In the future, technology will be interlinked increasingly with psychology. In human-centered design, users are a factor in the design of technology. Finland is playing an expanding role in the human development of mobile technology in particular.

Psychology has been exploited in technology for a long time, but the perspectives have changed. The Second World War saw the start of attention to human errors, especially in air safety. This was the beginning of the development of research in many areas.

"The advent of computers brought the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) field, which attempts to understand the interaction between humans and machinery. User-centered design is one of the sub-areas of HCI," says Sari Kujala, Professor of Psychology at the Tampere University of Technology's Institute of Human Centered Technology.

Psychology for technology

Practical design work has traditionally been the responsibility of engineers, who have been trained to understand technology, but not human-beings. The goal of Kujala and the Institute is to bring a wider human perspective to design and utilize psychology more diversely in the development of technology.

"HCI is a multi-disciplined field that has exploited cognitive psychology in particular i.e. the psychology associated with a human's processing of information," Kujala emphasizes.

User-centred design aims to guarantee the utility and usability of systems, products and services. Besides customer and user satisfaction, user-centered design has many measured benefits for companies.

Awareness increasing

Kujala says that human-centered technology is extremely well-known in areas where safety is crucial, and psychologists are working at companies in this sector. Psychologists are also used actively in personnel administration and recruitment.

"In IT the HCI field is still relatively young. A start has only just been made on training experts and many consulting companies have come on the scene," Kujala says.

The Institute is also focusing increasingly on human-centered design as a line of studies. New study courses are aimed at all students of technology - for both architects and machine builders.

Towards better design

With education focusing on human-centered design, design has also become more human. Thanks to the user-centeredness products are easier and more pleasant to use and better suited to their purpose.

The United States and Great Britain have been leading the way in user-centered design. Scandinavia is well-known for the participatory approach of users in the field, in which users of a coming technology are included in the design.

Kujala says there are pacesetters in the human technology field in Finland. "Finland is making fast progress especially in mobile technology and exploiting psychology."

"Consumer attitudes are changing, too. When there are problems with technology, we no longer simply blame ourselves; we demand better design," Kujala stresses.

Many clear benefits

Although the situation is changing gradually, taking human-centered design to the practical product development stage is still a challenge.

"The perspective is still alien to engineers. In a tight product development cycle it's difficult to leave enough time for human-centered design," Kujala thinks. "Even companies ask whether it's worth investing in human-centered design and what business benefits can be achieved with it."

"Tests have been able to show the tangible benefits of human-centered design. For example, users' work efficiency increased by an average of 50 per cent, the number of human errors fell by 25 per cent and staff turnover went down by 10-20 per cent," Kujala emphasizes.

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The first ISO standard in human-centered design was published in 1999.