Hello Umesh,
In addition to demographics, 'psychographics' might be a useful area to look
at. It's an area that deals with the attitudes and frames of mind that
individuals or groups might bring to the experience of communication, or for
that matter products. A starting point might be:
http://members.shaw.ca/finkleman/psychogr.htm
Vance Packard wrote 'Hidden Persuaders' in 1957, the first of a number of
books around this issue.
Regards,
George Borzyskowski
Department of Design
Faculty of the Built Environment, Art & Design
Curtin University of Technology
Western Australia
CRICOS Provider Code: 00301J
Tel: +61 8 9266 2293
Fax: +61 8 9266 2980
-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and
related research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf
Of Umesh Persad
Sent: Friday, 15 October 2004 4:37 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Your Views: How to characterise people for design?
If you had to list the characteristics of users that would be important
to consider
in designing a product, then what would they be?
I am interested in finding out your thoughts about user characteristics and
its use in design. I am researching in the area of Inclusive Design and
looking specifically at the issue of user characterisation (the
knowledge of
user characteristics and its use in design).
Do you think that there might be one best way to characterise people or
we need multiple classifications? What about people with disabilities?
I am thinking that probably designers think about users in different
ways at
different times in the design process. Also it might depend on the type
of product
being designed. So then, what might be the best way to present user
information for effective use?
Your thoughts?
Umesh Persad
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