• Jakob Nielsen. "Usability Engineering". Boston: Academic Press, Inc. 1993.
• Donald A. Norman, "The Design of Everyday Things". Basic Books, 1988.

Content

The crucial question in the private, as well as corporate context today, is no longer whether software is used, but which among many is chosen. Rarely included explicitly in such decision-making processes is the software’s usability, though implicitly it is an aspect with tremendous influence on the choice of any software.

Good usability and a positive user experience can only be ensured by knowing and understanding the users’ expressed as well as hidden desires and cognitive abilities. To ensure project or product success, awareness of users and their desires is as fundamental as using the ‘right’ technology for the ‘right’ approach. Yet usability is not an inherent quality of software, nor can it be developed and plugged-in at any point. Usability is always embedded within a particular context of use, which needs to be fully understood in order to heighten it. Additionally, improving usability has to be integrated into the entire software development process; with diverse principles and methods to be chosen and adapted depending on the phase and situation of the project.

This concept strives for high usability of software for a particular user group despite complex functions and large amounts of information. To ensure this is as positive an experience as possible for the user, emotional and aesthetic aspects are included in the scope of development.