intro to design w/ pivotal labs

DESIGN AT YOUR STARTUP

KIM DOWD & NINA MEHTA

KIM DOWDProduct Designer

User ResearchInterface DesignVisual DesignProduct Strategy

NINA MEHTAProduct Designer

User ResearchInterface DesignVisual DesignProduct StrategyMarketing & Media

Design is making thingswho, why, how

DesignersDefine DropshadowsRun A/B TestsKnow Entire ProductFind User GoalsSummarize FindingsTry Many OptionsDefine Your BrandMake PrototypesDraw DiagramsTake Photos

Talk to usersPropose LayoutsWrite CodeSketch FeaturesCreate ScenariosMake MoodboardsDraw IconsWrite CopyPick ColorsChoose Fonts

Startup Design Process

Stanford d School

Ideate

Empathize

Define

Prototype

Test

Designers at startupsadvocate for your users

Talk to usersin person

Leave the officeGo where your users are

Defining the next featureThis topic is huge.

But basically, its a mix of - listening to users - watching users - strongly defining your value props - knowledge of an effort/value ratio - sense future landscape

How to create a featureScenario based design, testing, building

Choose a featureYou have expertise in your field. You’ve used that to make a product. You want to make a new feature, based upon user requests, your knowledge in the field, new research.

for example

“Make it easier for users to view many photos”

Be specific: Who & What & Why“Make it easier for a tween to view imagessimilar to the one she is looking. If she sees many images she likes, she will come back.”

Be Measurable“Make looking at a new photo easier than clicking the back button or close button for a tween to explore photos similar to her current one.”

“Lower current bounce rate on main photo page by 20%.”

“Raise click through to new photo by 20%.”

Who is this Matilda? her needsto feel inspired visuallyto craft an identity based upon “hearting”to connect with similar people

her mediacurrent screen size: every smart phone, tablet, laptop size in the world

her fav thing on the sitehearting something

ScenarioA story with people.

Like Romeo and Juliet. Romeo escapes his house through a window.He prances towards Juliet’s houseHe feels inspired by love and hormones. He sees her silhouette through the window. He throws rocks to get her attention.

ScenarioA story with people, feelings and data.

Matilda, the tween, searches for photos of flowers.

Thousands of images return.

She is drawn to a trendy one.

She looks at the close up of it, and noting that many other people have “hearted” it, she hearts it as well.

She is quickly able to see close ups of all the images in her search return (thousands) and heart them.

Time to sketchpictures of sketches - must dig through and find

Test against ScenarioLook at each flowSee if it works for the scenario stated.

PrototypePaper

Screen based (Pop App, Invision App, PPT, Keynote)

Fast, crappy code

Quantitative dataGoogle analytics

Mixpanel

Kissmetrics

Crazyegg

Quantitative Data

Qualitative Responses“I hate this. The images don’t fit on my screen.”

“Soooo much better.”

Summing it up:Scenarios & measurable tests1. Create a scenarios that tells a story or usage. 2. Draw a lot crappy designs, to test against the story. 3. Choose a few to prototype quickly. (paper, etc)

4. Test qualitative data against metrics. (20%)

5. Collect quantitative data to test against scenario.

Seventh Inning StretchQuestions?

Making sense of a complex feature“But this feature a bajillion steps and can takes 8 weeks to process!”

Card sorting!

Ship early, ship often

Daily scheduleStandupWork with devSketch1 feature at a timeKill the meetings

Monday FixingTuesday Create Big IdeasWednesday Create Small DetailsThursday Make prototypeFriday Test with UsersSaturday Oh Sh*t daySunday (recover)

Weekly schedule

Design at startupsHuman CenteredIterativeStructured

Go outsideSleep at nightEat your vegetables

ninameh@gmail.comkimsheblue@gmail.com

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