This document provides an overview of how to design user-centric applications with a focus on user experience. It discusses that both hard technical skills and soft interpersonal skills are important for technicians, but that soft skills are even more important. The bulk of the document focuses on principles of user experience design, emphasizing that the graphical user interface is key and should be designed with simplicity, clarity and with the user's perspective and abilities in mind. It provides examples of intuitive interface design from Apple and Google and recommends spending significant time on interface design before implementation. The conclusion reiterates that what users need should drive the design and that keeping things simple is most important.

1. Easily design "user experience
centric" applications
Luca Foppiano
lfoppiano@byte-code.com

2. Pre assessment
What interface do you prefer?

3. What?
and if I tell you...
...this is 10 times faster!!!!

4. Disclaimer
If you choose the left one....
...I suggest you to keep your seat and listen
this presentation carefully...

5. Contents
IT crowd
User experience
Design graphical
user interface
Conclusion

6. People: Hard and soft skills
Technicians has 10 skills type: soft
skills and hard skills
Hard skills: computer skills, programming
skills, framework knowledge,
$put_your_name skills, experience,
Soft skills: social skills, new opportunities
vision, commercial mind, relations, user
tolerance (!) ...

7. Technicians (IT Crowd)
So...
GOOD technicians have strong hard skills
(good experience and knowledge for
example)
but...
REALLY GOOD technicians have good
soft skills!!!!

8. ...unfortunately...
80% technicians don't care enough about
soft skills:
I did what to do. That's all!
New features vs new details
Who are the users?
After 1 week my form is 2 times faster
100% customer see only the interface,
the errors, and your face!!!

9. Can we change?
Can we improve ourselves?

11. !!!!!Focus on User Experience!!!!!!

12. User experience
“User experience (abbreviated: UX) 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 an
airport”

13. Graphical User Interfaces
In our work, user experience comes for
90% from the GUI.
GUI MUST be designed FOR users (in
particular for stupid monkey users)
Learn by observe:
Apple
Google
Few rules...

14. 1) Less features – more details
Don't try to add non requested features
“The details are not the details. They make
the design.” Charles Eames
MAKE IT WORKS!

15. 2) Keep it simple!
Use simple interfaces!
Don't make complex what
is simple...
...and everything can be
though in a simple way
Reuse your interfaces as
much as you can

16. 3) Know your users
Usually users don't know what they
want...
...but they know what they hate.
Speak with your user and understand what
they want...
Use paper to draw a lot of stories...

17. 4) Design the interface first
Spend a lot of time to make choose in the
interface (colors, page structure, ...) ...
...and don't change it anymore...
...unless you have good reasons (budget
+= 100K €)
Back-end MUST adapt itself to GUI
workflows (unless exist valid reason)
Development is more naturally business
driven (first the workflow, then low priority
features)...
...and is directly from top to bottom.

18. In conclusion
Your soft skills are more important than
your hard skills.
User is not smart like you!
New icon is more simple to remember than
new chapter in documentation
What user doesn't need, doesn't exist for
him (or will be easily forgotten)
Keep it simple and make it work!

19. If you have doubts or need a way
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Ty pe " he l p" , " c opy r i ght " , " c r e di t s " or " l i c ens e" f or m e i nf or m t i on.
or a
>>> i mpor t t hi s
The Ze n of Py t hon, by Ti m Pet e r s
Be a ut i f ul i s be t t e r t ha n ugl y .
Ex pl i c i t i s be t t e r t ha n i m i c i t .
pl
Si m e i s be t t e r t ha n c om ex .
pl pl
Com e x i s be t t e r t ha n c om i c a t ed.
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Fl a t i s be t t e r t ha n ne s t e d.
Spa r s e i s be t t e r t ha n de ns e .
Re a da bi l i t y c ount s .
Spec i a l c a s e s a r e n' t s pe c i a l e nough t o br e a k t he r ul e s .
Al t hough pr a c t i c a l i t y be a t s pur i t y .
Er r or s s houl d ne v e r pa s s s i l ent l y .
Unl es s e x pl i c i t l y s i l e nc e d.
I n t he f a c e of a m gui t y , r ef us e t he t em a t i on t o gues s .
bi pt
Ther e s houl d be one - - a nd pr ef er a bl y onl y one - - obv i ous wa y t o do i t .
Al t hough t ha t wa y m y not be obv i ous a t f r s t unl e s s y ou' r e D c h.
a ut
Now i s be t t e r t ha n ne v e r .
Al t hough nev e r i s of t e n be t t e r t ha n * r i ght * now.
I f t he i m e m nt a t i on i s ha r d t o e x pl a i n, i t ' s a ba d i dea .
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I f t he i m e m nt a t i on i s e a s y t o e x pl a i n, i t m y be a good i dea .
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Na m pa c e s a r e one honki ng gr e a t i dea - - l et ' s do m e of t hos e!
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20. Question / Answers

21. Thank you