Contextual Design: Design for Life

Contextual Design: Design for Life, Second Edition, describes the core techniques needed to deliberately produce a compelling user experience. Contextual design was first invented in 1988 to drive a deep understanding of the user into the design process. It has been used in a wide variety of industries and taught in universities all over the world. Until now, the basic CD approach has needed little revision, but with the wide adoption of handheld devices, especially smartphones, the way technology is integrated into people’s lives has fundamentally changed. Contextual Design V2.0 introduces both the classic CD techniques and the new techniques needed to "design for life", fulfilling core human motives while supporting activities.

This completely updated and revised edition is written in a clear, informal style without excessive jargon, and is the must-have book for any UX Design library. Users will find coverage of mobile devices and consumer and business products, all illustrated with new examples, case studies, and discussions on how to use CD with the agile development and other project requirements methods.

Provides tactics on how to gather detailed data on how people live, work, and use productsHelps develop a coherent picture of a whole user population Presents tactics on how to use the seven "Cool Concepts" to support core human motives and generate new product concepts guided by user data, ideation techniques, and principles key to producing a compelling user experienceExplains how to structure the system and user interface to best support the user across place, time, and platform

Part 1. Gathering User Data 1. Introduction 2. User Data Drives Design 3. Principles of Contextual Inquiry 4. The Interpretation Session

Part 2. Revealing the World 5. From Data to Insight: Contextual Design Models 6. The Affinity Diagram 7. Building Experience Models 8. Traditional Contextual Design Models

Part 3. Reinventing Life: Ideation with User Data 9. Inventing the Next Product Concept 10. The Bridge From Data to Design: The Wall Walk 11. Ideation: Visioning and the Cool Drilldown

Part 4. Defining the Product 12. The Challenge of Product Design 13. Storyboards 14. The User Environment Design 15. Interaction Patterns

Part 5. Making It Real 16. Making It Real 17. Validating the Design 18. Prioritization and Rollout 19. Project Planning and Execution 20. Conclusion