As the importance of user needs satisfaction in product design is growing, user-centered design become a major issue in recent years. In design field, various methods have been applied to satisfy user needs. However, conventional methods have limitations to catch unconscious user needs because of data distortion by users and limit of variations in laboratory experiments. To overcome these problems, observation methods have been introduced to analyse user needs. Neverthless, concrete process of observation methods for user needs analysis has not firmly established yet. Integrated view and solution of this problem are necessary for using observation more effectively as a tool for the product development.
The purpose of this study is to think out observation methods, mainly Video Ethnography, in a view of user needs analysis and propose integrated process of observation methods: in other words to develop a computer-aided tool for user needs collection, analysis, management for product development. Through this program, integrated procedures are made up user needs database and it is preliminary data for user-centered design in product development.
