User-Centered-Design as an Empty Signifier in the Context of Developing Digital Applications

TL;DR

This paper critically examines User-Centered Design (UCD) as an ambiguous, empty signifier that unites diverse expectations but also conceals tensions, offering a new theoretical perspective to improve sociotechnical system design.

Contribution

It applies Lacanian and Laclauian theories to conceptualize UCD as an empty signifier, revealing its rhetorical power and underlying tensions in design practices.

Findings

UCD functions as an empty signifier with rhetorical power.

Ambiguity in UCD enables inclusivity but risks ideological capture.

Theoretical framing encourages critical engagement with UCD's role in design.

Abstract

To reduce cycles of rejection and redesign -- especially in the absence of clear acceptance criteria and the diversity of possible development paths -- User-Centered Design (UCD) has become a central methodology in computer science, emphasizing the integration of user perspectives throughout the entire system lifecycle. Despite its widespread adoption, however, UCD remains conceptually ambiguous and theoretically underdeveloped. This paper addresses that gap by drawing on the theories of Ernesto Laclau and Jacques Lacan to analyze UCD as a potential empty signifier: a term that gains rhetorical power precisely through its semantic openness. We argue that this ambiguity enables UCD to unify diverse and sometimes conflicting expectations under a shared label, which both empowers participatory design practices and conceals underlying tensions. Acknowledging UCD as an empty signifier allows for a more critical engagement with its practical and symbolic functions, revealing how it can foster inclusivity, empathy, and user empowerment, but also how it risks ideological capture and conceptual dilution. This theoretical reframing opens new pathways for reflection and renewal within sociotechnical system design.