Design

User-centered design is a design process and set of tools that focus on the needs of the end user at every stage of the design process. The goal is to create products that are accessible and usable for the user, rather than making the user adapt to the product. Following user-centred design principles helps to avoid bias and mistaken assumptions that detract from the usability and success of the toolkit.

In user-centred design, the toolkit development team will work with the requester to involve users throughout the process using a variety of user research and design techniques. User research methods may include investigative approaches such as surveys and interviews, or idea generation activities such as brainstorming. 

The Interaction Design Foundation provides an overview of user-centred design methodology It maps out the four-stage iterative process which can guide design, development and continuous improvement of your toolkit:

1. Plan and Research
2. Design and Prototype
3. Test and Get Feedback
4. Refinement and Iteration

Stage 2 in the Right Decision Service Implementation guide also provides useful guidance on analysing user requirements and co-designing solutions with users, including integration of the decision support toolkit into user workflow.

To inform discussions about the structure of the toolkit, you might want to consider the following methods and approaches:

Wireframes 

A wireframe is a basic, visual representation of a digital product that shows the layout of content and features. Wireframes are often used in the early stages of the design process to communicate how a product will be arranged and prioritized, and how users will interact with it. They can be regarded as an early prototype of the final product.

Wireframes are usually simple, with black and white/greyscale instead of colors, placeholders for images, and placeholder text. Typically, they depict only functionality, not the true style and visual elements of the final product. 

They are a valuable way to present options for structure and layout to key stakeholders to help agree on approach. They are useful for early usability testing, allowing designers to test the product's user flow and interaction design early in the process.

A sitemap is a structured list or map of all the web pages and content on a site. It outlines how each page is interconnected and can be a helpful tool in engaging with stakeholders to define the navigation for your toolkit. This example shows the sitemap for the Information for Wellbeing RDS toolkit.   Visio can be a useful tool for creating sitemaps, or you can use Excel to map out content hierarchies.

Options available

To guide the design process, we recommend that you look at the Building your toolkit and Core features sections in the RDS Learning and support area.  These provide an overview of the following functionality and formatting options. Some of the most commonly used options include:

Simple content pages with accordion sections - i.e. expand-collapse headings that offer a concise way of packaging lengthy content enable the user to go direct to the relevant section within a lengthy document. The Alfentanil medicines information resource within the Palliative Care toolkit is an example of a simple content page with accordion sections. All medicines resources within this toolkit follow the same structure, giving the user a consistent experience throughout.

Listing pages - i.e. landing pages that direct the user to a menu of subpages. The BTS-NICE-SIGN asthma toolkit provides multiple examples of listing pages.

Embedding Youtube and Vimeo videos within an RDS page. The Being a partner in my care: Realistic Medicine together toolkit embeds videos throughout.

Media pages - Link the user directly to a PDF or image file. The GP factsheets section within the national Neurology pathways toolkit links the user to a list of PDF documents.

Shared content library - enables you to embed content from one toolkit within other toolkits, or to embed the same content in multiple locations within the same toolkit. The "Building my ability to change" sections within the Prevent the progress of diabetes toolkit provide examples of re-using shared content in multiple locations. 

Visual pathway builder - to visualise pathways and flowcharts in a consistent way within your website or app. You can link from pathway nodes to more information. The Scottish Cancer Network pathways toolkit provides multiple examples of visual pathways - for example the TNBC (HR- HER2-) Neoadjuvant pathway.

Question and answer pathway builder - to guide the user through a logical sequence of questions and answers to reach a recommended course of action. This tool also supports creation of risk stratification and scoring tools. The national Type 2 diabetes quality prescribing toolkit provides an example of the same pathway for managing cardiovascular and renal risk presented as a visual pathway and as an interactive question and answer tool.

The RDS Style guide provides guidance to ensure uniformity in the way content is written for Right Decision Service toolkits. This provides a consistent user experience and helps to ensure that toolkit content is professional-looking and readable. 

All toolkit developers are required to adhere to the Style guide and the RDS team may ask you to make amendments if necessary.  

• The style guide includes the following aspects of content management:
• Punctuation including appropriate use of capital letters
• Formatting, use of bullet points and numbered lists
• Hyphenation
• Abbreviations
• Use of UK and US spellings
• Referencing using Vancouver style
• Linguistic and structural style - e.g. use of active voice; frontloading of critical calls to action

Interaction Design Foundation  overview of user-centred design methodology

Right Decision Service Implementation guidance on analysing user requirements and co-designing solutions with users.

Example of wireframes created in powerpoint.

Example sitemap for the Information for Wellbeing RDS toolkit. 

Building your toolkit and Core features sections in the RDS Learning and support area.  

RDS Style guide

Reflect on your experience during or at the end of a toolkit development process.

• How far did you follow user-centred design principles throughout this process?
• What approaches could you adopt to strengthen the user-centred approach in future?
• What key learning points about user-centred design would you like to share with others?

You may have a colleague locally who can review your SBAR and give feedback.  If you would like to be put in touch with an RDS toolkit manager or editor to review the task output and gain feedback, please contact his.decisonsupport@nhs.scot.