Carroll draws on an impressively large body of research to present the mostthorough treatment yet of a powerful idea: employing scenarios to make sureuser interfaces are designed for the way people actually use things.How much easier the world would be if everybody followed his advice.
Jakob Nielsen, Co-Founder, Nielsen Norman Group, and author of DesigningWeb Usability: The Practice of Simplicity
Scenario-based deisgn is becoming increasingly recognised as a powerful way of designing new systems. John M. Caroll's latest book, which pulls together work he and his colleagues have been engaged in for the last ten years, is therefore timely. Making Use provides a thoughtful critique of the use of scenarios in design and provides numerous examples that illustrate how a scenario-based approach can provide an integrated focus for design that is informal yet systematic.
Dr. Allan MacLean, Xerox Research Centre Europe
Masterfully written, deep, and thoughtful. The book goes directly to the essential questions of HCI design—what will users seeks to accompish, what understanings will they bring, and how can the system respond to users' needs?
Jim Foley, Georgia Institute of Technology
This book provides a stimulating and thoughtful examination of the complexities underlying the design process of current information technology. Combining the anecdotal with the empirical, and examining success stories as well as design failures, Carroll provides a rich analysis of how decisions are made and methods are applied which frequently fail to produce the desired results for users. In this book he offers a thorough and compelling account of how scenario-based design can both improve the process and advance the theory of design. In articulating and advocating scenario-based approaches Carroll reminds us that good design is, above all, fundamentally grounded in human communication.
Dr. Andrew Dillon, Indiana University
