Virtually everyone wants their technology project to be "user-centered." But what does that mean in practice? Implementing every possible applicable technique could easily cost tens of thousands of dollars. For a giant project, this could be a great investment. But for most of us nonprofit technologists, that’s just not practical.
But it is practical — and, I would argue, essential — to know what the possible tactics are and how useful they might be for you. Below, I describe twelve things you might do to make your project more user-focused and their importance in a typical technology project.
- Identify and prioritize your users (Critical)
It’s crucial to start with a solid understanding of who your “users” are. Your project might serve multiple external and internal audiences with varying needs. Prioritize them to how vital their effective use of the system is to the project's success so you can strategically allocate your focus and resources. - Conduct interviews or surveys (Important)
Interviewing just a handful of people from each of your main audience segments can really focus the project on user needs. Surveys can occasionally be useful, particularly when you need numbers to make a case, but I find the data is usually less helpful than the detailed context from interviews. Learn more from my own site on how to conduct interviews and why I don’t typically use surveys.) - Analyze existing metrics (Important)
Data you’ve already collected, for instance, website analytics and system logs, can tell you a lot about how users interact with your current technology. - Consider participatory design (Likely unimportant)
While the design thinking movement brought attention to participatory design workshops, I find them to be time-intensive for the value they bring unless wide stakeholder engagement is a critical goal. They’re primarily helpful when organizations want to develop new approaches, and most nonprofits benefit more from relying on proven models. Learn more about participatory design. - Define user goals (Critical)
What are your users trying to accomplish? Articulating this details what your project needs to achieve to be truly “user-centered.” Ideally, this would be based on research, as per #2 and #3 above. However, brainstorming user goals with your team works when there aren't resources for anything else. - Balance user goals with other realities (Critical)
Balance user goals against your organization’s goals and technological realities. Even in the most user-centered processes, organizations also need to understand what the organization is trying to accomplish for each audience, what’s easy or hard to build, and use all of that information to define the scope of the system. - Create personas (Can be useful)
A persona is a fictional character that embodies the characteristics, needs, and goals of a larger group of users. It acts as a stand-in for a segment of your audience, helping the team visualize the audience when making decisions. Modern best practices are increasingly moving towards personas focusing on users' behavior rather than demographics. This shift toward “functional” or “behavioral” personas can lead to more inclusive and effective designs. Learn more about personas. - Map out user journeys (Can be useful)
If your project involves a complex series of interactions, creating a “user journey map” or “customer experience map” can be enlightening (these terms are relatively synonyms). Those, along with 'page flow diagrams' or 'user flows' (which are more tactical diagrams showing how different pages interact), help you think holistically about how users move through your system. Learn more about user journeys and user flows. - Wireframes (Critical, unless you’re implementing an existing system)
Before any code is written, wireframes (black and white sketches of each page) allow you to map out in detail how people will use each page to complete tasks within your system. Tools like Figma can turn wireframes into clickable prototypes that preview the holistic user experience. Learn more about wireframes. - Embrace inclusive design (Critical)
“Inclusive design” is a broad term for processes to ensure that the system can be used by people of all backgrounds and abilities. For instance, all technology projects should ensure that the graphic contrast between text and backgrounds is high enough to read and that font size can be increased as needed. Other considerations include support for names with hyphens or accent marks, inclusive options for gender fields, use of illustrations or photographs, and much more. Learn more about inclusive design. - User test early and often (Important)
User testing doesn’t have to be expensive. Testing a prototype to see if a handful of people can succeed with a few tasks often reveals crucial insights. This testing would ideally be done by an experienced facilitator and with members of the target audience. Still, any testing is far better than nothing. Do this research using a prototype of wireframes or static graphic designs while changes are still relatively inexpensive to address. Learn more about user testing. - Establish feedback loops (Critical)
Once live, how will you know what the users are doing with the system, and how will you gather their feedback? Can they give you a thumbs up/ thumbs down for an article? Submit suggestions? Is there a quarterly survey of users or a quarterly cycle of user research? And then how will you use that information to decide on enhancements? User-centered design should be incorporated into the lifespan of your system.
User-centered design isn’t about ticking off any given set of boxes. I’ve never been involved in a project that used all twelve methods, even in multi-million dollar initiatives. Instead, it’s about giving specific consideration to your users' needs within the context of your project and resources. Start with what’s feasible and build from there. As you start to take on a few of these steps, you’ll find that the processes not only enhance your current project but inform your approach to future initiatives as well.
Laura S. Quinn
she/her
Laura S. Quinn Consulting
Laura S. Quinn is a Nonprofit Website Coach who supports nonprofit staff with weekly or bi-weekly calls to provide best practices and help them avoid risk as they work on website projects, and also provides Website Strategy consulting. She's been a proud member of the NTEN community for more than 20 years. As the founder of Idealware, she spent 10 years as its Executive Director. In that position and in her independent consulting since, she has worked with dozens of small to large organizations, including clients like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the ASPCA, Adeso, Ohio Legal Help, and the Legal Services Corporation. She also publishes the Nonprofit Website Insider (free!), a twice-monthly newsletter with curated articles for website staff.
