Ascend UX Conference workshop by Brandon Robinson and Arun Chintalapati

1. UX Survival Skills
Arun Chintalapati | Brandon Robinson
UX Designers @ PROS

2. We design effective products for our users.

3. Inform
Decide
Inform
Decide
Understand People & Problems
Prototype a Solution
Get Feedback
Refine & Repeat
Launch, Observe Usage, & Improve
Inform Decide
We design effective product experiences for our users.
We design effective products for our users.

4. Inform
Decide
Inform
Understand People & Problems
Prototype a Solution
Get Feedback
We design effective product experiences for our users.
Today, you’ll go through these steps…

5. Inform
Decide
Understand People & Problems
Prototype a Solution
…focusing on these in this workshop

6. What you’ll learn
Designing parts
of a larger whole
Designing in a
changing environment
Designing as part
of a team

7. Exceptional quality footwear
for people on the go
♻

8. Your Mission
Design a Mobile App

9. • Introduce yourself & your interest in UX
• Review the packet in front of you
👥 As a group
🕑 5 minutes
🤝 Meet your Teammates
🕑

10. UX Questionnaire
How do I understand what needs to be solved?

12. • Get comfortable asking tough questions
• Be humble, play stupid
• Always have a beginner’s mind
Tips for UX Questionnaires

13. Persona
Who are you designing for?

15. • Research, Research, Research
• Use it in every conversation
• Create a poster and stick it in high traffic areas
Tips for creating personas

16. In your Packet📑

17. In your Packet📑

18. Assign each designer to one task
👥 As a group
🕑 1 minute
🛠 Divvy Up Tasks
🕑

19. Workflows
What decisions does the user make?

21. ➕ Guidelines for Sketching Workflows
Try to…
ü Show a concept
Don’t worry about…
Covering every possibility

22. In your Packet📑

23. Using simple shapes, arrows, &
text, show the decisions Brenda
would make working through
your task.
👤 Individually
🕑 8 minutes
🛠 Create a Workflow
🕑

24. • Ask a lot of questions
• Working with assumptions is ok
• Optimize – remove redundancies, bottlenecks, & extra steps
Tips for Designing Workflows
• Try alternate solutions

26. Sketching the Screens
How do you bring the workflow to life?

28. Guidelines for Sketching Screens
Try to…
ü Show a concept
Don’t worry about…
Covering every possibility
ü Make it readable ❌ ”Drawing Well”

29. Show an order of interactive
elements to support Brenda’s
decisions
👤 Individually
🕑 8 minutes
🛠 Sketch the Screen
🕑

30. • Use this to facilitate conversations with stakeholders
• As a habit, come up with alternative ideas
• Learn to communicate the pros/cons of your sketches
Tips for Sketching the Screens

31. • Determine the 2 most important tasks
• Combine those features into one, unified workflow
👥 As a group
🕑 5 minutes
⚠ Prioritize Tasks
🕑

32. • Do this early to help build consensus
• Let go of the idea of “perfect” design
• Consider ways of visualizing priorities:
Tips for Task Prioritization
Critical
Frequency
Importance
Critical
Bulls-eye diagramming Frequency-importance matrix

34. Paper Prototypes
How can this sketch be made interactive?

35. https://www.amandazaldivar.com/outta

36. • Cheaper and faster than coding (in most cases)
• Clarifies interactions
• Can solicit feedback from users and team members
🤔 Why Build a Paper Prototype?

37. Hanmail Paper Prototype - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrV2SZuRPv0

38. • Keep it quick & rough
• … but make sure it’s approachable
• Think creatively about how to incorporate interactions
Tips for Designing Paper Prototypes

39. Usability Testing with a Paper Prototype - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa-svs5mQD8

41. Convert your sketches
into a paper prototype
👥 As a group
🕑 20 minutes
🛠 Build a Paper Prototype
🕑

42. 🎉

43. 🎉 Conclusion
• UX is communication
• Embrace Flexibility
• Fall in love with the problem, not the solution
Always document your work!

44. Backstory
Michael and Jesse are entrepreneurs who are looking to disrupt the $371 billion footwear market. They’ve
invented a new way to make shoes using recycled plastic found in the Ocean that is soft and durable as leather.
They’ve already designed different types of footwear for both men and women. Their primary target market is
people who are always traveling and are eco-conscious. Based on their market research, they’ve decided to
focus on selling directly to the consumer via a brand new mobile app to be launched on Dec 1.
Exceptional quality footwear
for people on the go

45. Brenda
Goal Buy a pair of running shoes
Size Women’s 8D
Color Orange
Laces Cotton
Payment Uses Master Card
Phone 832-902-2045
Email bsmith@pros.com
Address 4 MacGregor Lane, Apt. 3100
Houston, TX

46. TASK MUST BE ABLE TO…
Browse Catalog View shoes by type and add shoes to cart
Search Products Show search results and add shoes to cart
Build Your Own Choose shoe type, color, lace, and size, then add shoes to cart
Customer Reviews Post or view reviews
Checkout Review items in cart and place order
Order Status Check tracking location or cancel order

47. Common Workflow Symbols & Shapes
Oval Signifies the start & end of the process
Rectangle Denotes instructions or actions
Diamond
Indicates where a decision is made,
after which the workflow proceeds
in separate paths
Used as a placeholder for when
another workflow would occur
Circle
Points toward the next stepArrow
Example Workflow

48. Laces High Shoe Offerings
SIZES TYPES COLORS LACES
Lengths Men & Women’s 6 - 15 Athletic Red Nylon
Widths AA, B, M, B, D, EE Dress Blue Cotton
Casual Green Leather
Yellow Polyester
Orange Hemp

49. Laces High Order Processing Details
ACCEPTED PAYMENT DELIVERY OPTIONS SHIPPING PROCESS
Credit Card 5-7 Days 1. Order is processed
PayPal Express (1-2 days) 2. Order ships from warehouse
3. Order scanned at checkpoints (number varies)
4. Order is out for delivery