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CPACC - Module 5: user-centered design

A study summary of user-centered design for the CPACC exam — its four phases, accessibility integration, and usability vs. user experience.

  • #accessibility
  • #cpacc
  • #study-notes

This is Module 5 of the CPACC (Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies) Body of Knowledge — and the first module of Domain 2, Accessibility and Universal Design. Domain 1 covered who we design for (disabilities, barriers, demographics, and etiquette); Domain 2 turns to how we design.

This module covers user-centered design itself, how accessibility fits into it, and the difference between usability and user experience.

What is user-centered design? #

User-centered design (UCD) is an iterative process that puts people at the center of the design of products, services, and environments. (The course shortens “products, services, and environments” to just “products.”)

Its key goal is to understand users and the context in which they’ll use the product — in low light, sitting down, one-handed, and so on — so the result is highly usable and accessible.

Designers research potential users and requirements, then design and test solutions. Test feedback is itself a form of research: results feed the next design, and the loop repeats until the design is complete.

Accessibility and user-centered design #

Every product, service, or environment should be usable by people with disabilities. The two most effective ways to make that happen:

  • Include people with disabilities in every phase — requirements gathering, design, development, and testing.
  • Follow standards.

How to integrate accessibility into design #

  1. Incorporate real (not theoretical) people in the design.
  2. Ensure everyone on the project understands the needs of people with disabilities.
  3. Include users with disabilities throughout the design process.
  4. Have users with disabilities evaluate accessibility.

(Adapted from W3C: “Accessibility, Usability, and Inclusion: Related Aspects of a Web for All.”)

Usability and user experience #

Usability #

Usability focuses on ease of use. Designers focus on three aspects:

  • The interface should be easy to use.
  • The design should make it easy to achieve a goal.
  • The interface should be easy to learn, so using it again is even easier.

A highly usable product reduces cognitive load — the effort needed to think — so users reach their goals quickly, without frustration or error.

Accessibility is central to usability — products should be as easy as possible for all the people who want to use them.

User experience #

User experience (UX) is concerned with the entire journey a person has with a product — every point of interaction over time, including:

  • Becoming aware of the product.
  • Acquiring or accessing it.
  • Using it the first time.
  • Using it subsequent times.
  • Their feelings about it.

Quick self-check #

  1. UCD is best described as what kind of process?
  2. Name the four phases of user-centered design.
  3. Which standard applies to ICT/websites? Which applies to the built environment?
  4. What is “cognitive load”?
  5. Usability or user experience: which one covers the entire journey with a product?
  6. What’s the most effective way to ensure a product works for people with disabilities?

Knowledge check #

Answer each question, then check — the feedback explains every choice.

Knowledge check

1. Usability focuses on making products easy to use, while accessibility focuses on making products usable by people with disabilities.
2. What are the four phases of user-centered design? (Watch for the decoy.) Select all that apply.
3. Products, services, and environments should be designed for people with disabilities.
4. What is user experience (UX) concerned with?
5. How does consistent navigation on each page make a website more accessible?
6. Which discipline focuses on creating a highly usable product that lets the user achieve their goals quickly, with minimum fuss and without error?

Study tip: this module is conceptual, not fact-heavy. Lock in the four phases (and the regression-test decoy), the two standards (WCAG for ICT, ISO 21542 for the built environment), and the usability vs. UX vs. accessibility distinctions — that’s where the points are.