UXBASIS – Getting UX integrated

Getting UX integrated
A presentation for

My professional background
Senior web designer >Digital design manager > Information Architect
Previously I worked for Reed Elsevier’s business division as an Information Architect responsible for the information organisation, interaction design and quality of the user experience for their major publications. Two years ago I joined Hello group…

Hello Group is a Next Practice agency - characterised by a wide variety of well informed practitioners who are user focussed. We go beyond a ‘best practice’ approach to creative execution and are concerned not just with what works but what can work better.

At Reed Elsevier I experienced a company that went from…
The waterfall model of big design up-front and a linear approach to production.

…to this
To the iterative model with users very much
involved in the concept and testing stages of production.

Collaboration
The need for collaborationbetween professionals is fundamental to delivering the bestproducts. This diagram looks at some of the disciplines involved in production. A main success criteria is to gauge the culture you operate in and be in tune with your team member’s needs.

We know this isn’t easy….
This is a project timeline for the computerweekly.com website that shows how different areas of site production had to be synchronised as development took place.

Userexperience is morethanusability
How things look (visual design) how they work (how usable, the interaction and development of functionality) and how the product answers the needs and wants of a user (aligned to the business purpose) all are a part of the user experience.
flickr: julianbleeker

Usability tests canvalidateourassumptions…
…but they shouldn’t prescribe the solution. Testing need not be an obstructive part of the development of a product – it is a question of timing and validating the work quickly and changing the product immediately upon that feedback.
flickr: julianbleeker

How did we get here?
Business intelligenceAnalysisStructure
InteractionSample
Our projects typically feature five phases and often require unique approaches.
This approach ensures engaged users, enabling the solution to answer users’ needs whilst ensuring business objectives are met.

The UXBASIS model
This is not solely user centred design, but a way of practically applying techniques from a business perspective, whilst aligning the user goals and needs, thus making a product that is successful

UXBASIS – UX in a box
An aspect in being involved in this type of work is the ability to convince stakeholders that a certain approach is relevant to their business. We built a physical version of the model so our account people could take the box and discuss the tools with clients.

The cards
Each card describes a tool we use in our process. This helps to explain in an easy to understand way what it is, when it is used and why we use it. The cards can be taken out and they become discussion points. The ‘game like ‘ quality encouraging free thinking.

Poster for development rooms
We do not make deliverables for the sake of deliverables. All have a purpose and are used towards the end goal of producing a solution with real value. The poster in the working environment keeps the user front of mind and helps initiate conversations.

Business Intelligence tools – Heuristic Evaluation
This is a thorough and cost-effective way to look at the different requirements that a website or product needs to fulfill to ensure a good standard of usability

Business – Heuristic Evaluation
It looks mainly at the user’s basic goals and sees if the site supports these. It also looks at copy, visual design and interactive elements. It does not address user behaviour (how they think or feel about what they see and their actions that result from this).

Analysis tools – Concept Model
Concept models or concept maps are one of the most important tools for any project. Even if the project is an update of a site, a redesign or restructure, this approach allows the team to analyse what is working for users and the business

Analysis – Concept Model
A very simple approach to the problem here with general content areas placed next to user needs. This is a less thorough analysis but is good for getting a quick idea of the scale of a site, or the features of a product

Analysis – Concept Model
When two different user groups are present (three in this case) the diagram can be split.
The alignment of common goals can be seen and those that are unique to one segment of the user group.

Structure tools – User Journeys
Unlike user stories (used to define the project backlog in sprint planning as part of the Agile process) user journeys look at the user’s progress within a system from start to end. This would involve many use cases as they typically describe several different tasks on the journey

Structure – User Journeys
User journey for the use of email or an SMS for adding a profile to the website
Refugees United – dedicated to reuniting refugees with their family.

Structure – User Journeys
This is a user journey for a Facebook application. The journey here is more focused on the functionality than the story of what the user wants to do, but it does show the flow between states, something very important when designing applications

Interaction tools
A deliverable that is constantly subject to change - every wireframe will be altered during the design and development phases. They are best thought of as a thinking device and are best as collaborative documents with various team members.

Interaction - Wireframes
A very simple wireframe for a simple site – Dansk Fibernet, to give users the overview of the availability of fiber optics in the user’s region.

Interaction - Wireframes
Some software allows the wireframes to be clickable. This transforms a flat page to a working prototype where user tests can be conducted before any physical code has been written.
This is a standard method to reduce development costs further on.

Sample – Eye Tracking
Eye tracking really works best on completed visual designs, and are helpful in seeing where a user’s eyes rest. It effectively describes how successful a designer’s use of colour, layout, contrast and font usage is in guiding the use around a page or product interface.

Sample – Eye Tracking
Here we see the results on a page for mobile tarif calculation on specific mobile phones.

Getting UX integrated – Corporate sponsorship
Ensure your corporate sponsor understands the value of UX
Use the marketing and customer services departments
Do your own quick evaluation
Create a concept model
Speak the voice of the user and the business
Make the boss an advocate and champion of this approach. Show the results of improvements to an interface before and after changes have been made. Also show the ‘live’ feedback from Twitter or other social networks. UberVu and TweetMeme are great free tools to help here.

Getting UX integrated – Use internal departments
They will have information that will be useful regarding audience behaviour, product usage, requests and complaints. They should also have research that you can use in offering the users what they want and need.

Getting UX integrated – Review your product
Download our form to use on your own site and see what issues occur from your own experience and ask colleagues and friends to see if they experience the same issues.
The more serious the problem the quicker it needs to be resolved.

Getting UX integrated – Draw a concept model
Think about the needs and wants of your users and have this visible in your office or workspace. It will be a map for you and your team to navigate, to reach the desired destination (and will develop over time). It will provide inspiration and motivation.

Getting UX integrated – the voice of the user is carried by you
You carry the responsibility of running the teams that builds a quality product that people will use, enjoy and recommend to others. The most important part of getting UX integrated into large projects is face time with the team and remembering who we build for.

Thank you for listening
Find out more on uxbasis.com
Or follow us
on Twitter:
@uxbasis
@hellogroup

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UXBASIS – Getting UX integrated

by James Kelway on Jun 16, 2010

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UXBASIS – Getting UX integrated — Presentation Transcript