1. Visualising the
User Experience
Grant Robinson
Senior Interaction Designer at Xero
grant@xero.com

2. 1.
2.
3.
Let’s talk about...
Rapid prototyping
Visualising the UX with screenflows
Movement and transitions

3. Rapidprototyping

4. Is this rapid prototyping?

5. Is this rapid prototyping? Nope!

6. What is rapid prototyping?
• User-centered design methodology
• For designing, communicating and evaluating
user interfaces
• Getting feedback as early as possible
• Fast

7. Prototyping life-cycle

8. Prototyping life-cycle
The more cycles the better

9. release early, release often
Agile development mantra:

10. fail early, fail often
Agile design mantra:
"If you’re not failing now and again, it’s a sure sign
you’re not doing anything very innovative."
Woody Allen

11. 1. Fellow designers
2. Project team
3. Wider team
4. Users
5. Your mum
No designer is an island

12. Common techniques
• Paper prototyping
• Wireframes and page schematics
• HTML wireframes
• Interactive prototypes

13. Paper prototypes...

21. Paper prototypes
Love:
• Quick & dirty
• No software needed
• Very inclusive
Hate:
• Not quick enough
• Too dirty (lack context & scale)
• Hard to share amongst team
• Still needs a separate documentation step

22. Wireframes & page schematics...

27. http://gapingvoid.com/2007/05/15/random-thought/

28. Wireframes
Love:
• Good for defining content
• Good for documenting screens
Hate:
• Bad at showing interactivity / flow
• Can’t really use them for testing
• Slow. Too much time spent describing.

29. HTML wireframes...

36. • Better success rate
• Much faster
• Less confusion

38. HTML wireframes
Love:
• Can show interactivity / flow
• Good for simple interaction (links, buttons etc)
• Experienced in the browser (correct context & scale)
Hate:
• HTML, CSS (and JS) knowledge necessary
• Time wasted on hacking layout & advanced functionality
• Design only what you can build
• Can’t throw away, but should

39. Other interactive prototypes...

40. Axure(www.axure.com)

41. Axure(www.axure.com)

42. SketchFlow(www.microsoft.com/expression)

44. Other interactive prototypes
Love:
• Good for testing moderately complex interactions
• Some support collecting feedback
• Some can generate specs
Hate:
• Difficult to get custom interactions working
• Can require expertise in proprietary languages
• Often not cross-platform (no love for Mac users)
• Often low-fidelity only
• Make me think like a developer, not a designer

45. Choosing a prototype technique
What a dilemma!

46. Visualising the UX
with screenflows

47. http://gapingvoid.com/2007/05/15/random-thought/

48. So how do we describe what users do?
Visualise the experience...
• Show every step to complete a task
• Show every click
• Preview the experience - see and feel how
everything flows together

62. It’s like stop motion

63. From low to high fidelity

86. • 32 iterations
• 5 released

87. Using Flash as a design tool
{eh, what?}

88. Flash: Not just a development tool

89. Flash: Not just for video

90. Flash: History in drawing & animation

91. FutureSplash Animator

92. FutureSplash Animator

93. Anatomy of a screenflow

104. Screenflows
• Perfect fit for agile teams
• Very effective communication tool
• Easy to evaluate
• Ideal for explaining changes over time
• Easy to share. Experienced in the browser.
• Obvious focus & limits
• Significantly reduces documentation
• Support low to high fidelity
• No coding necessary

105. Getting serious about
movement &transitions

106. How did this...

107. ...become this?

109. ...become this?

110. How did this...

111. ...become this?

112. How did this...

113. ...become this?

117. "Unless you can show me where you've
fleshed out the character and aspects of the
transitions at the same level of thought,
rational, exploration and fidelity as you have
the states - you're fired."
Bill Buxton
HCI pioneer
Currently Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research

118. Movement: the new affordance
• Use movement to orientate user and keep
them in flow
• Explain changes/transformations
• Use physical metaphors to describe the
action: zoom, slide, reveal
• Not just for fun: Research on the importance
of movement is just starting to come in

119. Yahoo Design Pattern Library
http://developer.yahoo.com/ypatterns/richinteraction/transition/

120. Yahoo Design Pattern Library
http://developer.yahoo.com/ypatterns/richinteraction/transition/

122. Transitions decreased task completion times
Reduced error rates for reading tasks
0.3 seconds - optimal transition speed

123. Some takeaways...
{nom nom nom}

124. The timeline is your friend
• Efficient digital sketching tool
• Best way to manage changes over time
• Supports low to high fidelity
• Natural starting point for exploring
movement and transitions

125. Visualising the experience
makes you a better designer
• Puts you in the user’s shoes
• Keeps you focussed on user flow
• Best way to communicate your designs to
team and stakeholders
• Cuts documentation in half. Less time
describing = more time designing

126. Please feel free to flick me an email: grant@xero.com
Any questions?
Photo credits:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/editor/3370897686/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fuyoh/748118128/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/celloc/3145987130/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eraphernalia_vintage/3777808203/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rcourtie/3500123702/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rcourtie/3500124362/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21218849@N03/3902295700/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21218849@N03/3901459255/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21218849@N03/3902296466/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21218849@N03/3901509379/