User experience design (UxD) shapes many of the products and services that surround our day-to-day lives.
The way these applications interact with us is rarely accidental. They are subject to careful considerations about how people are expected to use and experience them and are designed accordingly.
Getting UxD right is crucial in the industries Critical Software serves. We know that, across the world, the cost of fixing design errors can be 100 times greater after system development than before. Despite this, 70% of digital projects fail due to a lack of user acceptance after development.
UxD is even more important when dealing with critical systems that can’t afford to fail. Across industries like aerospace, defence, medical devices and transport, systems that interact with people are responsible for the safety of people’s lives. In other industries like energy, ecommerce and finance, UxD helps to ensure massive infrastructure systems perform correctly. These systems need to be carefully designed according to how people will actually use them, to avoid catastrophic failures.
Critical Software’s expertise supports clients that need more than traditional UxD services, focusing on the more demanding design requirements of critical systems and the industry standards they need to meet. This involves:
- Taking complex systems in the operational environment into account with a 360° contextual approach to design.
- Taking into account the realities of human cognitive abilities and workloads to avoid overloading users with information during critical processes.
- Understanding, addressing and complying with all industry regulatory requirements in applying the standards for which any system is required to be designed under.
- Addressing not just the goals of a system, but the anti-goals – the things a system must avoid as an outcome.
We take a three-stage approach to UxD: assess, think, do. Throughout, we work closely with our clients to understand and define their business and their users’ needs and goals. We think deeply about what features an application really needs, how it will work, what content will be served up and how things will work in different scenarios. We research user requirements and real behaviours, map all connected technology ecosystems and account for the contextual factors that matter most when it comes to critical systems and applications - like safety and security. This comprehensive approach ensures that we are able to deliver UxD that clients trust.
Want to know more about our work?
Browse our materials to discover more about what we do for our clients and some of the projects we’ve worked on.
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