Participative design

The participative design is a work method used mainly in Conception of interactive software. Its main feature is the active participation of the users with the work of design. It is thus about a method of Conception centered on the user where the stress is laid on the active role of the users.

The participative design takes its roots in the movement trade unionist, particularly in Scandinavia. It was mainly a question of encouraging the employers to obtain the adhesion of the workers when new tools were designed for them, by making them take part in the choices. As of the years 1970, researchers studied how to apply the participative design to carry out software having better a Utilisabilité and a better acceptability. The field abundantly was then studied in the years 1980 and 1990 by researchers and professional American, by losing its connotation trade unionist. Since the beginning of the years 2000, the French scientific communities of the Ergonomics and software Génie started to be interested in it, and of the specialized companies start to appear in Europe.

There exists in the literature of many alternatives of the method and many techniques used to imply the users effectively. One can note particularly:

observation and talks
production of scenarios
brainstorming
prototyping paper
video prototyping

References

Michael Muller and Sarah Kuhn (eds). Special Exit one Participatory Design, CACM 36:4 (June, 1993).

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