From user-centered to participatory design approaches

There is a shift in perspective occurring today at the collaborative edge of design and social science. It is a change from a user-centered design process to that of participatory experiences. It is a shift in attitude from designing for users to one of designing with users. It is a new design movement (that we call Postdesign) that will require new ways of thinking, feeling and working. Participatory experience is not simply a method or set of methodologies, it is a mindset and an attitude about people. It is the belief that all people have something to offer to the design process and that they can be both articulate and creative when given appropriate tools with which to express themselves. Background The integration of design with the applied social sciences is relatively new. Design firms began experimenting with the social sciences in the early 1980s. The experiment was designdriven, with social scientists being brought in to serve the design process. As a social scientist trained both in psychology and anthropology, I was one of these “experiments.” I began to serve the design process in 1982. In the 1980s I played the role of the human factors practitioner, or “user advocate.” My role was to know the user and to translate that knowing into principles and prescriptions that the designers with whom I worked could understand and use. We called this the user-centered design process. As I learned ways to help make products and information systems more usable, I also studied the designers, especially the ways they visually communicated with each other. User-Centered Design Process In the user-centered design process, we are focused on the thing being designed (e.g., the object, communication, space, interface, service, etc.), looking for ways to ensure that it meets the needs of the user. The social scientist/researcher serves as the interface between the user and the designer. The researcher collects primary data or uses secondary sources to learn about the needs of the user. The researcher interprets this information, often in the form of design criteria. The designer interprets these criteria, typically through concept sketches or scenarios. The focus continues then on the design development of the thing. The researcher and user may or may not come back into the process for usability testing. In user-centered design, the roles of the researcher and the designer are distinct, yet interdependent. The user is not really a part of the team, but is spoken for by the researcher.