Analysis and Application of Quality Assurance in User Centered Design: A case study

When discussing the topic of quality from a "modern" point of view, "customer satisfaction” is arguably one of the top criterion of high product / service quality, so that only companies whose output (be it a product or a service - or both) really satisfies end users are the ones with high quality. Traditional product design ideology and methodology is experiencing innovation and reformation. A new design ideology named “user-centered design” (UCD) is spreading and raising growing interest and recognition. Unlike conventional design approaches, UCD gives users top priorities throughout the whole design process, as its ultimate purpose is to meet users’ requirements. The present work aims to propose a quality assurance process based on the UCD paradigm. The UCD process mainly includes three phases (namely pre-design planning, design presentation, design evaluation and implementation), and quality control of the product design is to be enforced throughout the whole UCD process. The proposed control process has been tested in a case study of portable photo printer design, using UCD for reference and Quality Function Deployment for technical means. The case study, which will be discussed in the paper, will show the application of a new, effective quality control model for product design. Thanks to the real application, based on a survey on customer needs, and applied to all stages of UCD process, feasibility of the suggested approach is validated. The paper will conclude with a critical discussion on the applicability of such methodology to different fields.