METHODS
UCD methods
A practical index of user-centred design methods — interviews, usability testing, journey mapping, prototyping, and more — with plain-English explanations.
Methods are tools, not rituals. Choose based on what you need to learn, the risk you are carrying, and the phase you are in. For deeper psychology behind many of these practices, see UX Principles. To ask practical questions about applying a method, try UCD Chat.
User interviews
Structured conversations with people who use or might use a service. Interviews surface needs, frustrations, and context that surveys alone rarely capture.
Ask UCD Chat about interviewingContextual research
Observing people in the settings where they actually encounter a problem. Context reveals workarounds, environmental constraints, and behaviours people struggle to articulate.
Usability testing
Watching representative users attempt realistic tasks with a prototype or live service. Testing exposes where the design confuses, blocks, or slows people down.
UX Principles on cognitive loadAccessibility testing
Checking that people with disabilities can perceive, operate, and understand the service. Combine automated checks with testing by people who use assistive technologies.
Journey mapping
A visual timeline of what someone does, feels, and needs across every step of a service. Journey maps make gaps, pain points, and hand-offs between teams visible.
Service blueprinting
A diagram linking front-stage user actions to back-stage processes, systems, and policies. Blueprints show where the experience depends on things users never see.
Problem framing
Restating a challenge as a user need rather than a predetermined solution. Good framing opens up more options and stops teams from defending the wrong problem.
Assumption mapping
Listing what you believe to be true about users, technology, and policy, then ranking assumptions by risk. High-risk assumptions become the focus of early research and prototyping.
Prototyping
Building quick, disposable versions of a service to learn before committing engineering effort. Prototypes can be paper sketches, clickable mock-ups, or coded spikes.
UCDOps Agent for rapid prototypesCard sorting & tree testing
Techniques for understanding how people group and find information. Card sorting shapes navigation structure; tree testing validates whether people can locate content.
UX Principles on information scentDesign systems
Shared libraries of components, patterns, and guidance that keep services consistent and accessible. A design system speeds delivery and reduces the risk of one-off UI decisions.
Analytics
Measuring how people actually use a live service — completion rates, errors, time on task, and drop-off points. Analytics complement qualitative research rather than replacing it.