User-Centered Design Game The UCD game allows human-computer interaction practitioners to demonstrate the key user-centered design (UCD) process and methods to those who are unfamiliar with UCD. The game teaches how to incorporate user-centered design into every step in the software development process. Overall, the purpose of this game is to promote a better understanding of a good design process by demonstrating the importance of understanding and focusing on the end user.

The target audience for this game is those unfamiliar with UCD, yet whose work relates to the definition, creation, and update of a product or service. In other words, everyone involved in the software development process.

The UCD game is structured in 4 sections mimicking a standard user-centered design project: defining the users, analyzing the users’ characteristics, designing and evaluating the designed artifact. The last station – evaluating the process – requires the participants to look back on the three previous stations and reflect their design process.

The game was developed by three people associated with the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Open University of Catalonia, Spain).