Activity-centered design (ACD) is an extension of the Human-centered design paradigm in
interaction design
Interaction design, often abbreviated as IxD, is "the practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services." Beyond the digital aspect, interaction design is also useful when creating physical (non-digital) produ ...
. ACD features heavier emphasis on the activities that a
user
Ancient Egyptian roles
* User (ancient Egyptian official), an ancient Egyptian nomarch (governor) of the Eighth Dynasty
* Useramen, an ancient Egyptian vizier also called "User"
Other uses
* User (computing), a person (or software) using an ...
would perform with a given piece of technology. ACD has its theoretical underpinnings in
activity theory, from which activities can be defined as actions taken by a user to achieve a goal.
[Kaptelinin V, Nardi B (1997)]
Activity Theory: Basic Concepts and Applications
''CHI 97 Electronic Publications: Tutorials''.
When working with activity-centered design, the designers use
research to get insights of the users. Observations and interviews are typical approaches to learn more about the users'
behavior
Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as wel ...
. By mapping users' activities and tasks, the designer may notice missing tasks for the activity to become more easy to perform, and thus design solutions to accomplish those tasks.
References
*Saffer, Dan. 2010. ''Designing for interaction''.
*Gay, Geri and Helene Hembrooke. 2004. ''Activity-Centered Design: An Ecological Approach to Designing Smart Tools and Usable Systems''.
*Norman, Don. 2015. ''The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition''.
Niaz Mahmud " Activity Center Design"
Notes
Design
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