Journey over Destination: creating an effective framework with UX tools

Journey over Destination creating an effective framework with UX tools Stephanie Troeth ParisWeb 2010 Friday, October 15, 2010

Who? User eXperience Strategist/Designer Previous hats: * Co-founder of an innovative publishing startup * Director of Interactive Technology & Solutions @ a Montreal web agency Played active part(s) within the Web Standards Project since 2002 until 2 months ago. Friday, October 15, 2010

This is a conversation about “how”... Friday, October 15, 2010

which depends on “what”... d eliverables tools and “when we do what”. process Friday, October 15, 2010

Classic Waterfall a plan! plan reports requirements deﬁne research Specs / briefs design concept code develop build deploy launch key performance indicators extend measure Adapted from Chapter 4: Project Objectives & Approach, A Project Guide to UX Design, Russ Unger & Carolyn Chandler. Friday, October 15, 2010

Agile approach user stories deﬁne design roadmap sketches/wireframes plan mockups adapt code deploy measure Friday, October 15, 2010

“It's really the act of designing that matters, so we should focus on designing rather than design.” Mark Baskinger “From Industrial Design to User Experience: The Heritage and Evolving Role of Experience-Driven Design”, UX Magazine, June 2010 http://uxmag.com/design/from-industrial-design-to-user-experience Friday, October 15, 2010

Designing vs design? Friday, October 15, 2010

Process = act of designing? Deliverables = design? Friday, October 15, 2010

It’s easy to see design represented as deliverables of a design process. you get st uff at the end of e ach design activity Friday, October 15, 2010

Todd Warfel’s Design Process Diagram plan define design develop deploy http://www.boxesandarrows.com/files/banda/card_sorting_a_definitive_guide/designProcessDiagram.jpg Friday, October 15, 2010

What’s good about deliverables? Friday, October 15, 2010

tangible tools for communication? easy to estimate the cost? Friday, October 15, 2010

What’s wrong with deliverables? Friday, October 15, 2010

“Wireframes are representations of a design made before final specifications exist, which is problematic because in comparison to sketches they are higher fidelity wireframes are representations of design. Unfortunately, although meant to inform design processes and design decisions, they often can be viewed as more concrete than sketches, and therefore considered more final.” Will Evans, “Shades of Grey: Thoughts on Sketching”, UX Magazine. http://www.uxmag.com/design/shades-of-grey-thoughts-on-sketching Friday, October 15, 2010

“Wireframes, flow diagrams, personas, card sorts, content strategy documents, etc. All of these things are important to design, and designers need some combination of them to synthesize their user research and communicate what they’re doing with the other members of the team. But too often these deliverables are the last line of contact for designers. Too often these deliverables are what designers prepare and then hand off to implementors. Then they shuffle off to create more deliverables and the cycle is repeated. In the end deliverables are merely artifacts of the design process. They are not the final design, they are not the artifact of experience. The end user never interacts with them…they interact with the product or service that is actually delivered.” Joshua Porter, “Deliverables vs Delivery”, 52 Weeks of UX http://52weeksofux.com/post/346650807/deliverables-vs-delivery Friday, October 15, 2010

“We get so lost in our deliverables and sharing information that we forget that we’re really trying to collect and share knowledge. Just like the software we build, the persona document is hopefully an interface to a much deeper connection and store of insight or ‘institutional memory.’ In most cases, I fear that we’re just leaving the document, not the knowledge.” Chris Baum in response to Jared Spool’s post, “Personas are NOT a Document”, UIE.com http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2008/01/24/personas-are-not-a-document/#comment-104179 Friday, October 15, 2010

Mini-survey/interview: “Do people you work with expect detailed wireframes and functional speciﬁcations even if they may or may not be necessary, or the best tool?” Friday, October 15, 2010

Response #1 “They do expect [it], unfortunately.” Friday, October 15, 2010

Response #2 “For the most part, yes, that has been my experience, when it hasn’t been just Photoshop mockups.” Friday, October 15, 2010

Response #3 “They do. Totally. And it's freaking moronic. Clients tend to get all focused on the list of deliverables they'll get for their money. The thinking, of course, is what they're paying for—the deliverables are just for communication purposes.” Friday, October 15, 2010

Response #4 “In my experience freelancing, small clients don't expect any UX deliverables, they just wait for the designs. At larger companies, they seem to fixate on process and lose sight of outcome. Agencies get fixated on deliverables. Seems like a lot of ‘thought leaders’ in the UX space fall prey to that too. Seems like so often people obsess over the terms we use, the steps we follow, etc. thinking of problem solving as a one size fits all type of thing.” Friday, October 15, 2010

If we’re not careful: Friday, October 15, 2010

Having a recipe book doesn’t make you a good cook. Friday, October 15, 2010

What can we do? Friday, October 15, 2010

Cook up the procedure based on the ingredients we have. Friday, October 15, 2010

1 Establish context: Frame the problem Friday, October 15, 2010

Classic Agile waterfall approach plan deﬁne design deﬁne plan research design adapt concept develop build deploy deploy measure launch extend measure Friday, October 15, 2010

What’s the goal/objective? What’s the actual problem we are solving? Who are we solving it for? What impact do we want to have? Friday, October 15, 2010

How “out there” is it? evolutionary revolutionary analytics prototyping SWOT analysis competitive analysis user research Friday, October 15, 2010

Longevity? ephemeral permanent set process more iterative process market research user research Friday, October 15, 2010

What type of solution? content interactive -focused application information architecture interaction design content strategy visual design copywriting user research Friday, October 15, 2010

Social context? individual social/community support community management social design mental models Friday, October 15, 2010

Common user research methods surveys card sorting “feedback army” focus groups “ﬁve-second test” interviews usability testing “listening labs” heuristic evaluation “contextual enquiry” personas close-ended open-ended refi nement discovery Friday, October 15, 2010

Common design tools dynamic realistic prototypes functional paper prototype prototype functional low-fidelity storyboard hi-fidelity specifications flow diagrams hi-level detailed graphic sketches mockups wireframes wireframes content inventory static Friday, October 15, 2010

Example: user modelling (motivations) Making sense of research, extrapolating user models. Friday, October 15, 2010

2 Set the stage: Design together Friday, October 15, 2010

Creating sketches help you think. Sketching together helps you think together. Friday, October 15, 2010

Example technique: Leah Buley’s six-up. Sketch six different versions of interface within a limited time. Friday, October 15, 2010

Sketchboarding example James Downes, “Using Sketchboards to Design Great User Interfaces” http://www.boxuk.com/blog/using-sketchboards-to-design-great-user-interfaces Friday, October 15, 2010

Engage everyone in the process, so that everyone’s in on the journey. Friday, October 15, 2010

“Sketching is hardly a new technique in UX design. I would imagine that the vast majority of UX / UI designers start by putting their thoughts on paper, but how often do clients get to see these We ﬁrmly believe that this collaborative sketches? technique can communicate the ideation process much better than wireframes, can save you time and make your clients happier. What’s not to like?” James Downes, “Using Sketchboards to Design Great User Interfaces” http://www.boxuk.com/blog/using-sketchboards-to-design-great-user-interfaces Friday, October 15, 2010

3 Document. Friday, October 15, 2010

Document all the time, but not everything! Friday, October 15, 2010

Keep trace of changes and decisions made. Friday, October 15, 2010

Think of it as leaving pebbles to remember whence you have come. Friday, October 15, 2010

4. Hang in there... lo y! ep ...till the end d y to re ad and beyond. Friday, October 15, 2010

Ensure vision is carried all the way through. Friday, October 15, 2010

Time is saved in maximising communication and not generating artifacts. Friday, October 15, 2010

Act of designing is the act of crystalising ideas. Friday, October 15, 2010

Choose your weapons tools wisely. Friday, October 15, 2010

“We tend to try and automate everything in our lives so that we can achieve the power of design is its ability to more, faster. However, make the inanimate more human. This is not something that happens when design becomes a checklist, a process or a formula. Inevitably, as the designer yields to the design system, we ﬁnd ourselves faced with products that don’t emotionally resonate with us as human beings.” Joshua Brewer, “Design Systems Need to be Challenged”, 52 Weeks of UX http://52weeksofux.com/post/1215278826/design-systems-need-to-be-challenged Friday, October 15, 2010

Embrace the design journey. Friday, October 15, 2010

Thanks! Questions? Stephanie Troeth hello@stephanietroeth.com @snifﬂes Friday, October 15, 2010

Borrowed wisdom With thanks to: Chris Baum, Ralph Brandi, Robert Hoekman Jr, Denise Jacobs, AJ Kandy, Olivier Thereaux, Aarron Walter Unger, Russ and Carolyn Chandler. “A Project Guide to UX Design”, New Riders/Peachpit.Berkeley 2009. http://www.slideshare.net/ugleah/ux-team-of-one-sxsw-2009-1161299 http://alanhogan.com/being-a-ux-team-of-one http://www.slideshare.net/jgothelf/lean-ia-getting-out-of-the-deliverables-business http://www.slideshare.net/pboersma/ux-deliverables-in-practice-1466984 http://www.slideshare.net/purplepurr/ux-design-deliverables-experts-choice-3448105 http://www.boxesandarrows.com/ﬁles/banda/card_sorting_a_deﬁnitive_guide/designProcessDiagram.jpg http://52weeksofux.com/post/346650807/deliverables-vs-delivery http://52weeksofux.com/post/1215278826/design-systems-need-to-be-challenged http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2008/01/24/personas-are-not-a-document/#comment-104179 http://www.365webapplications.com/2010/03/14/sxsw-interactive-ux-designdeliverables/ http://uxexchange.com/questions/2027/what-ux-deliverables-are-successful-in-an-agile-environment http://semanticstudios.com/publications/semantics/000228.php http://uxmag.com/design/from-industrial-design-to-user-experience http://www.uxmag.com/design/shades-of-grey-thoughts-on-sketching http://www.uxmag.com/design/shades-of-grey-wireframes-as-thinking-device http://www.boxuk.com/blog/using-sketchboards-to-design-great-user-interfaces http://www.uxbooth.com/blog/under-the-cover-an-interview-with-the-authors-of-undercover-ux/ http://www.uie.com/articles/design_deliverables/ http://www.adaptivepath.com/blog/category/deliverables/ http://bokardo.com/archives/activity-centered-design/ http://uxmag.com/design/from-industrial-design-to-user-experience Friday, October 15, 2010

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Journey over Destination: creating an effective framework with UX tools

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Journey over Destination: creating an effective framework with UX tools Presentation Transcript