Editing Usability (section)

===Early focus on users and tasks===
The design team should be user-driven and it should be in direct contact with potential users. Several [[#Evaluation methods|evaluation methods]], including [[persona]]s, [[cognitive modeling]], inspection, inquiry, [[prototyping]], and testing methods may contribute to understanding potential users and their perceptions of how well the product or process works. Usability considerations, such as who the users are and their experience with similar systems must be examined. As part of understanding users, this knowledge must "...be played against the tasks that the users will be expected to perform."<ref name="Gould, J.D. 1985"/> This includes the analysis of what tasks the users will perform, which are most important, and what decisions the users will make while using your system. Designers must understand how cognitive and emotional characteristics of users will relate to a proposed system. One way to stress the importance of these issues in the designers' minds is to use personas, which are made-up representative users. See below for further discussion of personas. Another more expensive but more insightful method is to have a panel of potential users work closely with the design team from the early stages.<ref name="pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca">[http://pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~saul/wiki/uploads/HCIPapers/gould-howto-2-pageperside-ocr.pdf]  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101127084949/http://pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~saul/wiki/uploads/HCIPapers/gould-howto-2-pageperside-ocr.pdf |date=November 27, 2010 }}</ref>