User-centred design. Everyone's talking about it. Many are trying to do it. Our approach to user-centred design begins with user understanding. We aim to understand people's motivations, their mental models of the world, and the tasks they're trying to accomplish. We consider not just individuals, but groups of people – teams, families and groups of friends. We look not just at people, but also at the context in which they live and work.

We base our user understanding on observation. We use ethnographic techniques to observe, question and understand people going about their everyday lives – whether at home or at work. We set our observations against a multi-year background of research work and our knowledge of the human sciences. The insights we generate are the basis of our other work, whether we're improving existing information appliances or inventing new ones.

We also understand usability. Deeply. Usability is about more than a pretty interface. It's about understanding and respecting people's needs and expectations. We use a variety of approaches to inform our design work, and to test the results. We make sure our work is truly user-centred, from conception to delivery.

Every member of our team is concerned with the user. Our user understanding work is led by experienced psychologists and sociologists with a proven track record in the area. We also have relationships with research groups, allowing us to benefit from the latest knowledge in the area, and to outsource or partner with the right people for your project. Read more about our capabilities in our booklet on User Understanding.