art vs science & evidence based design

Prepared for ClientJuly 9th, 2009

The Art & Science of Evidence-Based Design

Friday, January 22, 2010

You asked:

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How do you bridge art & science to recommend a

web site design?

Friday, January 22, 2010

You asked:

2

How do you bridge art & science to recommend a

web site design?

How do you bridge art & science to recommend a

web site design?

Friday, January 22, 2010

3

Art Science

Friday, January 22, 2010

3

Art Science

look and feel architectureFocus

Friday, January 22, 2010

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Art Science

look and feel architectureFocus

intuition investigationMethod

Friday, January 22, 2010

3

Art Science

look and feel architectureFocus

intuition investigationMethod

subjective testing, metricsValidation

Friday, January 22, 2010

3

ArtScience

look and feel architectureFocus

intuition investigationMethod

subjective testing, metricsValidation

Friday, January 22, 2010

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Science Art

Deterministic Open-Ended

Friday, January 22, 2010

5Mark Hurst

A good experience is rich, something worth exploring, telling others about, and experiencing again.

It's overdetermined - or holistic - or integrated. And being integrated makes it (often) hard to explain, since one can't truly reduce an integrated whole to a simple cause.”

“

Friday, January 22, 2010

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Science Art

Deterministic Open-Ended

Friday, January 22, 2010

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Science Art

Deterministic Open-Ended

Friday, January 22, 2010

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Science Art

Deterministic Open-EndedEvidence-based

Friday, January 22, 2010

Friday, January 22, 2010

Evidence-based medicine

“The conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of

individual patients”

Sackett et al. 1996

Friday, January 22, 2010

define design build

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Friday, January 22, 2010

define design build

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Friday, January 22, 2010

define design build

Evidence-based design

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Friday, January 22, 2010

define design build

Evidence-based design

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Friday, January 22, 2010

define design build

Evidence-based design

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Friday, January 22, 2010

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Our approach

Friday, January 22, 2010

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Our approach

Friday, January 22, 2010

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investigate, explore

Our approach

Friday, January 22, 2010

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investigate, explore prioritize, refine

Our approach

Friday, January 22, 2010

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research

Define Design Build Optimize

analysis sketching IA concepts templates prototypes code analytics A/B testing

Friday, January 22, 2010

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research

Define Design Build Optimize

analysis sketching IA concepts templates prototypes code analytics A/B testing

investigate

Friday, January 22, 2010

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research

Define Design Build Optimize

analysis sketching IA concepts templates prototypes code analytics A/B testing

investigate experiment, explore

Friday, January 22, 2010

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research

Define Design Build Optimize

analysis sketching IA concepts templates prototypes code analytics A/B testing

investigate experiment, explore validate

Friday, January 22, 2010

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thestar.com

Friday, January 22, 2010

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3rd party research: relevant scholarship, Forrester

reports, professional community, client-sponsored studies, analysis

Current architecture, design, technology

Business requirements based on stakeholder

interviews

Demographic, psychographic data

Competitive analysis: best practices, emerging trends

inside, outside and beyond competitive set

Site Analytics

Anecdotal Evidence

Heuristic Review

Ongoing collaboration: working sessions, reviews

Design Patterns

Design inputs

Brief

Friday, January 22, 2010

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At a minimum, we need:

Demographics, psychographics, behavioural profiles for target users

Concrete analysis of current experience: what is and isnʼt working today

Business goals, needs, requirements (functional, non-functional) + domain knowledge

Competitive landscape: positioning with respect to, best practices, recent innovations, trends

N

S

EW

Friday, January 22, 2010

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DurableActionableImpactful

Inputs become evidence when they are...

c.f. Subject to Change

Friday, January 22, 2010

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Aggregate, organize, share

Friday, January 22, 2010

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Rise of the internet

Decline of daily newspapers

Source: Gallup, Dec 2008

Find corroborating data

Friday, January 22, 2010

17Source: Forrester, June 2008

Proliferation of blogs Proliferation of aggregators

Find corroborating data

Friday, January 22, 2010

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The publisher’s goal [in print] is to make the entire package as attractive as possible to a broad set of readers and advertisers. The newspaper as a whole is what matters, and as a product it’s worth more than the sum of its parts. When a newspaper moves online, the bundle falls apart. Readers don’t flip through a mix of stories, advertisements, and other bits of content. They go directly to a particular story that interests them, often ignoring everything else.

Source: The Big Switch (Carr 2008)

Carr calls this trend “unbundling”

Find corroborating data

Friday, January 22, 2010

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CNN’s Backstory

Adrian Holovaty’s Everyblock.com

NY Times’ Topics

Find corroborating data

Friday, January 22, 2010

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More templates & more flexible

templatesMake it more adaptable and

responsiveLet me create

custom content packages

editors

sales

executives

What we hear: give us flexibility

Build narratives

Friday, January 22, 2010

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Marcus

Natalie

Gordon

PersonasPrimary, Secondary, Tertiary/Anti

Design Principles Always be About Now; Own Local; Go

Beyond the Story; Spark Conversations

Create focusers

Friday, January 22, 2010

Marcus Jawai Tertiary/anti persona

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Marcus is a single, 29-year-old independent

clothing store owner and designer living and

working in downtown Toronto.

Naturally inclined to stay on top of style, he

monitors fashion and design blogs for

inspiration and entertainment. In 2008, Marcus

spent a lot of his time online following the US Presidential race. Marcus became interested in

following the Obama campaign through various

media sites, most notably CNN.com

Recently, he has been noticing a slow-down in

business. He’s worried about the economy and

has started to pay more attention to business news online and on TV.

Marcus feels that the current political, social

and technological climate is an exciting time to

be in. Though he faces the stresses of a small business owner, he maintains positive and

upbeat.

Design Implications

• Watch out for Marcus! His eclectic and idiosyncratic online habits make him tough to predict

and please.

• Marcus wants to be in control—he uses blogs, aggregators, and other metafilters to source information

• Likes to “snack” on selective information: will impulsively drop into an article and scan for

details, then move on

• Marcus will consume content more thoroughly if it appeals directly to his interests (e.g. style

blog, special report on economy and small businesses in Toronto)

• It’s about serendipity with Marcus, so promoting this becomes key.

• Advanced tools (e.g. personalization) aren’t necessarily going to appeal to Marcus.

• Better organize his hectic work/life balance

• Determine how to stay relevant in a

changing economy

• Stay in touch with style, business as it

happens

sampleFriday, January 22, 2010

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1. Always be about now“No matter where I am in the site, Iʼm always in touch with whatʼs happening right now.”

2. Own local“thestar.com is my cityʼs news site. If itʼs happening in the GTA, thereʼs no reason to go anywhere else.”

3. Go beyond the story“This site gives me more than just the news. Itʼs constantly wowing me with new ways to see, understand and engage my world.”

4. Spark conversations“The Star connects me to my community and interesting people across Canada”

Design Principles

sampleFriday, January 22, 2010

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Friday, January 22, 2010

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Prototype and assess

Friday, January 22, 2010

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Critical

Com

plex

Prototype and assess

Friday, January 22, 2010

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Critical

Com

plex

Prototype

Prototype and assess

Friday, January 22, 2010

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Identify gaps

Friday, January 22, 2010

26www.imgspark.com

Identify gaps

Friday, January 22, 2010

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Identify gaps do A/B testing

Friday, January 22, 2010

Quick recap‣ Evidence-based design goal: research informs

design decisions

‣ Our process funnels research into multiple iterations of exploration and refinement

‣ Inputs becomes evidence when they are durable, actionable and impactful

‣ Prototype and test critical/complex interactions

‣ A/B/multivariate test to optimize

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Friday, January 22, 2010

29Mark Hurst

A good experience is rich, something worth exploring, telling others about, and experiencing again.

It's overdetermined - or holistic - or integrated. And being integrated makes it (often) hard to explain, since one can't truly reduce an integrated whole to a simple cause.”

“

Friday, January 22, 2010

Thanks.

Friday, January 22, 2010