Designing for usability involves establishing user requirements for a new system or product,
developing design solutions, prototyping the system and the user interface, and testing it
with representative users. However, before any usability design or evaluation activity can
begin, it is necessary to understand the Context of Use for the product, ie the goals of the
user community, and the main user, task and environmental characteristics of the situation in
which it will be operated. This paper describes the background to, and importance of …