Designing worth is worth designing

Abstract

Value is a unifying concept for design. The intended value of digital artefacts provides a focus for field research, design and evaluation, as well as common ground with project sponsors, future users, and other stakeholders. The challenge lies in operationalising value to create a welldefined, well-understood and manageable development process. This requires a clear definition and strong understanding of the nature of value as a human motivator. It further requires this understanding to be transformed into methods and techniques within a development framework that supports a focus on value from the initial identification of product opportunities to the installation and operation of digital products and services. This paper revisits the logic and evolution of value-centred design, and then renames it to the near synonym of worth-centred to avoid confusion (especially 'value' vs. 'values') and distracting associations of the word 'value'. It locates worth in arenas of individual and collective discourses which scope different human perspectives on value.Finally, it relates worth to an evolving development framework.

Conceptualising Benefits of User-Centred Design for Digital Library Services

“…Thus, there can be significant temporal gaps between inputs and outcomes of design. From a holistic and value-oriented viewpoint, the power of design lies in moving from short-term problem solving to longterm improvements (Cockton, 2006(Cockton, , 2008Design Council, 2015;Friedman, Kahn, & Borning, 2008;Sikorski, 2008).…”

“…Design activity is considered to be dominantly future-orienting, and it may disrupt present stabilities (Krippendorff, 2006). The outcomes of design activity can increase value and benefits soon or long after the outcome has been achieved or even during the implementation In use Best, 2010;Bias & Mayhew, 2005;Cockton, 2006;Law et al, 2008;Lockwood, 2007Lockwood, , 2009Rajanen, 2011 Q2 Quality UCD produces quality of the product/ service to the broad group of end-users and citizens…”

The PEW Framework for Worth Mapping

“…Worth is anything that motivates the user to buy, learn, use, or recommend an interactive product, and ideally most or all of these [8].…”

“…The work presented here is related to the last aforementioned notion, worth, initially introduced as 'value' by G. Cockton in 2004 [6], as well as the WCD framework for worth operationalization. The WCD framework structures the development process around 4 phases [8]: (1) study of needs, wants, and unfelt needs (for worth elicitation), (2) design (for the system design and implementation), and (3) evaluation (for worth accomplishment) that my lead to iteration. G. Cockton also proposes a set of tools, including Worth Maps, for supporting the WCD.…”

The influence of socio-cultural background and product value in usability testing

“…The idea of a broader approach to usability by examining user experience has been built upon by Cockton (2004Cockton ( , 2006 who argued that the main goal in product development should be to design product value for users by satisfying their needs. Value represents product characteristics that motivate people to buy, use, or recommend the product.…”