DESIGNING BETTER

EXPERIENCESTHROUGH A USER CENTRED APPROACH

Danny Bluestone | @danny_bluestoneMatt Gibson | @duckymatt

WHAT ISUSER CENTRED

DESIGN?

The central premise of user centred design is that the best designed products and services result from understanding

the needs of the people who will use them.

SOME BENEFITS OF UCD

1. Qualitative - Find out what customers actually want.

2. Context – Discover the exact context to design for.

3. Creativity – Combine UCD with branding.4. Focus - Avoid ‘analysis paralysis’.

5. Remove egos– Verify decisions with real customers.

http://xkcd.com/773/

GIVING USERS WHAT THEY NEEDNOT WHAT YOU THINK THEY NEED

http://www.flickr.com/photos/matski_98/8259750205/

TAKE TIME TO OBSERVE HOW PEOPLE USE YOUR DESIGN

TIMOTHY PRESTRO, CEO of DMT

DESIGN FOR PEOPLE, NOT AWARDS

http://designthatmatters.org/portfolio/projects/

DESIGN FOR OUTCOMES

www.ted.com/talks/timothy_prestero_design_for_people_not_awards.html and http://www.designthatmatters.org/pictures/dtm_blog/Baby_in_Firefly.JPG

If the engineers could, they'd give you 40 buttons, but when you're driving it's not that

easy to use them all, so it's better to have the ones you really need.

The key thing is to make it simpler without getting rid of stuff that I might need to make the

car go quicker. http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonw92/8534697674/

LEWIS HAMILTON ON UCD

As we reform the delivery of public services, they are designed around the needs of the

user, rather than has been far too often the case in the past, being designed to suit the

convenience of the government.

Francis Maude, MP

Approaches Disciplines

User centred design

Self design

Activity centred design

Genius design

Interaction design

Information architecture

Usability testing

Research

IS UCD ALWAYS THE BEST APPROACH?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/centralasian/5577225117

USERS ARE NOT DESIGNERS

IT IS USER CENTRED DESIGN, NOT USER CONTROLLED DESIGN

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL

APPROACH

FOCUS ON OUTCOMES NOT DELIVERABLES

USABILITY IS NOT A FEATURE

IT DEPENDS ON THE USER, THE ENVIRONMENT, THE TASK, AND OTHER CONTEXTUAL FACTORS

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oewf/2924217723/

HOW WE APPROACH UCD

1. Research

2. Design / prototype

3. Test

4. Improve

RESEARCHING REQUIREMENTS

FRONT-LOADING STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEWS

• Why is it being made?• Who are the key stakeholders and what are their goals?• How does it fit in with the wider company objectives?• Gain insight into market and target audiences• Identify competitors early on

http://goodkickoffmeetings.com/2010/04/stakeholder-frontloading/

TECHNIQUES FOR EFFECTIVE INTERVIEWS

• Create an informal and relaxed atmosphere• Stay flexible • Keep it one-on-one• Allow them to speak ‘off-the-record’

The turning point in many interviews is when the interviewee gets up and closes the office

door and lowers their voice.

Paul Boag, Headscape

http://boagworld.com/business-strategy/how-to-improve-your-site-using-stakeholder-interviews/

DEFINING CONTEXT OF USE

1. User profiles

2. Activities

3. Environment

• Speak to existing users if possible• Competitors• Ethnographic studies / research• Expert insight

TIPS FOR GETTING INSIGHTINTO USER PROFILES

THE BEST USER PERSONASARE BASED ON REAL USERS

http://www.flickr.com/photos/patloika/7946438528

• Ethnio for existing users• Social media• Go to the physical locations where you’ll

find your users• Use professional recruiters

HOW DO I FIND MY USERS?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oatsy40/6783078815/

Accessibility is the degree to which anyone can access and use a website using any web browsing

technology.

RNIBhttp://www.rnib.org.uk/professionals/webaccessibility/background/Pages/background.aspx

http://www.flickr.com/photos/furbyx4/2968376257/

WHAT ACTIVITIES DO YOUR USERS NEED TO PERFORM?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fernando/36759033

FREQUENCY

WHAT WILL THE USER NEED TO DO MOST OFTEN?

CRITICAL

CAN BE INFREQUENT,BUT IT IS CRITICAL TO SUPPORT

THEM

ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS

• Physical

• Social / cultural

• Technical

DESIGN / PROTOTYPING

CARD SORTING

• The ‘base’ for your information architecture.

• Gets insights and patterns into users ‘mental model’.

• It helps to increase findability in a system.

The current recommendation is to test 15 users for card sorting in most projects, and 30 users in

big projects...

Jakob Nielsen, Nielsen Norman Group

TECHNIQUES FOR CARD SORTING

• Use lots of post-it notes or cards• Get users to sort the cards in open or closed groups• Your main job is to observe and keep the momentum • Learn from the patterns of different groups via analysis• Helps to create a record of the structure/taxonomy

EXERCISE:

UNDERTAKINGCARD SORTING

In groups of 5 people:• Create the higher level categories for the

website• Write down the main sections and screens • Organise the sections into logical groups

HICKS’S LAW

“THE MORE CHOICES YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE FROM, THE LONGER IT TAKES FOR YOU TO MAKE A DECISION.”

http://www.cirencalui.com/

INTRODUCINGINTERACTION DESIGN (IxD)

• Helps to map out ‘flows of control’• Progresses to sketching and prototyping• Pivotal at delivering functional specifications

“THE TIME REQUIRED TO RAPIDLY MOVE TO A TARGET AREA IS A FUNCTION OF THE DISTANCE TO AND THE SIZE OF THE TARGET”

FITT’S LAW

http://modetro.com/mb-games-simon-says-vintage-retro-game-70s

TECHNIQUES FOR INTERACTION DESIGN (IxD)

• Use personas and interviews to inform the design.• Competitor research see what is already out there.• Ethnography can help you to understand real users.• Validate what you do with real users as early as possible.

IxD –FLOW OF CONTROL EXAMPLE

http://wc1.smartdraw.com/examples/content/examples/01_flowcharts/4_other_flowcharts/control_flow_epc_diagram_flowchart_l.jpg

IxD – PROTOTYPE

http://www.infoq.com/resource/articles/wireframes-start-development-projects/en/resources/3fig1.jpg

START PROTOTYPESWITH PEN AND PAPER

http://www.flickr.com/photos/furbyx4/2968376257/

I do not know the cognitive reasons behind this, but I have never seen this not be true. The more human your picture, the more human will be the

response.

Dan Roam, Back Of The Napkin

http://www.thebackofthenapkin.com/

PARTICIPATORY SKETCHING TIPS

• Encourage low fidelity

• Review as a group

• Frame critique with user stories

TEST / EVALUATE

DESIGNS ARE HYPOTHESES

ITERATE QUICKLY AND TEST ASSUMPTIONS

ETHNOGRAPHY

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alui0000/4814280779

GUERILLA USER TESTING

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5tein/3609261904

Lets us see how our study participants scan the search results page, and is the next best thing to actually being able to read their minds.

Anne Aula and Kerry Rodden, User Experience Researchers, Google

GOOGLE ON EYE TRACKINGhttp://www.japantoday.com/images/size/x/2013/03/urn%3Apublicid%3Aap.org%3A83a7bae63f044fbc938d2f4bea94d862.jpg

INTERVIEWS

http://uxmag.com/articles/eye-tracking-the-best-way-to-test-rich-app-usability

OTHER METHODS OF USER FEEDBACK

• Click tracking tools • A/B and MVT testing • Remote user testing• Expert reviews

BALANCING UCD WITH CLIENT’S NEEDS

EXPLAINING WATER TO FISH

http://www.flickr.com/photos/healthgauge/7387853018/

Courtesy of Karen McGrane

http://alistapart.com/column/explaining-water-to-fish

WHAT WE’VE COVERED

• What is user centred design – Benefits / pitfalls

• Usability is not a feature• Researching users and activities• Paper prototyping• Getting user feedback

THANK YOU!

Danny Bluestone | @danny_bluestoneMatt Gibson | @duckymatt