Customer-Centered Research & Design Process Our approach is to partner with design teams whenever usability is needed in the development process using the following proven methods and techniques. Requirements and Concepts During this definition phase we characterize customers and understand the customers' needs. We also develop and simulate the concepts to address these needs. Methods used include: Group Elicitation Method, Process Mapping © (contextual interviewing), Card Sorts, Panel of Customers ©, and more... Design and Innovation Iterative design with customer feedback is used to define, compare, and refine user interface structures and mechanisms. Get Trained! Methods used include: Usability Goals, Feature/Cost Tradeoff ©, Expert Reviews, Directed Dialog ©, and more... Implementation and Evaluation During implementation, changes that were made to the original design need to be tested. The first integrated product undergoes alpha testing, a pre-release needs beta testing, and a post-product release should have a usability audit. Methods used include: Usability Walkthroughs, Directed Dialog ©, Usability tests, Beta Tests, Product Usability Audits, and more... To Design Technologies' Home Design Technologies Portland, OR Copyright © 2008 by Design Technologies