Presentation on UX Best Practices for the 2016 Thompson Reuters UX conference in Ypsilanti, MI. The title is "What is this Best Practice thing," and the subject defines and discusses best practice.

1. What is this Best
Practice thing?
BRUCE SHIELDS

2. Who am I?
• Bru ce Shields
• Senior Usability Manager/ForeSee
• You can contact me at: bruce.shields@foresee.com
• www.linkedin.com/in/bruceshields
• Download these slides at:
http://www.slideshare.net/bruce0shields/tr2016-new-final

3. So, What is this Best Practice thing?
IT MAY NOT BE WHAT YOU THINK

5. Can we define Best Practice?
LET’S START WITH WHAT IT ISN’T
Best Practice
is not about
the UI

6. An Example
• ABC News App from 2010
• Stories mapped to a globe
• When NNG tested it, users
liked it
• They thought it was cool
• Until they tried to navigate
• The top user comment
was, “just give me a menu”

7. Best Practice
is not about
cool

8. Best Practice
is not about
code
• THE MACHINE DOESN’T MATTER
• YOUR USERS DON’T CARE

9. So what is it about?
People!

10. But, what does that mean?

11. So, what’s the Best Practice here?
➔ If you are asking users to perform a complex task, don’t
pull a switcheroo on them
➔ Don’t change the location of controls from one
section to the next
➔ If they are checking out don’t make them go
elsewhere to find a promo code, they won’t—and
won’t purchase without one

12. What is Best Practice?
Best Practice is the
art of fitting the
machine to the
user rather than
forcing the user to
adapt

13. Questions you MUST answer for the user
• Where am I?
• Why do I care?
• What’s around me?
• How do I get where I need to go?
• What do I need to do to accomplish my task?

14. Where am I?

15. Where am I?

16. Why do I care?

17. Why do I care?

18. What’s around me?

19. What’s around me?

20. How do I get where I need to go?

21. How do I get where I need to go?

22. What do I need to do to accomplish my task?

23. What do I need to do to accomplish my task?

24. So how do you use
this for design?

25. Remember,
Best Practice
is about
people

26. We’ve talked
about digital
wayfinding, but
what about
Information
Architecture?
• IA is critically important
• People create buckets in their heads, use them
• Find out how they organize your content
• Use their schema rather than internal jargon
• Card sorts and user testing are your friends
• For the love of god, don’t do this:

28. Or this:

30. The ultimate Best Practice
Needs Wants

31. The telephone

33. This is the need

34. What’s the need?

36. Enter Doug DietzEnter Doug Dietz

38. The sedation rate in pediatric
units fell to
.01%

39. Best Practice:
IT’S NOT ABOUT:
• THE UI
• CODE
• COOL
IT IS ABOUT
• PEOPLE!
• WAYFINDING
• ORGANIZATION
Find the need!

40. Thanks!
Any questions?
You can contact me at:
• bruce.shields@foresee.com
• www.linkedin.com/in/bruceshields
• http://www.slideshare.net/bruce0shi
elds/tr2016-new-final