Welcome to the
Church of
User eXperience
Design
Today’s Sermon
UX Architecture
for the Small Guy
Leading Today: Gary Barber @tuna


 
User Experience Design
DEF: a subset of the field of experience
design that pertains to the creation of the
architecture and interaction models that
impact a user's perception of a device or
system. The scope of the field is directed
at affecting "all aspects of the user’s
interaction with the product: how it is
perceived, learned, and used
Don Norman
...like any other machine - they're either a benefit or a hazard. If
they're a benefit, it's not my problem.


 
User Experience
DEF: the perception left after a series of
interactions.
Eric Reiss
“Design is the art of gradually applying constraints until only one
solution remains”
Unknown


 
Two Hotels
UX is about perception and product confidence
www.flickr.com/photos/10634319@N00/3206552644


 
Two Web Sites
UX is about removing the frustration


 
Usable UX
“Usability is something we do in UAT, right?”
Client
www.flickr.com/photos/51035583134@N01/1647545
www.flickr.com/photos/52971398@N00/2193315363


 
Design Reality
Stakeholders
SPEC
DESIGN
DEV
UAT
Customers


 
Small Project Reality
Stakeholders
SPEC
DESIGN
DEV
Customers


 
Wish List - Agile UX
Stakeholders
Interation
Zero USER
BUSINESS
TEST
DEV
DESIGN
BRAINSTORM
USER
USER TEST
RESEARCH
INFORMATION
TEST
DESIGN
DEV
CUSTOMER
BUILD
Customers


 
Roles with UX Project
UX ARCHITECT
DESIGNER
DESIGNER
DEVELOPER
DEVELOPER
PROJECT MANAGER
PROJECT MANAGER


 
Small Projects
Stakeholders
SPEC
DESIGN
DEV
Customers


 
The Web is Not Print
www.flickr.com/photos/11550160@N03/2875431305 

 
Web is Print?
Web
Print


 
Is it Bad Habits
• No Budget
• No Skills
• No Time
• We’ll do it next time
• It doesn’t work
• No one else is doing it


 
Money Talks
“But, I just want a website for $X dollars”
Client
www.flickr.com/photos/60648084@N00/2243154949


 
UX & User Centered Design
UCD doesn’t appear to work well with Small Projects


 
Reality Check for UCD
UCD doesn’t appear to fit with Small Projects


 
UCD focuses on the Users
“If the user can’t use it, it doesn’t work” Susan Dray


 
Remove the Users?
Client
“Maybe we’re better off without the Users”
Client
www.flickr.com/photos/32145599@N08/3046354228 

 
Business + User Focus
Centralised Business and User based Approach
www.flickr.com/photos/20998477@N00/2794222271 

 UX Architecture is not a 
Methodology
“I don’t care about User Experience I just want to sell products”
Client


 
UX Tool Kit
Over 50 tools, techniques and methods to ensure the best UX
www.flickr.com/photos/41894148532@N01/2517652


 
Should it Stay or Should it Go
Remember every project is different
“it Depends”
www.flickr.com/photos/32742419@N04/3114975462


 
Business Research
• Stakeholder Interviews
• Business Requirements
• Competitor Review
• Expert Review
• Peer Review
• Web Analytics Review


 
Stakeholder Interviews
Required:
Time:
Cost: n/a
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : You are going to be talking to your client anyway, why not ask a
few open ended questions, to gather even more information

 
Business Requirements
Required:
Time:
Cost: n/a
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Even better if the client has these done for you. Sometimes a
Brainstorming session helps cement the real vs political requirements.

 
Competitor Review
Required:
Time:
Cost: n/a
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Don’t overload this process, keep it short and snappy, if it adds
nothing new to the list, move on. Like a lit review for the Web.
www.flickr.com/photos/26332965@N00/478614736

 
Expert Review
Required:
Time:
Cost: n/a
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Not a replacement for User Testing. Use only if budget is really
tight. Can only really give you the general problem areas. No one is an expert.
www.flickr.com/photos/21170057@N03/2667839445

 
Peer Review
Required:
Time:
Cost: n/a
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Do them on forums, down the pub, be open with your peers to
get real feedback. Avoid the back slapping crowd. Review, review and review
www.flickr.com/photos/8765199@N07/3622174097

 
Web Analytics Review
Required:
Time:
Cost: n/a
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Greatly dependent on the depth of the statistics available, Often
poor on small projects. Pay Special attention to the Search Analyics. Experienced
analysis can bring out worthwhile user pathways

 
Information Research
• Content Audit
• Card Sort


 
Content Audit/Inventory
Required:
Time:
Cost: n/a
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Remember content is king, this has to be done. You can’t design
without at least a sketchy idea of what the content is. Expect lost content to be found
later.

 
Card Sorting
Required:
Time:
Cost:
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Good tool for information or functional categorisation. Don’t
over use. Don’t over analyse, users can get it wrong. Can use Affinity Diagram as well
for general logical grouping.

 
Customer/User Research
• User Priming
• User Interviews
• Field Studies
• User Surveys
• Focus Groups 
• Personas
• User Stories
• Task Analysis
• Mental Models
www.flickr.com/photos/28260247@N07/3366216596
 www.flickr.com/photos/22023529@N00/341543757
www.flickr.com/photos/77309394@N00/105439262

 
User Priming
Required:
Time:
Cost:
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Some users will “cheat”, expect this, but you will notice it, people
find this easier to do than a diary. Helps start an interview. Drawing the experience
www.flickr.com/photos/49106033@N00/459905744 www.flickr.com/photos/37484601@N00/3513672579 www.flickr.com/photos/35955268@N00/474693912

 
User Interviews
Required:
Time:
Cost:
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : A very small pool is okay 4-5 people. Interviews don’t have to be
long, just open ended. Forget transcripts, you will not have the time to do them.
Record if you must, just you will not review it.

 
User Surveys
Required:
Time:
Cost:
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Unless you are very experienced or have training in survey
writing, don’t DIY. Real costs can be very high for Small Projects.

 
Focus Groups
Required:
Time:
Cost:
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : At best they are artificial constructs, open to group dynamics like
a jury. Not suited to UX research at all. Avoid!
www.flickr.com/photos/23799098@N03/3752407910

 
Field Studies
Required:
Time:
Cost:
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Shadowing and contextual enquiry useful. Allow for believe
what you see not what the user tells you. Ethnographic Studies also applicable.

 
Personas
Required:
Time:
Cost: n/a
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Making fake people, good generalist behavioural patterns in
personas. Maybe a Persona Pattern Library is in order. Sketched personas better than
detailed ones. Adhoc Personas should be considered.
www.flickr.com/photos/33947185@N00/3681279223

 
User Stories
Required:
Time:
Cost: n/a
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Easy to compile from previous research. Fast and effective, look
for simple patterns of task and behaviour. Don’t over analyse, accept what is.

 
Task Analysis
Required:
Time:
Cost: n/a
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Summary tool for listing task patterns, functionality, information
processes and refining them. KIS. Will feed into story boarding, flow diagrams and
prototyping. Can use GOMS on this too.
www.flickr.com/photos/83565115@N00/3274919185 www.flickr.com/photos/81098106@N00/2757285670

 
Mental Models
Required:
Time:
Cost: n/a
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Good for confirming information and functional categorisation.
Behaviour and task based nature takes too much time. Need a faster analysis method.

 
Brainstorming
• Critical to all project
types
• Bridge from Research
to Design
• Generate New Ideas
from Research
• Pattern Matching
• Time to see the
Patterns
www.flickr.com/photos/37996578526@N01/3513906216 

 
Design
• User Testing
• Navigational Design
• Story Boarding
• FLow Charting
• Mood Boards
• Wireframes
• Graphical Mockup
• Prototyping
www.flickr.com/photos/22023529@N00/537603811
www.flickr.com/photos/41211045@N00/34679639
 www.flickr.com/photos/22023529@N00/8044425

 
User Testing
Required:
Time:
Cost:
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Do it anywhere, coffee shop, lunchroom, remotely. Avoid the lab.
Small pools are allowed. Should be used to confirm and discover all the time in UX.
At least consider A/B testing.

 
Navigational Design
Required:
Time:
Cost: n/a
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Small content mean less categorisation, less options. Still look for
new pathways to navigate. Use simple Tree testing.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19762676@N00/3316195479

 
Story Boarding
Required:
Time:
Cost: n/a
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Can be traditional, photoboard, stick figures, movieboard, flash
based screen prototypes. Lots tool available. Remember to keep it sketchy, produce at
a fast and furious rate. Also consider Task and Story Boards as Swinlanes.
www.flickr.com/photos/70321513@N00/3975307520

 
Flow Charting
Required:
Time:
Cost: n/a
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Work well with Use Cases. Task, functionality and screen flow
can all be mapped. Helps bridge designers and developers. Combine wireframes and
flowcharts to get wireflows.
www.flickr.com/photos/38869431@N00/1121226671 www.flickr.com/photos/49503215066@N01/268374764

 
Mood Boards
Required:
Time:
Cost: n/a
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Quick and easy to produce. Show emotional landscape.
Supporting the visceral response of the cognitive process. Need to elicited an emotional
response.
www.flickr.com/photos/32729422@N00/2181557066

 
Wireframes
Required:
Time:
Cost: n/a
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Need to be quick, not detailed masterpieces. Document the basics
and move on. Do we really need them if rapid prototyping is used. Use Pattern
Libraries.
www.flickr.com/photos/32729422@N00/2181557066 www.flickr.com/photos/33472412@N00/3307873748

 
Graphical Mockup
Required:
Time:
Cost: n/a
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Mockups in Photoshop can take too long, move to Browser
mockups. Consider collaged mockups from competitors or like functional sites to get
visual direction, like an extention of Participatory Design.

 
Prototyping
Required:
Time:
Cost: n/a
Reliability:
Influence:
Small Projects:
Small Guy Parable : Use paper, pens, bottle tops, whiteboards to interactive generators
from Axure to Screenflow. Document with photos or screenshots, KIS. Use Pattern
Libraries. Give the site a human personality.
www.flickr.com/photos/68453525@N00/3605778917

 
UX Elements of Rapture
Stakeholder Interviews
User Testing
Business Requirements
Task Analysis
Content Audit
Mood Boards
User Interviews
Graphical Mockups
Navigational Design
Prototypes
Brainstorming


 
Waterfall vs Whirlpool
Regardless of Waterfall or Agile projects, UX can be used in both


 
UX is Hard
Client wants a cheap option - don’t go with the Gut!
www.flickr.com/photos/35723943@N00/165144643 

 
Design is about Failure
Concept Generation
Add Add Final
No. of Ideas Ideas Product
Ideas
Time
“Genius is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple.”
C.W. Ceram


 
Lost Ideas
Concept Generation
Lost Ideas
No. of Final
Ideas Product
Lost Ideas
Time
“The public is more familiar with bad design than good design.”
Paul Rand


 
Time to Get Ideas!
“The only thing more expensive than writing software is writing bad
software”
Alan Cooper
www.flickr.com/photos/41534655@N00/243010900 

 
Selling UX
Reality check - UX can be seen as expensive window dressing
www.flickr.com/photos/24995774@N06/2358339193 

 
No Jargon!
Just like IT cut the techo-babble, so we have too.
www.flickr.com/photos/79446887@N00/2844238907 

 
Speak Business
Talk like an Accountant, Marketeer, Human Resources, CEO
www.flickr.com/photos/14718994@N03/2279273026 

 
CEO’s Love Design
Clients like to be involved, it’s more interest than Accounts
www.flickr.com/photos/34281632@N03/3646744137 

 
The Commandments
• UX is about Business and Interation
BUSINESS
Zero
USER
TEST
DESIGN
DEV
BRAINSTORM
RCH
Users
INFORMATION
USER
TEST USER
TEST
RESEA
DEV
DESIGN
CUSTOMER
• Stop the old ways BUILD
• UX can be Agile
• User research is important
• Don’t go with the gut
• Selling UX is more important
than the design
Is too much documentation drowning UX in costs?


 
Questions
GARY BARBER
@tuna
manwithnoblog.com
radharc.com.au


 
Local UX Resources
• UX BookClub - uxbookclub.org
• Usability Professionals’ Association - www.upassoc.org
• Information Architect Institute - iainstitute.org
• Mailing Lists:
✴ IxDA - ixda.org
