Users are different than customers in that customers define the scope and functionality of the product, whereas users apply the functionality to their work. After the product has been released, the customer may become a primary user. The user-centered design approach relies on specific types of analyses to reveal the conceptual, design, and development information relevant to user needs, strength, limitations, and behaviors. These types of analyses often include user profiles, user requirements, and usability testing. In addition, the user-centered design approach adheres to standards that ensure the same types of actions and displays in one system have the same general meaning in any other application.
User needs provide a direct source of user requirements.
User needs are statements collected from users specifying how, when, and why they need their problems solved. The user profile is a source of user requirements. The pertinent characteristics of each category are also specified. In general, user requirements are the set of data that indicates how a product requirement is defined in terms of customer goals, strengths, limitations, attitudes, and behaviors. This data ensures the customer benefits from the solutions delivered by keeping the focus of design on the user and not on the designer.