What is UCD?

User Centred Design - commonly abbreviated to UCD - is a core component of what we do at PDR. But occasionally people have asked us: what actually is UCD?

User Centred Design forms an integral part of many of our projects, due to the constant importance of considering the needs of the end users - no matter what product, service or experience you’re developing.

So, why is User Centred Design so important? When done correctly at the outset of a project, UCD means the user shouldn’t have to change their behaviour to use your product, and overall has a good experience. In fact, good User Centred Design can be the ‘make or break’ difference between happy users and receiving bad reviews, suffering a lack of sales, or having to alter your end product at great cost.

So with UCD being such an integral part of PDR, Cat Taylor, Senior User Centred Designer, gives an answer to the question ‘what is User Centred Design?’ and explains its importance in the design process.