Why User Centered Design
and Usability Matters
Michael Rawlins, Certified Usability Analyst
September, 2009

about me...
Michael Rawlins
- Director of User Experience for a global software firm
- Over 20 years of Fortune 100 company experience
- President, CT Usability Professionals Association
- Adjunct Professor, Manchester Community College
- Certified Usability Analyst (CUA)
- Human Factors International’s CUA of the Month in 2007
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value proposition...
Every dollar invested in Usability returns $10 to $100
Realize:
better business requirements
shorter development cycles
non-functional requirements - design *SWOT analysis
* Strengths Weakness Opportunities Threats
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a few definitions...
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usability?
• Effectiveness - can users achieve their goal
• Ease of learning - how fast do they learn the interface
• Efficiency of use - how fast users complete tasks
• Memorability - short & long term memory leveraged
• Error prevention - is there forgiveness
• User satisfaction - do users like the application
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mental model?
• “Things should work the way we
think they should work...”
• break the user’s mental model
- they respond negatively
• techniques to explore the
user’s mental model include
card sorting and 1:1 usability
testing
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user centered design?
User-centered design (UCD) is a structured product
development methodology that involves users
throughout all stages of the development lifecycle, in
order to create a web site or application that meets
users' needs. This approach considers an
organization's business objectives and the user's
needs, limitations, and preferences.
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the process...
To create a user-centered web site you must think
about the needs of your users throughout each step in
the development of your site, including:
plan (objectives & requirements)
collect data from user population (observation)
prototype (low-fidelity)
test 1:1 with users (task based usability tests)
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prototyping...
www.balsamiq.com
Low fidelity
www.welie.com
Interaction
Design Patterns
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interaction patterns...
http://quince.infragistics.com/#/ByTask
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templates vs. patterns
http://www.welie.com
http://960.gs/
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tools...
Direct approach -
Morae Recorder to
to capture your tests
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It’s collaborative...
enabling you to
work closely with
your developers and
business stakeholders
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usability testing criteria
Establish usability criteria prior to creating the test questions
• What are you measuring?
• Users will be able to do “x” in less than two minutes
• Users will be able to navigate to “x” in less than two minutes in three clicks
• Users will be able to buy “x” with no errors or customer support
assistance
• Eight out of ten users will be able to purchase “x”
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more tools...
Indirect approaches
Expert Review (use heuristics - rules of thumb)
Online Surveys (example: SurveyMonkey.com)
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usability point of view
This can happen
80% of Usability is
about navigation
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the symptoms...
Your site or application doesn’t work when user’s:
are over reliant on sitemaps to navigate
access search as a primary navigation tool
navigate with browser controls (forward & back)
To solve:
test with real user’s to determine their mental model
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the return...
Increase Productivity
Reduce Support Calls
Reduce Training
Conversion Rate
Reduce Drop-off
Reduce Learning Curve
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suggested reading...
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questions...
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thank you...
michael.rawlins@gmail.com
http://www.michaelrawlins.com
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