Sometimes it is better to go through the less travel road (User-centric design)

While this may seem like the most obvious point, it’s surprising how often the user is forgotten in the user experience. Business owners, marketers and web developers frequently focus on creating the web platforms they want and think are best, instead of really interrogating what the user needs.

Often, the performance of web assets is compromised when the design process is driven only by internal business needs (for instance, ensuring that each department in the company has a space that it controls on the home page) at the expense of what the user needs.

It’s essential to give users exactly what they need. (Source: XKCD.com)

When designing for the user, you need to ask the following questions:
• Who is the user?
• What are the user’s wants and needs from your platform?
• Why is the user really coming to your website?
• What are the user’s capabilities, web skills and available technology?
• What features would make the user’s experience easier and better?

Of course, many users may not know exactly what their wants and needs are! It is the User experience practitioner’s job to discover these through research and interpret them in the best way possible. Keep Henry Ford’s famous quote in mind here: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”