I became involved in interface design from a technical writer's perspective: If I struggled to figure out and explain an interface, I knew users would have similar problems. In my first technical writing position, I was fortunate to work with developers who welcomed my suggestions and began to seek them out.
At Education Networks of America, the development lifecycle went straight from business analysis to coding. After much research and a few presentations, I was able to introduce an interface design stage into the development process. My proposal was based on Lucy Lockwood and Larry Constantine's Usage-Centered Design (UCD) Process. The basic steps in UCD include:
- task analysis
- paper prototype development
- usability testing
- paper prototype revision
- more usability testing
- functional specification documentation
As part of the UCD process at Education Networks of America, I led the interface design team consisting of developers and a graphic designer on the following projects: