Applying user requirements for innovative products

How to create innovative solutions with systematic user needs and user requirements analysis

As the benefits of UX become recognised and user-centred design processes are applied more often, project teams start using terms such as ‘user needs’ and ‘user requirements’ in their project meetings. This is great news. Addressing user needs and user requirements in a structured manner can provide great clarity for your solution design and actually spark the creative thinking that leads to innovation.

But what exactly are user needs and user requirements and what’s the best way to apply them in solution design? Several questions arise once you commit to designing for user needs and user requirements:

• Are user needs and user requirements actually the same thing?
• How can we ensure they are accurate and evidence-based, not just a projection of the designer’s vision?
• Is documenting them worth the effort or just an administrative burden since the team intuitively knows what they are?
• Even worse - could they actually become constraints that inhibit us from thinking of innovative solutions?

To tell us how the process of designing with user requirements works we have a guest presenter who is a recognised expert in user requirements engineering - Thomas Geis, President of the International UX Qualification Board. He will discuss user requirements, how they are elicited, documented and then applied to a structured user-centred design process. He will outline the difference between user needs and user requirements and how to apply them effectively to ensure your solution stays true to the needs of your users.