Context of use = A combination of users, goals, tasks, resources, and environments.

The purpose of "Analysis: understand and specify the context of use" is to understand and describe who the users are, what they do, what problems they have, and what their needs are, with respect to the planned interactive system. To understand users and their needs, we can observe users performing tasks, interview users and conduct focus groups.

The context of use is described in user group profiles and personas (who are the users), as-is scenarios

(how do users currently do tasks), task models (details about what the tasks are) and user journey maps (how users interact with the interactive system and the organisation providing it)

See page 12 in

User experience

A user's perceptions and responses that result from the use and/or anticipated use of an interactive system.

Notes:

1. Users' perceptions and responses include the users' emotions, beliefs, preferences, comfort, behaviours, and accomplishments that occur before, during and after use.

2. User experience is a consequence of brand image, presentation, functionality, system performance, interactive behaviour, and assistive capabilities of the interactive system. It also results from the user's internal and physical state resulting from prior experiences, attitudes, skills, abilities and personality; and from the context of use.

3. Usability criteria can be used to evaluate aspects of user experience.

4. Usability is mainly about the interaction with the interactive system. User experience also takes into account what happens before and after the interaction through to final use and recollections of use. See the examples below.

5. User experience is mainly about satisfaction and fulfilment of expectations.

6. User experience is often referred to as UX.

7. The following figure shows the relationship between user experience and usability. Usability is effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction during actual use, while user experience is the satisfaction or dissatisfaction during anticipated use, actual use and after use.