Design games as a tool, a mindset and a structure Kirsikka Vaajakallio

In this chapter I will discuss the five cases introduced in the previous
chapter in connection with methods that aim at driving empathic sensitivity
in user-centred design (UCD). I will discuss the meaning of creative
user study approaches that stress imagination in line with information. In
that discussion, the relationship between user-centred design, user experience
and co-design will be looked at. In general, I will discuss the topic
of design and participation by addressing some approaches, techniques
and reasons for direct and indirect user involvement in co-design. The
focus will be on empathic understanding in early design process.
2.1
From
user–centred
design
to
user
experience and
co–design
Although the overall aim of creating designs that are appropriate for its
users has in general remained unchanged, the focus on and approaches
towards better understanding the influence of design have varied during
the last decades. For example, whereas in the 1970s the main emphasis
was put on ergonomics and cognition, in the 1980s and in the beginning
of the 1990s usability was given more attention (Julier 2000). It was common
for all these approaches to consider users as subjects in the study
that aimed at design guidelines with quantitative qualifiers that could be
justified through measurements.
Subsequently, user-centred design (UCD) that emphasizes emotions
and pleasure, in addition to usability, as meaningful factors in user experience
has become a common approach. According to Rizzo (2010, p 2)
“For UCD the scope of design is to produce a better world for people, that
meaning interacts with products and services in a manner appropriate to
the user and the context.” In user-centred design or human-centred design,
it is acknowledged that designers’ own experiences may be insufficient
information sources, especially when designing for people or context the
designers are not familiar with (Jääskö & Keinonen 2006, pp 92-93). Consequently,
researchers and practitioners have been developing several
methods, for collecting and interpreting user information, as presented
for example in (ibid., pp 92–131), in regard to early design process.
ISO 13407 (ISO 1999) defines human-centred design as iterative process
that involves users throughout the design process in which specifications,
evaluations and design solutions are based on user studies and continuous
user involvement. Accordingly, in Rizzo’s (2010) view user-centred design
has two major benefits in design: focusing on the users and on the iterative
process where intermediate results are continuously evaluated.
Although users are at the centre of design in user-centred design, usercentred
design can be approached from many angles: some highlight analytical
and rather objective perspective into user knowledge (e.g. Hyysalo
2006) while others give more room for creative and subjective interpretations
(e.g. Gaver et al. 2004). For example Jääskö and Mattelmäki (2003)
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