User-Centered Design (UCD) is:
"...the process of designing a tool, such as a website's or appliations user interface, from the perspective of how it will be understood and used by a human user."
User Experience Design (UXD) is:
"...entails conducting user research exercises with intended users of system...[in order] to accommodate and support user behaviors in a way that users will experience as naturak and satisfying."
From "Introduction to User-Centered Design", http://www.usabilityfirst.com/about-usability/introduction-to-user-centered-design/
Related Links
Great overview article on UxD from the web design site smashingmagazine.com.
Website by UX expert Neil Turner featuring articles and presentations on UX ideas, tips, techniques, tools, and practices.
Collaborative online publication and website by and for the user experience design community.
An introduction to UcD from usabilityfirst.com.
A great overview and introduction to user experience design from hackdesign.org.
"The Usability Body of Knowledge is dedicated to creating a living reference that represents the collective knowledge of the usability profession. Such a collection of knowledge for the usability profession will necessarily be broad and inclusive in scope, because our profession is inherently multidisciplinary and draws on a wide range of other practices.
The Usability BoK is derived from published literature, conference proceedings, and the experiences of practitioners accumulated over many years. It is a guide to existing resources, and will evolve as the practice of usability evolves."
Usability.gov is the leading resource for user experience (UX) best practices and guidelines, serving practitioners and students in the government and private sectors. The site provides overviews of the user-centered design process and various UX disciplines. It also covers the related information on methodology and tools for making digital content more usable and useful.
The Information Architecture Institute is a 501(c)6 professional organization, operated by a dedicated, multi-national group of people who are dedicated to promoting the concept, craft and community of information architecture.
The Journal of Information Architecture is an international peer-reviewed scholarly journal. Its aim is to facilitate the systematic development of the scientific body of knowledge in the field of information architecture.
"User experience design is a broad concept with a vast range of applications, especially if we use Steve Jobs' definition of "design" as encompassing how something works in addition to how something looks. As taught by Dan Klyn and Shari Thurow, architecture is the "what" to design's "how," and information architecture is the discipline and set of practices for specifying the "what" of products and services that are made of the information."
G.R. Little Library
Elizabeth City State University
