User Needs

User Needs is the key information in Human-Centered-Design. They describe the needs of all relevant target groups referred to the use of a product or service. They give insights and allow drawing conclusions for the product’s requirements definition. It is necessary to distinguish needs and wishes: While wishes are influenceable (e.g. by advertisement) and their fulfillment doesn’t necessarily lead to the solving of a problem, the satisfaction of needs leads to remedying a defect. In order to capture needs and define requirements, relevant methods and inquiry designs are chosen depending on the project goal.

Questions regarding the general user needs can be “Who are my users?”, “Which needs do they have?”, “Which chances arise out of this for me?”. D-LABS finds answers to this among others in qualitative contextual interviews.

Questions regarding the usability are e.g. “How do users use my product?”, “Do they get along with it?”, “Do they understand the concept and can perform typical tasks?”. Usability- and User Experience-Tests are exemplary methods to gather these specific requirements.