Archive for the ‘User Experience’ Category

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UX Smackdown: UX Testing in the Ring – SxSW 2012

Thursday, March 15th, 2012

Focus Groups: These are often done in situ. Individual assignments given before the discussion can be used to produce better results and data. Small workshops are sufficient for the data you’ll need to collect.

Site Visits are important!

“What people do, what they say, and what they say they do; are all different things”
- Margret Mead.

When watching users in their own place there are new methods and structures in place you won’t see in a focus group. Focus Groups have problems with human memory failures, groupthink, and misrepresentation bias.

Eye Tracking is a useful (if very expensive) tool. Intrapage data is beter than interpage data to find how quickly users are actually observing the system. To have an effective study, however, requires real product users performing real product behaviors for the right stuff and the right time in development. Eye Tracking can even be done in the field. Toby is one method, though it’s about $10,000.

Rapid Testing (Prototypes) allows the designer to make near instantaneous changes to tweak processes on the fly. One testing round can lead to one change in about a 3 day turnaround all told. Tweaks made for clarity of use are often best and can be made immediately. It is often easier to elicit needed negative feedback from users on rough prototypes than it is with high fidelity mockups.

Unmoderated Testing is cheap and requires few logistics depending on the service used. The pressure is taken off the UX lead on testing day, but there are no shortcuts – you must still screen and ask questions effectively

High Fidelity Prototyping (Simulations) look sharp and give an emotional response. Hi-Fi allows the designer to identify stakeholder response as it is close to what the actual product will look like. Interaction Design (IxD) is also improved as motion and delicate interaction can be seen.

Take Home
There are plenty of UX testing methods that are available to designers and each has their place. There are upsides and downsides to each method, many relating to cost, time (which is another way of saying money), and value of the data collected. Performing tests in the wild, at the right time can help you capture wild data, as long as that’s what you want to collect (awesome for mobile testing). Focus groups can be improved with individual assignments, and unmoderated testing saves you more time and stress.

See Also
#uxsmackdown

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The Complexity Curve: Designing for Simplicity – SxSW 2012

Thursday, March 15th, 2012

Watches and digital clocks point to a system that looks simple but is actually very complex. Only a few buttons, but presses, sequences, and the manual are all difficult to understand or remember.

“I know it [simplicity] when I see it!” Designers see: Space (white space), Noise (visual cleanliness), and Hierarchy (typography) IXD see: Functionality (interactivity), Context (user goals), and Flow (structure) People see: Relevance (clutter), Difficulty (standardization), and Confusion (what I need, when) Scientists see: CHAOS! (Lorenz Systems – Unpredictable but deterministic)

Models of the systems are: The Mental Model which is what the user expects from a system, The Concept Model which is what the designer uses to design the interactions, and The System Model which is the capability structure of the way the system is working. Mental and Concept model mismatch causes confusion.

Beware when designing off copies. Each copied pattern must solve the same problems for the user and fit the overall UX.

Beware of “Dark Patterns” like Interactive ads or other properties that cause an unintended action to take place on a normally passive action.

Scope Creep that kills simplicity: Forgotten scope – things not in the spec Executive Bungie Jumping – full scope not comprehended. Tech/Legal – unrealistic constraints Business Units – build in exposure to System Model

Difficult tasks only seem complex because we often lack the needed knowledge to understand the flow of the system and we become experts.

Expertise is moving from declarative (telling yourself steps) to procedural (following a set path memorized) to automatic (second nature reflex) learning

Build in patience around a design, make changes slowly. Be prepared to jump, however, when forces push you forward into new technology – Retina Displays, Battery Cars. Users can have motivation to continue despite hurdles if it’s the only way to solve the problem.

Teach your users and put people first. Be sure to hide the System Model unless absolutely needed and to that end, work to match the Conceptual to the Mental with research. Don’t be afraid to evolve your Conceptual Model to meet changing user needs and Mental models.

Work to shift the complexity of the system from the user to the system, sure it takes more work but we should be doing more work to deliver the user a simple experience. Remember, we never lose complexity, we just shift it.

Critical thinking is key: Question your assumptions of the system, question the consequences of your decisions, question reasons and analyze opportunities, and question the simplicity of a system continuously.

Ten Opportunities for simplicity:

  1. Users claim the interface is “Messy”
  2. Users forced into indirect actions
  3. Trying to be everything to everyone
  4. Design by consensus
  5. “Nice to Haves”
  6. Copied solutions from elsewhere
  7. Solution mapped to system rather than mental model
  8. Leading with the tech
  9. Self designed systems
  10. Accepting assumptions

Take Home
UX Designers need to think about why a system has chaos. By looking for options for simplicity and thinking critically about the solutions that can

See Also
#SXsimplerUX

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Designing For Context – SxSW 2012

Thursday, March 15th, 2012

Consider context through research, it’s better than asking. The Model T was invented through research, Microsoft Clippy was invented through asking.

Think about context in the environment for which you will be designing for. Touch for iPad is amazing, but in space nasa found that astronauts could not use touch the same way, physics was different. Don’t assume you know how the user interacts with your interface, they will surprise you.

Reject 1:1 mapping of the ideas in prior work. Desktop is not a mobile environment, native is not the browser, the browser is not software interface.

When thinking about time, avoid the linear flow – people are distracted by life and often don’t do a single task in the time frame you think they do. Distractions, other uses, and interactions can take time. Structure persona creation through interaction from real users. This forces you to be on their timeline.

The New York Times tested users in situ by capturing data from users while they were on different interfaces to compare experiences and find out what priorities were for their apps on mobile (reading on the subway vs. reading at home vs. reading at the office)

Location is important and provides context and substance. People often ‘research’ at home before making a purchase, but are always connected with phones during the in-store experience. “What’s stuff you need when you’re on the go?” Learn to ask the right questions: on-the-go can mean ‘walking around the office’. Location should be thought of as ‘Radiation Zones’ around the interface.

Ecosystems are important for determining the context of the interface. Is mobile the only interface you would have? Retrofit existing designs to meet the ever changing touch points in your ecosystem. Remember that devices are not the audience – your users are not their platform. Combine cheap DIY methods to research and expolore your ecosystem constantly.

Forms and Technology will determine the users environment but when moving to a new form factor (i.e. desktop to mobile) list the requirements of the software, then brainstorm capabilities of the new form factor to see if there are new value adds that can be accomplished

Brands and Conversation – Brands can help users push conversation forward, branding can be a useful tool and users will interact to soften social interactions.

Take Home
Think about designing not around what’s worked in the past or a list of requirements, but instead work to to real data and real users to determine in what context your design is being used. Think about form factors and the ecosystems users live in and traverse with your designs. Don’t re-map ideas 1:1, consider each use case and explore users’ needs and potential benefits in each space.

See Also

#DforC

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Learned Pattern Recognition

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

I was having an interesting conversation with Alex Jones the other day, remarking about the usability studies by Peter Steen Høgenhaug around the ‘link’ iconography in CMS software. Alex touched on this in his blog with Usability of the Link Icon and earlier with Replacing the Save Icon. It’s interesting when we encounter patterns in systems that other designs tend to perpetuate and we create learned patterns that users who interact with our systems get used to over time.

As Alex points out, Høgenhaug did test with users unfamiliar with the CMS software and were not used to patterns in those systems even though many systems use very, very similar iconography. It would be interesting to see that case applied to frequent users (a simple pattern learned once, to be sure).

I’m a big fan of re-evaluating systems on a regular basis because I think it keeps UX professionals fresh. I’m always worried that too often, as technology changes, as systems become more complex and evolved, we rely on older iconography, older user patterns, and the ‘traditional’ ways of thinking. I feel that we should be looking deeply at the user base to come up with new and innovative methods to teach users new structures rather than relying on old habits and patterns. Saving to a disk may no longer be a useful user action, versions could be closer to the path you want users to take. Sharing, Tweeting, Manipulation – new and interesting actions have cropped up for users. It’s up to designers to take a step back and look at how these actions are taken in the system and craft designs which encourage these actions but are not confusing.

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Personas for Redesign

Friday, August 12th, 2011

I’ve been tossing around ideas for personas – currently I have two solid users: those who want to know more about me because they wish to hire me or want to get to know my skills to help establish freelance contracts; and those who already know me, or have met me as part of the local tech/ design scene and wish to keep up professional contacts and read my blog.

John – Agency Creative Director

  • 38 years old, married with children and a dog – enjoys painting in his spare time.
  • John has been the creative director of a mid-sized agency for 3 years.
  • John’s looking for an online portfolio, attention to detail, and some idea of style and taste.
  • In addition to creative samples, John wants to see a good knowledge base, experience, and contact information .
  • John spends a fair amount of time on the Web and as such can appreciate good design and the latest trends both in Web development and design. He speaks the lingo and is on the forefront with best practices to fulfill a wide variety of customer/ client needs.
  • John takes an analytical, critical approach to sites. The need to find information quickly and effectively is important as he is constantly judging the interface.

Andrea – Local Web Designer

  • 31 years old, has a boyfriend and a cat – enjoys indie music and good beer.
  • Andrea is a local tech/ design geek who keeps up her relationships in the industry.
  • Andrea enjoys reading tech and design blogs (mostly through her Google Reader) to stay on top of the latest tools of her trade and also for inspiration for her next design.
  • Industry news is very important and she keeps up with what’s happening with her peers by attending several professional events as well as discussions online. Beer Summits are her favorite.
  • She is most likely to find a new blog to read through her contacts in the industry or through meeting with the authors at professional meetups

Any and all thoughts are welcome, I’m still kind of fleshing the personas out as I begin to focus on a new information architecture that I’ll post within the next few days. I’m still looking to see if, in fact, I need another persona or if these two would capture the majority of those who would look at my site.

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Posted in Information Architecture, User Experience, Web Design, Web Development | Comments Off

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