UX? WTF?
An Introduction to User Experience Design

I am Sebastian Tory-Pratt
Freelance Creative + Design Lead at Addo
@yellinglouder
Hey!

The Agenda
◉ What is User Experience Design?
◉ How the Lean Startup changed UX
◉ How to begin a UX project
◉ Obtaining actionable user insights

What this isn’t
A class on how to make
awesome UI
A rigid approach to
designing experiences
Just for digital products Everything is an experience
What does awesome mean?
Its a flexible set of processes
(duh)

This is about
people, problems + creating value
not tools or deliverables

How we’re gonna work today
◉ Lots of concepts from startup world
◉ We’re gonna get hands on + work really fast
◉ Don’t worry about making the “perfect” thing
◉ Solo + group work

We are gonna work fast.
It might be uncomfortable.
Just try it for today.

What is User Experience Design?
Getting Started

“
User Experience design [..] describes the overarching
experience a person has as a result of their interactions
with a particular product or service, its delivery, and
related artifacts, according to their design
-Wikipedia

“
User Experience design [..] describes the overarching
experience a person has as a result of their interactions
with a particular product or service, its delivery, and
related artifacts, according to their design
-Wikipedia

“
User Experience encompasses
all aspects of the end-user’s
interaction with the company,
its services and its products.
-Nielsen/Norman Group

“
User Experience encompasses all
aspects of the end-user’s
interaction with the company, its
services and its products.
-Nielsen/Norman Group

“
User Experience [..] is the quality of experience a
person has when interacting with a specific design.
This can range from a specific artifact such as a cup,
toy or website, up to larger, integrated experiences
such as a museum or airport.
-UXnet.org

“
User Experience [..] is the quality of experience a
person has when interacting with a specific design.
This can range from a specific artifact such as a cup,
toy or website, up to larger, integrated experiences
such as a museum or airport.
-UXnet.org

How people think of UX
What people think UXers do
Interface design
Visual design
...

How people think of UX
What UXers Actually Do
Field research
Face to face interviews
Creation of user tests
Gathering and organising stats
Creating personas
Product design
Feature writing
Requirement writing
Graphic arts
Interaction design
Information architecture
Usability
Prototyping
Interface design
Visual design
Copywriting
Presenting and speaking
Working tightly with developers
Brainstorm coordination
Design culture evangelism
What people think UXers do
Interface design
Visual design
...

UX is
Deadlines
Touchpoints
Workflow Culture
Context
Scope
Interface
Performance
Psycology
Behaviour

UX is...
◉ A mindset
◉ About inspiring the right kind of ideas
◉ Focused on delivering value
◉ Intended to guide decision-making

UX/UI

UX/UI

UX + UI

UX + UI
What should it be?
What should it look like?

Lean startups, and how they changed UX
Moving on

The secret to a good UX

The secret to good UX
Kill your
kittens

The secret to good UX
Kill your
kittens

The secret to good UX
Test your
assumptions

If you build it
they will come

If you build it
they will come

If you build it
they will come
Worst assumption ever

If you build it
they will come
Assumptions = Risk

Reduce Risk With
Validated Learning

Eric Ries first used lean startup
in a 2008 blog post
Build.
Measure.
Learn.
(As fast as you can)

Two kinds
of innovation

Incremental
Innovation
Disruptive
Innovation

Incremental
Innovation
Disruptive
Innovation
Well understood problem
Incremental Improvements
Customer is believable
Predictable market
Old business methods work
Poorly understood problem
Dramatic change
Customer doesn’t know
Unpredictable market
Old methods fail

Lean Startup
A human institution designed
to create new products or
services under conditions of
extreme uncertainty

Experiments
Validated Learning
Reduce Waste

Lean Startup User Experience
Build
Measure
Learn
Empathy
Design
Products
Two big ideas

Risk The old way
Time
Define
Design
Develop
Release

Risk A better old way
Time
Define
Design
Develop
Release

What would make your life easier?

What would make your life easier?
A bridge.

We made the bridge!
Woo.

So I can go
talk to my
friends
Why would a bridge make life easier?

Calling them
is a lot faster
So we didn’t have to build a bridge?

Risk A different way
Time
1
2
3
1 Think 2 Make 3 Measure

Make the
right thing

Then make the
thing right

Or this will happen to you...

Gillette wants to sell razors in India
Did market research with Indian men in the US

Nobody wanted them

Most Indian men shave
without running water

“
“I care more about not cutting myself
than a close shave”
“Affordability is everthing”

Understanding the user + their
context changed the product
◉ Only 1 blade
◉ Sold for 15 rupees (30c)
Gillette became 50% of the market
in six months

How to begin a successful UX project
The Essentials

How?
1

Problem Solution
User

Everything is a hypothesis
Test the user.
Test the problem.
Test the solution.
Treat design as a dialogue.
(Build relationships with Clients, Users, Developers etc.)

Test the user.
◉ What behaviours make them a good ideal user?
◉ What are the needs + goals behind those behaviours?
◉ Who are they? Where are they? What is their context?
◉ Does the group we identified actually have the problem
that we are trying to solve?

Test the problem.
◉ Is the problem you’re solving really the one you think it is?
◉ In what contexts is the problem experienced?
◉ How intense is the pain?
◉ How are your users solving the problem right now?

Test the solution.
◉ What is your one key goal? Is it the right one?
◉ Do people use your solution the way you expect?
◉ What do users find valuable about that?
◉ What is unique about the value you provide?
◉ What does success look like? How will you measure?

What does success
look like? How will
you measure it?

Users
Needs
Uses
Features
Product
UX as a
Stack

Users
Needs
Uses
Features
Product
Company
purpose,
vision, ideas
UX as a
Stack

Users
Needs
Uses
Features
Product
Company
purpose,
vision, ideas
Storyboards,
sketches,
prototypes
UX as a
Stack

To create a global partnership to construct and sustain a
scientific platform and the associated trained personnel
to collect, store, share, analyze, and use aquatic tracking
and environmental data to support sustainable
management of valued aquatic species.
OTN Mission Statement

not your User
Your Client is

Your ideal user is
◉ An audience you can actually reach + research
◉ Likely to engage in your client’s desired goal/behaviour
◉ Defined by behaviours, rather than demographics

Persona Creation and the UX Molecule
Make stuff!

Make a persona
Activity
Behaviours
Demographics
Needs + Goals
Steve

One idea per
post-it

From Designing With Lean UX, Kate Rutter – http://goo.gl/S9cOKG
Persona for a task management app

5 minutes to write 10 persona behaviours
Activity
Behaviours
Demographics
Needs + Goals
Steve

Some Tips
◉ What do they do that makes them a good ideal user?
◉ How are they solving the problem now?
◉ Behaviours are verbs

Time’s Up

Sort the Data
2 minutes to sort the data into
less important + more important

Pool the Data
3 minutes to pool your data as a
group

5 minutes to write 10 needs + goals
Activity
Behaviours
Demographics
Needs + Goals
Steve

Some Tips
◉ What do they need to get done to solve their problem?
◉ Why do they do those behaviours?
◉ How are they solving the problem now?

Time’s Up

Sort the Data
2 minutes to sort the data into
less important + more important

Pool the Data
3 minutes to pool your data as a
group

1 minute enter persona facts
Activity
Behaviours
Demographics
Needs + Goals
Steve

Include
Current age
City
Family
Job role
Annual income

Time’s Up

Pool the Data
1 minute to pool your data as a group

5 minutes draw a persona portrait
Activity
Behaviours
Demographics
Needs + Goals
Steve

Don’t panic
You can draw a person in 4 easy steps
From Designing With Lean UX, Kate Rutter – http://goo.gl/S9cOKG

Not everything has to be drawn! You can use notes, arrows and annotations
to help communicate your idea.
Use simple shapes to give context
From Designing With Lean UX, Kate Rutter – http://goo.gl/S9cOKG

Expressions Matrix
From Designing With Lean UX, Kate Rutter – http://goo.gl/S9cOKG

Time’s Up

What we’ve got now
User Persona
Who do we envision
using our solution?

Problem Solution
User

Infrequent
Frequent
Mild Severe
Create value for
the user by
solving pains

Infrequent
Frequent
Mild Severe
Look for
These

For people who ___, and are having
problems with ___, [your solution]
is/provides/lets them ___

For people who are trying to design products with great
user experience and are having problems with
documenting their ideas quickly and clearly and sharing
them with their teams, UXPin provides an online, fully
collaborative app that helps them to go through the UX
Design process together with their teammates.
UXPin UPS Hypothesis
–Taken from “UX for Startups,” UXPin Knowledge Library

User
UXPin UPS Hypothesis
For people who are trying to design products with a
great user experience and are having problems with
documenting their ideas quickly and clearly and sharing
them with their teams, UXPin provides an online, fully
collaborative app that helps them to go through the UX
Design process together with their teammates.

ProblemUser
UXPin UPS Hypothesis
For people who are trying to design products with great
user experience and are having problems with
documenting their ideas quickly and clearly and sharing
them with their teams, UXPin provides an online, fully
collaborative app that helps them to go through the UX
Design process together with their teammates.

Problem SolutionUser
UXPin UPS Hypothesis
For people who are trying to design products with great
user experience and are having problems with
documenting their ideas quickly and clearly and sharing
them with their teams, UXPin provides an online, fully
collaborative app that helps them to go through the UX
Design process together with their teammates.

?
Evernote UPS Hypothesis

For people busy people who want to maximise their
productivity
Evernote UPS Hypothesis
Problem SolutionUser

For people busy people who want to maximise their
productivity, but struggle with keeping track of all of the
information in their lives,
Evernote UPS Hypothesis
Problem SolutionUser

For people busy people who want to maximise their
productivity, but struggle with keeping track of all of the
information in their lives, Evernote provides an online
platform to store, organise, find and make use of all the
things they might otherwise lose or forget.
Evernote UPS Hypothesis
Problem SolutionUser

Problem Solution
User

You might not have
the right problem

5 minutes to individually:
Describe your user group
List the problem you are solving
Explain your solution
UPS Triangle

For people who ___, and are having
problems with ___, [your solution]
is/provides/lets them ___

UPS Triangle
4 minutes to create a single UPS hypothesis
(Don’t stress, these answers aren’t permanent)

Time’s Up

What we’ve got now
User Persona
Who are we creating
for? What are they
like?
Core Idea
What are the
testable building
blocks of our idea?

AKA Mind-reading 101
User Research

“
There are known knows, known
unknowns, and unknown unknowns
– US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

Paramedics need a log of “interventions”
Patient’s vitals, airway, cardiagram etc.

Data entry on the go?
Easy.
Mobile app!

Except paramedics are too busy
Physically Socially
Taking vitals
Carrying bags
Talking to patients
Dealing with family

Ipad in ambulance lets them tell a
story afterwards with better recall

Any research is better than no research
User Interviews
User Testing
Online Research
Co-Creation
More at When to Use Which UX Research Methods, Neilsen Norman Group – https://goo.gl/YB6gDg

Any research is better than no research
User Interviews
Online Research
Co-Creation
User Testing
More at When to Use Which UX Research Methods, Neilsen Norman Group – https://goo.gl/YB6gDg

User Interviews
◉ Have a specific list of topics to explore
◉ You don’t need to talk to a lot of people (5-7)
◉ Don’t interview anyone that doesn’t fit the profile
◉ Record the results!!!! (An assistant helps)

“
The first rule of user research:
never ask anyone what they want.
— Erika Hall, Just Enough Research

What are you trying to get done?
Use the Five Why’s

What are you trying to get done?

What are you trying to get done?
Build a fence

What are you trying to get done?
Build a fence
Why?

What are you trying to get done?
Build a fence
Why?
So I can surround my front yard

What are you trying to get done?
Build a fence
Why?
So I can surround my front yard
Why?

What are you trying to get done?
Build a fence
Why?
So I can surround my front yard
Why?
So that I can plant a garden

Build a fence
Why?
So I can surround my front yard
Why?
So that I can plant a garden
Why?

Why?
So I can surround my front yard
Why?
So that I can plant a garden
Why?
So that I can grow my own food

So I can surround my front yard
Why?
So that I can plant a garden
Why?
So that I can grow my own food
Why?

Why?
So that I can plant a garden
Why?
So that I can grow my own food
Why?
So that I can save money on groceries

So that I can plant a garden
Why?
So that I can grow my own food
Why?
So that I can save money on groceries
Bingo!

Good Interview Q’s
◉ Start with Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How
◉ Use open phrasing like “To what extent do you…” or “Tell
me more about…”
◉ Ask about problems they have, not about your solution
◉ Try to get to the root of problems being described

Bad Interview Q’s
◉ Are formal, mechanical and closed ended
◉ Start with, “Do you…”
◉ Ask about feelings rather than behaviours
◉ Only deal with superficial concerns

Any research is better than no research
User Interviews
Online Research
Co-Creation
User Testing
More at When to Use Which UX Research Methods, Neilsen Norman Group – https://goo.gl/YB6gDg

Sales Safari
◉ Is just as much work as in person research
◉ You need a lot of data. (100’s of data points)
◉ Need to make sure your data is current. (Forum posts
from 2008 are not going to help you)

Sales Safari
Find Online
Watering Holes
Look for Pain +
Goal Patterns
Use Data to
Refine Idea

Good places to look for information
Forums
Review Sites
Quora
Reddit
Comments Sections*

Any research is better than no research
User Interviews
Online Research
Co-Creation
User Testing
More at When to Use Which UX Research Methods, Neilsen Norman Group – https://goo.gl/YB6gDg

Co-Creation
◉ Need to have a good reason for others to participate
◉ Managing co-creation sessions can take a lot of time
and effort
◉ Need to have a good idea of who your user is + the
problem you are solving

People everywhere
need this

For people trying to create political change
who struggle with holding politicians
accountable for what they say and do,
Politirank is an open platform of citizen
promise-trackers that makes information
about a politician easy to access and
understand

Politirank - Persona - Ercan
Demographics
28 years old
Lives in Ankara
In a relationship
Works for the
National Democratic
Institute
Behaviours
Has non-activist
friends
Heavy reader of
local + global news
Is an information
resource for friends
User of online + RW
activist communities
Needs / Goals
Believes information
flow key to change
Wants more people
to participate in
politics
Wants to inform
friends to inspire
them to act

Who needs it the most?
Activists
NGO’s
Journalists

Who will use it best?
Activists
NGO’s
Journalists

Who can we reach?
Activists
NGO’s
Journalists

Then what?
What NGO’s would Ercan work for?
Host an online discussion forum
Learn what they really need

Make a research plan
Activity
?
?
?

Know the user.
Know the problem.
Know the solution.
Treat design as a dialogue.
(Build relationships with Clients, Users, Developers etc.)

Know the user.
◉ What behaviours make them a good ideal user?
◉ What are the needs + goals behind those behaviours?
◉ Who are they? Where are they? What is their context?
◉ Does the group we identified actually have the problem
that we are trying to solve?

Know the problem.
◉ Is the problem you’re solving really the one you think it is?
◉ In what contexts is the problem experienced?
◉ How intense is the pain?
◉ How are your users solving the problem right now?

Know the solution.
◉ What is your one key goal?
◉ Do people use your solution the way you expect?
◉ What do users find valuable about that?
◉ What is unique about the value you provide?
◉ What does success look like? How will you measure?

10 minutes to make a research plan
Activity
Who are you targeting?
How/where will you find them?
What do you want to learn?
How will you learn about that?

Implement research plan and update
persona + UPS triangle with findings
Homework

Feedback
Make this workshop better
◉ Did you find this useful?
◉ Anything confusing?
◉ Something you really liked?
◉ Want to know more?

Thank You
You can find me at
◉ @yellinglouder
◉ s.tory.pratt@gmail.com
Slideshare:
slideshare.net/SebastianToryPratt

Credit where credit is due
◉ http://www.slideshare.net/pboersma/ux-
deliverables-in-practice-1466984
◉ http://www.slideshare.net/AngelaPark2/ux-
workshop-27794832
◉ http://www.slideshare.net/intelleto/designing-
with-lean-ux-rapid-product-design-ux-lisbon-
2014
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