ACM Interactions

Authors:
Jonathan Arnowitz, Elizabeth Dykstra-Erickson

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All too often, terms are misappropriated, if not outright hijacked, and their meaning becomes either obfuscated or totally changed. Have you noticed that user-centered design is quickly becoming such a victim? We feel the only way to protect this saintly term is to fight fire with fire and provide a counter weapon whenever the term user-centered design is misused: Enter the term loser-centered design. Loser-centered design focuses on the wrong things, and worse, ignores the user-yet it still uses the term user-centered or user-focused; either to justify some Machiavellian ends or to cover up poor process. Unfortunately, loser-centered design,…

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