User-Centered Websites: Designing With People In Mind
August 2, 2007
Most people are amateur in their approach of designing websites and web apps in general. It goes something like this “Our online business plan is awesome and we are going to make tons of money”. Sadly most people think about web design from this point of view. Where does the customer factor into your plans for world domination? When you have to close your virtual doors 6 months or a year down the road because no one visits your site perhaps this is when you’ll start to think about those potential customers that never were.
When you forget to design for people regardless of what you are designing you pretty much run the risk of designing a bad product. If you designed a chair without thinking about the person sitting in it you’d have a similar result. Just look at IKEA furniture 
(just kidding). If you designed a chair you would naturally need to study ergonomics to understand the experience of the chair from the point of view of the end user. This is why site optimization and analytics exist and are slowly becoming predominant in the web design and development communities. You cannot build truly excellent websites without the end user in mind.
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I think these reads might complement your post:
1. The Inmates are running the asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity
- Alan Cooper
2. The design of everyday things - Donald A. Norman
Both are great books that not only discus tech products but also discuss flaws in design in everyday life.
Enjoy!
Hi Dustin,
Good to see you posting on here. Your suggested reads remind me of a quote i read from the creator of 37signals and it goes like this…
The best business advice I’ve ever heard was this: “Focus on the things that won’t change.” Today and ten years from now people will still want simple things that work.”
Thanks Dusty and chat soon!