Utilitycentered

Utility-centered is a design and analysis approach that prioritizes practical usefulness and the overall value delivered to users and stakeholders. It aims to maximize measurable utility, defined as the benefit gained per unit cost or effort, rather than focusing primarily on appearance, novelty, or purely technical elegance.

The term is not universally standardized but appears in discussions of design philosophy and policy analysis. It draws on utility theory from economics and on user-centered design principles, situating itself as a value-focused refinement that asks what outcome matters most to users.

Core principles include identifying core tasks whose completion yields high utility, quantifying user value, selecting solutions with favorable utility-to-cost ratios, iterative evaluation and testing, and involving diverse stakeholders to surface utility requirements.

Common methods include utility mapping, value proposition frameworks, task analysis oriented to usefulness, multi-criteria decision analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and the development of explicit utility metrics and utility functions.

Applications span product and software design, service design, urban planning, and public policy, where decisions must balance user benefit, cost, and risk.

Criticism and limitations include challenges in quantifying utility, potential neglect of user experience, privacy or ethical concerns in pursuit of utility, and the risk of overemphasizing short-term gains at the expense of long-term value.

See also: user-centered design, value-based design, utility theory.