The Many-Tentacled Beast

the many-tentacled beast or, what I’ve learned about UX so far

Hi, I’m Michael Seidel & I’m an Information Architect

LOOK FAMILIAR?

Here’s where things got good My mentor (& savior of my professional life) Taught me UX methodologies Rigor How to really listen

When doing tech comm work, I realized I was writing to my audience, but I’d never talked to, met, or learned from an actual human reader of my deliverables. How messed up is that?

An “Audience” is not a person.

then she left (the company)

I took over as UX Lead

UX is an umbrella term
Accessibility
Content strategy
IA
Interaction design
Usability
UX design
The list goes on. Even I get confused.

Labels are meaningless The work is what matters (and I only have 45 min to talk)

Peter Morville’s UX honeycomb

How I see it
MEET thy user
Be empathetic
Balance user needs with business goals
See the big picture, connect dots, create purpose
Design work horses, not work unicorns

IA What do I do?

Cardsorting

Cardsorting
Helps identify trends:
How should information be grouped?
How similar/different are the needs of different user groups?
How many potential main categories are there? (navigation)
What should those groups be called?
Source: http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/card_sorting_a_definitive_guide

What you need
Users!
Groups or individuals
15-20 is ideal 1
Facilitator & note taker
3x5 cards or Post-Its
Terms related to the project
Audio/video recorder
Camera to take photos of groupings
1 Source: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040719.html

… and probably a few of these afterwards (they’re very large beers)

Wireframing Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theoxygenated /6087880415/in/pool-1070674@N20/

Wireframes
“ Blueprints”
Shows arrangement & flow sans visual distraction
Easily modifiable
Can be tested

Tools
Whiteboards
Sheets of paper
Omnigraffle & Axure
Countless web-based tools

A couple other IA deliverables

Sitemap Source: http://www.avermedia.com/avertv /aboutus/AboutUs.aspx?Id=25

Userflow Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/doos /4157672097/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Examples good & bad

I Do other stuff, too

Usability testing Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/witflow /5936042599/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Encourage stakeholder observation (Creeeepy!)

Formal
testing
!

Guerilla
testing
!

Not this

But truthfully
it usually
looks like
this

Remote testing
!

UX without testing = strategic experimentation

Deliverables
Usually a formal report
Executive summary (showstoppers)
Detailed findings for data wonks
Issue Severity Resolution Stakeholder notes Most of the participants discovered that UX is for suckers. Low Hugs for everyone! Fire the Uxer.

Deliverables
Stakeholder results meetings
Collaboration
More testing

Heuristic evaluation

Nielsen’s 10 heuristics
Visibility of system status
Match between system and the real world
User control and freedom
Consistency and standards
Error prevention
Recognition rather than recall
Flexibility and efficiency of use
Aesthetic and minimalist design
Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
Help and documentation

How technical writing prepared me for UX

Tech writing  UX
99% of what I do is communication
Be clear
Be concise
People do read online
Need to find important info quickly
Bullet points are our friends
Documentation attempts to untangle complexity
Design to minimize documentation

Come to mkeux.com!

twitter: @michaelseidel & email: [email_address] & web: mkeux.com

The Many-Tentacled Beast

by Michael Seidel on Oct 12, 2011

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