user experience design process
TRANSCRIPT
USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN PROCESS
ESD Web Team Mike McCoy 11/15/2010
SOME TERMINOLOGY
Ò Human Factors Engineering Ò Usability Ò User Centered Design Ò User Experience Design
HUMAN FACTORS ENGINEERING
Ò The Science of Understanding Human: É Capabilities É Limitations É Perception É Cognition
Ò Using that Data to Design/Engineer: É Tools É Systems É Processes É Environments É ‘Experiences’
Ò Roots - WWII Cockpit Design
USABILITY
Ò A set of characteristics present in products: É Ease of use É Intuitiveness É Effectiveness É Learnability É User Satisfaction É Aesthetic, Simplicity, Elegance, Coolness, Appeal . . .
Ò Thought leaders in field: É Identified principles/rules describing characteristics
present in highly usable products (Nielsen, Norman, Constantine)
É Created methods for engineering/assessing usability É A method to measure the quality of a user’s
experience with a product – its ‘User Friendliness’. É Usability Engineering
WHY ARE WE STILL HERE?
USER CENTERED DESIGN
Ò A design ‘strategy’ from Vredenberg, IBM Ò Six Principles of User Centered Design:
1. Set Business Goals – target market, intended users, primary competition
2. Understand Users – driving force behind all design 3. Design the Total Customer Experience – everything they see, hear,
touch is designed together 4. Evaluate Designs – Gather user feedback quickly and vigorously. Use it
to drive and continuously improve product design 5. Assess Competitiveness – Relentlessly focus on the different ways
users currently execute tasks. Design to add value to that. 6. Manage for Users – integrate user feedback into all decision making,
product plans and priorities
UCD IN THE HARTFORD’S FRAMEWORK
A SAMPLE UCD PROCESS
End User Research &
Contextual Inquiry
Personas, Task Analyses & User Stories
Conceptual Mockups &
Info Architectures
Wireframes &
Prototypes
Interaction Design Scenarios
Usability Evaluation
Iterative, Participatory Design
Between Product Team & Users (UCD)
USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN
Ò Designing the nature of the experience you want a user to have as they interact with all aspects of a product and its provider: É Locating/Purchasing – Web Site Stickiness!! É Delivery É Packaging É Installation É First Impression É Learning Curve É Use É Support É Upgrade É Reuse
Ò “Successful UXD is not just about making easy to use interfaces, it’s about doing good business.” (Tremaine, Battista)
Ò Is not an attempt to design a subjective experience for users Ò New focus on balancing user, business, marketing, technology needs
USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN PROCESS
Dr. M. Tremaine, R. Battista and Dr. Y. Chen
CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY (END USER RESEARCH)
Ò An ethnographic data collection method that involves observing users in their work setting É Who are my users? What are their goals, needs? É What do they need to do with the product? É What words do they use to name objects in the
their work place? É What actual tasks they perform (not just what they
say they do)? É What are their major pain points and roadblocks? É How can their product or process be improved?
CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY - ARTIFACTS
Ò Data collected can be used to produce: É Personas - Illuminates the users we are designing
for at a low or high level. An abstraction of users. É Task Analyses – Understand, Map and Optimize
task flow É Use Cases, Scenarios of Use, User stories -
Integrates well with Agile’s ‘User Stories’. É Requirements
SET DESIGN GOALS - UP FRONT
Ò Negotiated between users and designers. Ò Objective, measureable (not subjective,
ambiguous) Ò Identification and Analysis of:
É What users really do, not just what they say they do; what do they really want?
É How users are likely to use a product (not always how we envision it)?
É What are the usability needs? É What are the business’ present and future needs? É How will this effort impact market position and create
competitive advantage?
SET DESIGN GOALS - FOR FINISHED PRODUCT Ò Business:
É Improve productivity É Reduce error É Improve effectiveness É Reduce training, calls to help desk É Reduce Development Time and Cost by avoiding unnecessary features,
producing properly conceived ones Ò End User:
É Reduce stress and fatigue É Increase job satisfaction É Motivate and Persuade É Higher Acceptance
Ò Market: É Create Pride of Ownership É Be First to Market É Create Competitive Advantage É Maintain/Enhance Reputation
DESIGN THE USER INTERFACE
Ò Determine Basic Interface Operation É Platform – Mobile, Desktop É Basic Functions É Are we Going to Copy or Innovate?
Ò Identify Conceptual Model É Draft Basic Look and Feel É Matched to User’s Mental Model to Business Model É Begin Information Architecture
Ò Prioritization and Location of Functions É What features are built; when (drawn from Goals) É Determine Screen Flows, Task Flows, Interaction Paradigms
DESIGN THE USER INTERFACE - ARTIFACTS
Ò More Terminology . . .
DESIGN THE USER INTERFACE - ARTIFACTS
Ò A Mockup: É Used to ‘sell’ or get
buy-in on an idea. É Usually full color and
very detailed É Hint at behavior and
function, but don't explicitly state it É Often used for proposing enhancements or new
features
DESIGN THE USER INTERFACE - ARTIFACTS
Ò A Wireframe: É A blueprint or a
schematic that can be used to help build the finished product.
É Typically shows several views of the system
É Is visually a step back from the mockup
MORE ABOUT WIREFRAMES
Ò Used as a basis for a conversation about design direction Ò Used to answer questions:
É What is the high (or low) level page structure? É What content will appear on the screen and where? É What are the organizing principles – task, information architecture, etc?
Ò Used to clarify assumptions Ò Method can change based on several factors:
É Complexity of problem domain É Level of assumption É Magnitude of ‘unknowns’ É Project type - new application vs enhancement É Expected shelf life É Business criticality É Urgency to project
Ò Should use whatever means necessary (low/med/hi fidelity; small or large scope) to get the point across, have the conversation, answer questions, clarify assumptions
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURES
Ò Based in Library and Information Science.* Ò An opportunity to analyze the language and concepts
used in the problem domain. Ò Map out how they interrelate or overlap. Ò A first step toward establishing the sign posts and
waypoints that will guide a user as they navigate or ‘forage’ through the interactive system (Krug)
Ò Establishes ‘Lay of the Land’ * Is not wireframing, but you can’t wireframe without it
INTERACTION DESIGNS & SCREEN FLOWS
Ò Take the wireframe concept a step further – Behavior, Interaction, Conversation
Ò Used to answer questions about the conversation between User and System É What experience does the user have in the language of this conversation? É What behaviors and interactions are present on the screen (calculations,
input methods, manipulation methods, integration with other screens) É How will the conversation flow (i.e. can we enumerate the conversation)? É What interaction design patterns can we use to optimize this
conversation?
Ò These artifacts also change based on context – complexity, assumption, project type, longevity, business criticality and urgency
EVALUATE THE DESIGN MODEL
Ò Typically Quick and Dirty Methods for Getting the Low Hanging Fruit: É Cognitive Walkthroughs É Heuristic Evaluation – An Expert Review É User Walkthroughs É Quick Prototyping (e.g. Axure)
BUILD PROTOTYPES Ò A Prototype:
É A simulation or partially functional treatment of the proposed product.
É Some prototypes pursue a specific use case (weapons systems); others take a broader approach (full look and feel).
É Supports Iterative Testing and Review
É Retains Buy-In É Allows you to make
mistakes early and more inexpensively.
TEST PROTOTYPES
Ò Usability Evaluation É A formal process using representative users in a
simulated, but realistic environment. É Structured data collection and execution (Task-
Based) É Captures rich data
Ð Audio, video, interactions Ð Quantitative Data - Number of Errors, Time on Task Ð Quantitative Feedback – Likes/Dislikes
É Should be Performed Iteratively Ò Expert Reviews are still beneficial in this phase
PROTOTYPE TEST CLIP 1: COMPLETING A TASK
PROTOTYPE TEST CLIP 2: MEETING GOALS
PROTOTYPE TEST CLIP 3: PARTICIPATORY DESIGN
EVALUATE TEST RESULTS
Ò How well did the prototype perform against design goals set at start of process? É Quantitative is best, Qualitative is useful É Compare the results to a baseline or hypothesis É Were new issues uncovered?
Ò Determine whether goals were met: É If goals met: freeze design or negotiate change to
goals (if new problems uncovered) É If goals not met: change design or negotiate change
in goals (if change is too costly)
FINAL THOUGHTS
Ò This process is scalable to the needs and phase of each project.
Ò Some UX work is better than none at all. Ò 8-10 users can typically uncover about 90% of
a system’s design and usability flaws. (Source: Nielsen)