ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a discussion of the importance of customer experience and the need for customer input in product and information development, followed by a discussion of the contextual design methodology. It responds to the paucity in research by reviewing a user-centered approach to information design-contextual design-through a case study that demonstrates how a large computer software company applied the contextual design process to the information and documentation components of their software with the intent of improving the experience of users. The chapter provides an example of how a user-centered design process was adapted by a computer software company to enhance the information experience of software users. It demonstrates the contextual design process applied to information and documentation and provides some of the results of the inquiry process. The chapter concludes by discussing some of the constraints affecting the implementation of design ideas along with implications for further research and practice.
