Focus, Fit, and Fervor: Future factors beyond play with the interplay

This special issue advances our understanding and exploitation of evaluation methods. It continues to move studies from methods to evaluators and their customers. Thoughtful studies show when and why methods have specific impacts, supporting a focus on ways to better target method use. It is also the case that a focus on how evaluation customers use usability results reveals the fit between methods and customers. However, evaluation and its influence on redesign is not solely a matter of evaluators and designers or developers. Evaluation and redesign are activities within broader system development contexts. Improvements need commitment and support from management. Organizational fervor for user-centered design is key to effective evaluation. Without management support, usability evaluation cannot be well planned, properly conducted, or effectively exploited, leaving usability specialists to just play with the interplay between design and evaluation. This article reviews contributions in this special issue, noting where they address specific factors in the interplay between design and evaluation and identifying factors that require more attention in future research.