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HumanCentric Joins International Usability Partners

NORTH CAROLINA/CHICAGO, IL, 12/08/2008 — HumanCentric announces today that it has joined the International Usability Partners (IUP) as the organization's U.S. usability research and design partner. This partnership of firms works to establish uniform guidelines for testing and heighten credibility for the human factors and usability design industry.

The IUP is a network of independent usability companies who have joined together to establish research and testing guidelines and provide user-experience services worldwide. Each partner is an expert in global user-experience design, specializing in the cultural and linguistic characteristics of their home country.

“I am pleased to join the IUP,” says Barry Beith president and CEO, HumanCentric. “Developing a set of standardized international guidelines is greatly beneficial to companies that look to expand their global market presence. In addition, being part of an international network of usability researchers allows us to provide more efficient cross-cultural usability testing to our clients.”

HumanCentric joins with international usability companies from seven other countries including: China, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. Providing standardized usability research, testing and design for 27 cultural markets, these eight companies will establish the gold standard for product usability design and testing.

One of the first IUP guidelines applies to the recruitment of usability test participants. According to the IUP, the risk of recruiting the wrong participants is much greater in international studies. Cultural differences, economic factors and the maturity of the local usability industry all affect the likelihood of success in finding the right people. IUP guidelines are available free to all usability practitioners through the IUP Web site at www.international-usability-partners.com.

A recent IUP study shows how users perform transactions with their mobile phones in Europe and China. This study is the first presentation made public by the group and was presented this past weekend at the Usability Professionals' Association (UPA) Europe Conference in Turin, Italy.

About International Usability Partners: IUP is a network of equals, run by all partners for their clients’ benefit. “IUP quality” stands for companies that offer world-class user experience services of consistently high quality in a reliable and efficient manner. All IUP members have a common understanding of the methods, processes and scientific background of the field of user experience (human-computer interaction). IUP members have effective quality assurance and process improvement programs in place as well as regular professional training for their staff. Members also have state of the art equipment and tools that facilitate in-house and mobile user research. Facilities are conveniently located around the world in major cities including: London, Paris, Torino, Munich and Beijing.

About HumanCentric

HumanCentric is an integrated product design firm headquartered in Cary, NC. Our foundation is based on our commitment to make more consumer-friendly products by studying and understanding the end user. We partner with clients to help develop products and systems that result in enhancing user experiences. The ability to develop compelling and usable products is a testament of our staff educated in human factors, graphic and interaction design, industrial design, and design engineering.

HumanCentric Media Contacts

Barry H. Beith
CEO and Chief Technical Officer
Phone: 1.866.356.9023
Email: bbeith@humancentric.com

Daniel Mauney
Director of Human Factors and Research
Phone: 1.866.356.9023
Email: dmauney@humancentric.com

Sheila Crosby
Director of Design
Phone: 1.866.356.9023
Email: scrosby@humancentric.com