Understanding the User of the Space

Understanding
the User of the Space
The client pays for the design. The user lives in it. Both matter — and they are not always the same
person.

When you research a client, you learn who is commissioning the project and paying for it. When you
research the user, you learn who will actually inhabit the space — who will wake up in it, cook in it, work
in it, rest in it, and live in it every single day.
Sometimes client and user are identical: a homeowner redesigning their own living room. But very often
they are not. A parent commissions a child’s bedroom. A landlord commissions a rental flat. A business
owner commissions an office for their staff. In every one of these cases, designing only for the client is
designing for the wrong person.
This guide gives you the tools to research every person who will use the space — their physical needs,
daily rhythms, sensory preferences, and the way they move through and relate to the spaces they
inhabit.