Designers' use of the artefact in human-centred design

This paper highlights how artefacts can be used as an effective tool to understand users and encourage dialogue. The paper will reflect on how the role of the designer is evolving, some limitations of user-centred design and how a more holistic ‘human-centred’ design approach may be more productive. The nature and applications of artefacts in understanding users will be considered. Finally three case studies will illustrate how artefacts have been used to enable human-centred design.