Art Vs Science & Evidence Based Design

The Art & Science of
Evidence-Based Design
Prepared for Client
July 9th, 2009

Friday, January 22, 2010

You asked:

How do you bridge art &
science to recommend a
web site design?

2


Art Science

3


Art Science

Focus look and feel architecture

3


Art Science


Method intuition investigation

3


Art Science



Validation subjective testing, metrics

3


Science Art



Validation subjective testing, metrics

3


Science Art

Deterministic Open-Ended

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“ A good experience is rich, something
worth exploring, telling others about,
and experiencing again.

It's overdetermined - or holistic - or
integrated. And being integrated makes
it (often) hard to explain, since one
can't truly reduce an integrated whole
to a simple cause.”

Mark Hurst
5


Science Art

Deterministic Open-Ended

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Science Art

Deterministic Evidence-based Open-Ended

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Evidence-based medicine

“The conscientious, explicit and
judicious use of current best evidence
in making decisions about the care of
individual patients”

Sackett et al. 1996


deﬁne design build

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Evidence-based design

deﬁne design build

9


Our approach

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Our approach

investigate, explore

10


Our approach

investigate, explore prioritize, refine

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research analysis sketching IA concepts templates prototypes code analytics A/B testing

Define Design Build Optimize

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investigate

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investigate experiment, explore

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investigate experiment, explore validate

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thestar.com

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Design inputs
3rd party research:
Business requirements relevant scholarship, Forrester
based on stakeholder reports, professional community,
interviews client-sponsored studies, analysis

Brief Ongoing collaboration:
Current architecture, working sessions, reviews
design, technology
Site Analytics
Demographic,
psychographic data
Heuristic Review
Competitive analysis:
best practices, emerging trends Anecdotal Evidence
Design Patterns inside, outside and beyond
competitive set

13


At a minimum, we need:
Demographics, psychographics, behavioural
proﬁles for target users

Concrete analysis of current experience: what is
and isnʼt working today

Business goals, needs, requirements (functional,
non-functional) + domain knowledge

W
N
E
Competitive landscape: positioning with respect
S
to, best practices, recent innovations, trends

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Inputs become evidence
when they are...
Durable
Actionable
Impactful

c.f. Subject to Change
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Aggregate, organize, share

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Find corroborating data

Decline of daily newspapers

Rise of the internet

Source: Gallup, Dec 2008
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Proliferation of blogs Proliferation of aggregators
Source: Forrester, June 2008
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Carr calls this trend “unbundling”

The publisher’s goal [in print] is to make the
entire package as attractive as possible to a
broad set of readers and advertisers. The
newspaper as a whole is what matters, and
as a product it’s worth more than the sum of
its parts. When a newspaper moves online,
the bundle falls apart. Readers don’t flip
through a mix of stories, advertisements, and
other bits of content. They go directly to a
particular story that interests them, often
ignoring everything else.

Source: The Big Switch (Carr 2008)
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CNN’s Backstory
NY Times’ Topics
Adrian Holovaty’s
Everyblock.com

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Build narratives

More templates
& more ﬂexible Make it more
templates adaptable and
responsive
Let me create
editors custom content
packages
executives

sales

What we hear: give us ﬂexibility
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Create focusers

G o rdo n Ma rc u s

Natalie

Personas Design Principles
Primary, Secondary, Tertiary/Anti Always be About Now; Own Local; Go
Beyond the Story; Spark Conversations

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Marcus Jawai
Tertiary/anti persona

Marcus is a single, 29-year-old independent Recently, he has been noticing a slow-down in
clothing store owner and designer living and business. He’s worried about the economy and
working in downtown Toronto. has started to pay more attention to business
news online and on TV.
Naturally inclined to stay on top of style, he
monitors fashion and design blogs for Marcus feels that the current political, social
inspiration and entertainment. In 2008, Marcus and technological climate is an exciting time to
spent a lot of his time online following the US be in. Though he faces the stresses of a small
Presidential race. Marcus became interested in business owner, he maintains positive and
following the Obama campaign through various upbeat.
media sites, most notably CNN.com

Design Implications
• Watch out for Marcus! His eclectic and idiosyncratic online habits make him tough to predict
and please.
• Marcus wants to be in control—he uses blogs, aggregators, and other metaﬁlters to source
information
• Likes to “snack” on selective information: will impulsively drop into an article and scan for
details, then move on
• Marcus will consume content more thoroughly if it appeals directly to his interests (e.g. style
sa blog, special report on economy and small businesses in Toronto)
m • It’s about serendipity with Marcus, so promoting this becomes key.
pl • Advanced tools (e.g. personalization) aren’t necessarily going to appeal to Marcus.
e
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Design Principles
1. Always be about now
“No matter where I am in the site, Iʼm always in touch with whatʼs happening right now.”

2. Own local
“thestar.com is my cityʼs news site. If itʼs happening in the GTA, thereʼs no reason to
go anywhere else.”

3. Go beyond the story
“This site gives me more than just the news. Itʼs constantly wowing me with new ways
to see, understand and engage my world.”

4. Spark conversations
“The Star connects me to my community and interesting people across Canada”
sa
m
pl
e
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Prototype and assess

1024 PX

Your Edition: Toronto change! -11 C° Full weather forecast!
Traf c!
WHEELS HEALTHZONE YOUR HOME PARENTCENTRAL TORONTO.COM

Search

NEWS OPINION BUSINESS SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING TRAVEL MEDIA Autos Careers Real Estate Deaths Classi eds | More!

HOT TOPICS: Budget 2009 York Strike Flight 1549 Oscars 2009 Turmoil in Sri Lanka | More Topics !

Current news Visual news Most popular Timeline Last updated 3 minutes ago

Australian Wild res break out Maple Leafs practice in High Park Oscars 2009

Toronto Beach Coyote Spring break warning issued Advertisement

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Complex

Critical

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e
yp
Complex

t
to
Pro

Critical

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Identify gaps

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Identify gaps

www.imgspark.com
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Identify gaps do A/B testing

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Quick recap
‣ Evidence-based design goal: research informs
design decisions
‣ Our process funnels research into multiple
iterations of exploration and reﬁnement
‣ Inputs becomes evidence when they are
durable, actionable and impactful
‣ Prototype and test critical/complex interactions
‣ A/B/multivariate test to optimize

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“ A good experience is rich, something
worth exploring, telling others about,
and experiencing again.

It's overdetermined - or holistic - or
integrated. And being integrated makes
it (often) hard to explain, since one
can't truly reduce an integrated whole
to a simple cause.”

Mark Hurst
29


Thanks.


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