Communicating and Selling UX Design Deliverables

Communicating and Selling UX Design Deliverables
“Freshly cooked designs. Top quality.
Just £30 per kilo.”
“Okay, I’ll buy some.”
Jan Srutek | UX Designer at Flow Interactive

What’s this all about?1. Communication is essential in design 2. How to present design work3. Designing design deliverables
@JanSru

The way you present your designs matters. A lot.
@JanSru

The problem:UX tends to be conceptual & abstract
@JanSru

We’re selling mainly ‘just’ ideas
We need to defend and justify our deliverables
@JanSru

UX is about
As UX professionals,we will only ever be as good
as our communications skills.
@JanSru

Communicate design visually
Visualisation improves comprehension, inference,
and supports short-term memory.
This is something that is quite broken.
This is working well.
This is something that could use some tweaking.
!
!!
✓
@JanSru

Engage your audiences
@JanSru
Involve stakeholders actively in the process

Do collaborative workshops
@JanSru

Design is storytelling
Talk about people’s experiences – not about interface widgets
@JanSru

Have the right mindset
Don’t be like a politician pushing his agenda
“This is the only possible solution.”
@JanSru

Have the right mindset
Be like a wizard’s apprentice
“Is there anything missing?”
“How could it be improved?”
@JanSru

Speak your audience’s language
Conversion funnel optimisation
VS.
Improving users’ experience
@JanSru

2. How to present design work

How to present design
Structure your design presentations carefully
You use a presentation framework
e.g. the one from
Communicating Design
@JanSru

How to get buy-in for your designs
Or…get inspired by the
Consumer Buying Behaviour Theory
@JanSru

Consumer Buying Behaviour Theory:
Problem recognition
Information search
Options evaluation
Purchase decision
Post-purchase evaluation
@JanSru

Describe the problem first.
Does everyone agree what constitutes the problem?
1. Problem recognition
Design problem
@JanSru

Presentinformation framing possible solutions to the design problem.
(talk about the design constraints)
2. Information search
Persona
@JanSru

Present multiple solutions that you considered...
3. Options evaluation
Concept
three
Concept
two
Concept
one
@JanSru

Present multiple solutions that you considered...
…and ruled out
3. Options evaluation
Concept
three
Concept
two
Concept
one
@JanSru

Explain why the proposed solution is the best one. (Provide a sound rationale)
4. Purchase decision
Concept
two
@JanSru

Document design decisions made along the way.
5. Post-purchase evaluation
Concept
two
Benefits
1.…
2….
3….
@JanSru

Document design decisions made along the way.
&
Test designs with real customers.
5. Post-purchase evaluation
TESTED
Concept
two
@JanSru

Always have a short executive summary ready up your sleeve.
@JanSru

3. Designing design deliverables

The anatomy of a UX deliverable
Every UX deliverable has two layers:
The ideas (the what)
The presentation (the how)
@JanSru

More thinking about the Ideas, less about the Presentation.
@JanSru

Deliverables should be usable
Aim for:
Consistency
Recognition rather than recall
Aesthetic and minimalist design
@JanSru

Deliverables should be prioritised
Emphasise important stuff
…and de-emphasise irrelevant details
@JanSru

Some common UX deliverables

Personas
Make them believable
Make them ‘glanceable’ and comparable
Make them visually appealing
@JanSru

Wireframes
This kind of sucks
No clear visual hierarchy and logical groupings
@JanSru

Wireframes
Nothing is aligned
Your brain spends lots of time figuring it out
@JanSru

Modify search
1 + 1 = 3
Boxes just add clutter
Info design principle by Tufte known as 1+1=3
@JanSru

Wireframes
Use C.R.A.P. principles to design your wireframes
Contrast
Repetition, Repetition, Repetition
Alignment
Proximity
Use colour to make things stand out at a glance
(colour is processed pre-attentively by our brains)
Had to remove the wireframe example, sorry…
@JanSru

Always use cover sheets
First page of a deliverable pack describing
Context and purpose
Deliverable’s status (ForReview, Final, etc.)
Possibly also a changelog
Your deliverables need to be able to defend themselves on their own.
@JanSru

Image credits
http://www.flickr.com/photos/luc/255444239/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/krossbow/3154262365
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clagnut/252185030/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/416841640/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nhussein/3903255272/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mhw/254986081/
All remaining images: © Flow Interactive
@JanSru

Over to you
?
How do you communicate
and sell your designs?
Find me on Twitter @JanSru

Some reading for you:
Find me on Twitter @JanSru

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Communicating and Selling UX Design Deliverables

by Jan Srutek on Sep 26, 2011

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Communicating and Selling UX Design Deliverables — Presentation Transcript