Workshop 4: Product Impact Tool – How can user behaviour be guided and changed through design?

Anticipating how products guide and change user behaviour helps to prevent undesired product use or to promote a desired behaviour change. In this workshop we introduce a model for understanding different types of impact on user behaviour. You will engage in a session of “reverse thinking”: not about what people do with products, but about what products do with users. Finally, a we will discuss the ethical implications of designing behaviour-guiding products.

Workshop 5: Introducing the Design for Usability Method Selection Tool – How to find the best method for your project

In product development processes a wide range of methods can be used to gain valuable insights from users, such as observational studies and focus groups. But with over 200 methods for user centred design available, how do you select the right one? In this workshop we introduce a tool that helps you find the right method for your project. You will also experience how you can use the tool for inspiration when creating or adjusting customized usability studies.

Workshop 6: The Envisioning Use workshop – A team technique for early development to create a common vision on product use

The Envisioning Use technique, developed within the DfU project, enables a product development team to create a shared vision on a future product’s usability in a half-day workshop. The vision is based on gathering knowledge and assumptions about product use by executing a series of steps in which the knowledge is accessed in different ways, such as story-telling, role-playing and scenario generation. The results are brought together in a ‘product use mind map’ which structures information about product use and helps define knowledge gaps that need more investigation. At the symposium you can experience a condensed version of this technique.