1. User Experience Design
Evolution, Mindset, and Methods
Prepared by Dorothy M. Danforth for DelVal HF&ES

2. About Me
Dorothy M. Danforth
President, Danforth Media
● Design strategy consultant
● 20 years practicing user-centered design
● Trained as fine artist, PDS & Metalwork
● Software programmer, web designer
● Kayaker, DIY-er, science nerd

3. Presentation
Evolution, Mindset, Methods
1. The User Experience Revolution
2. The Role of Research
3. User-Centered Case Study
4. Iterative Design Case Study

4. The User Experience Revolution

5. All user-facing software has a user experience
Not all software
is designed using human-focused methods

6. Software Was Really Bad 
User Experience Design

7. Common Vision, Different Flavors
● Human Computer Interaction
• 1980s
• Usability
• Goal Directed Design
• User Centered Design
• User Experience Design
…and many more.
1990s

8. An Evolving Definition
…it’s not User Interface
…it’s not Usability
…it’s not Marketing
…but it is...
(Basically, we still can’t agree.)
‘‘User experience’
encompasses all aspects of
the end-user's interaction with
the company, its services,
and its products.” – NN/g

9. UX in 200 Words…
● “UX is community”
● “UX: An RX for Humanity”
● “User Experience is a
commitment to developing
products and services with
purpose, compassion, and
integrity”
● “UX as an approach for
organizations to add value to
what they offer”
http://www.giantux.com/category/ux-in-200-words-or-less/

10. So, really, what is it?
● User Experience Design
● Visual Design
● Interaction Design
● Information Architecture
● Content Strategy
…and so on
● User Centered Design
● Contextual Inquiries
● Personas
● User Narratives
● User Testing
…and so on

11. ● Empathy
Empathy. Think like a user to design for one. ..
● Active Listening?

12. Storytelling. Our brains are wired for stories.

13. Delight. Delighting users drives conversions.

14. The Role of Research
(or research-like activities)

15. What the heck are they doing over there?

16. Applied Research
● Its not really science
(or academia)
● Exploratory
● Insights, not proof
● Best practice methods
Dramatization: A user study gone very wrong.

17. Design Research Strategy
Good strategies
use multiple methods
to uncover a breadth
and depth of
information
Quantitative
Chris Jordan’s ‘Cans Seurat’ (2007)
Qualitative

18. Contextual Inquiry

19. User Testing

20. User Testing

21. Card Sorting

22. Surveys & Quantitative Tests

23. User Centered, Iterative Design
(failing until you succeed)

24. User Centered: Case Study
Contextual Inquiry
User Testing

25. Design Planning
1. Design Kickoff Priority
Screens
Persona
2. Persona Define User
Narratives
Workflows
3. Workflows Finalize Key
Narratives
Content
Priorities
4. Home Design Collaborative
Session
Dashboard
5. OS&D Design Collaborative
Session
Planning
Screens
Five work sessions
Collaborative

26. Persona

27. User Narratives
“Missy is just back from lunch and would
like to continue processing trailers that
have been “inbounded” in the morning.
Workers have been uploading scanners
as they complete each trailer. Scanner
information is automatically updated so
when Missy begins, everything is ready and up to date in the system.
Missy clicks on the application window already open to the Inbound
screen. From Inbound she clicks through to the Trailers screen to view
the status of all trailers…”

28. User Narratives
Missy will get lost if we
include all those options
and something goes
wrong…so, what specific
decisions will Missy need
to make here?

29. Narratives to Workflows

30. Design

31. Design

32. Iterative Design
User Testing

33. Research Planning

34. Early Concepts

35. Paper Prototype

36. Clickable PDF

37. Interactive Prototype

38. Evolved into Production

39. www.danforthmedia.com/ideas
@danforthmedia

40. Thank You.