jhardernet

So. This is it. My new website, complete with portfolio, resume and blog.  But why? What is the raison d’etre?  Potential future employers is one audience; friends and strangers who have a reason to Google my name another.  And, if I write this blog correctly, then I may have a wider appeal to designers/researchers in general.  This entry will get the ball rolling, but in future entries I hope to reflect on triumphs and tribulations I encounter in my work.

In particular, I’m interested in figuring out how user research can influence (Web/software/UI/etc) design decisions.  How can we get the best information from users? How do we know what even is the best information? This involves drawing distinctions between things like user-centered design, and participatory design. Sometime these terms are used interchangeably, however they are different.  User-centered is a more generic term applicable to any situation where user data is involved while Participatory design means that at some point users and designers are actually in the same room working together.  Different situations call for different methodologies, but I tend to favor some face time at some point in a design process.

So that’s it for now. The ball is rolling and I’ve greeted the world.  I’ll be back in the next post hopefully discussing more specific issues.