Feature-centered

Feature-centered describes a design, approach, or system that prioritizes individual characteristics or functionalities of a product, service, or process. This perspective focuses on the specific attributes or capabilities, often breaking down the whole into its component parts. The goal might be to optimize a specific feature, highlight its importance, or showcase its unique properties, possibly at the expense of the holistic user experience or integration with other aspects. It contrasts with approaches that prioritize user needs, system integration, or overarching goals. feature-centered design can be effective for demonstrating a single, powerful ability but might struggle to address complex or multifaceted problems.

Feature-centered meaning with examples

• The new software update adopted a feature-centered approach, highlighting each new tool separately. While individual tools were powerful, users found the overall interface cumbersome and difficult to learn. This resulted in user frustration and difficulty navigating the entire system. The company later admitted that they should have thought about the end-user and what would make the whole application more helpful.
• The marketing campaign was feature-centered, emphasizing the camera's megapixels and processing speed, without mentioning ease of use. While the technical specifications impressed some, the phone was complicated for the average user. They focused solely on what it could do without regard for the audience or intended target use. This strategy proved less effective than they had hoped, generating limited sales.
• During the project, the development team maintained a feature-centered philosophy. They focused on coding each function separately and rarely considered how they would interact. This led to integration challenges, delays, and ultimately a final product that wasn't as integrated as it needed to be, costing the company time and money. The team had to rewrite aspects to make them work better.
• A feature-centered approach in the development of the new platform meant we could show the features of each page individually. We made sure each page worked well on its own. While the team had a great design and easy-to-use interface, they didn't fully address the experience that users would get. They later found that users didn't understand how the pages fit together as a whole.