This document discusses Atomic Object's design process and provides 5 design techniques that can be tried without experience: 1. Critique - Analyzing designs against objectives using critical thinking. 2. Design thinking exercises - Activities like brainstorming that build empathy and ideas. 3. Personas - Documenting hypothetical user profiles to establish empathy. 4. Experience mapping - Capturing and communicating complex user interactions. 5. User feedback - Gathering feedback through interviews and usability testing to improve designs.

1. Hi.
J U L I A J A M I E S O N S W E N S O N
S O F T W A R E C O N S U LTA N T & D E S I G N E R

2. Atomic Object & a Birds Eye View of Our Process
5 Design Techniques You can Try Without “Design” Experience
TODAY’S TALK

3. PA R T 1 : AT O M I C O B J E C T &
A B I R D S E Y E V I E W O F O U R P R O C E S S

5. Poly-Skilled, co-located teams of
makers
D E S I G N E R S E M B E D D E D
D E V E LO P E R S
W E B + A P P L I C AT I O N
D E V E LO P E R S

6. DesktopP R O C E S S
Vision
PRE-PROJECT
CONSULTING

7. DesktopP R O C E S S
Vision
PRE-PROJECT
CONSULTING
RESEARCH, DESIGN &
PLANNING
Ideas
Project Defined

8. DesktopP R O C E S S
Vision
PRE-PROJECT
CONSULTING
RESEARCH, DESIGN &
PLANNING
Ideas
DESIGN &
DEVELOPMENT
Follow up projects
& maintenance
release
create
review
1 2 3...
Project Iterations
Project Defined

9. Human Centered Design
ADAPTED FROM IDEO

10. S O , W H AT D O E S
D E S I G N M E A N T O Y O U ?

11. Design isn’t necessarily the solution to all of your
problems, but it is something that is perceived whether
you consider it or not.

12. PA R T 2 : 5 D E S I G N T E C H N I Q U E S Y O U C A N T R Y
W I T H O U T “ D E S I G N ” E X P E R I E N C E

13. 1 .
C R I T I Q U E

14. “Critique isn’t about that instant reaction we might feel
when seeing something, or about how we would change
someone’s design to better solve an issue. Critique is a
form of analysis that uses critical thinking to determine
whether a design is expected to achieve its desired
objectives (and adhere to any pertinent best practices)”
D I S C U S S I N G D E S I G N -
A D A M C O N N O R & A A R O N I R I Z A R R Y

16. Meet in person, or over the phone.
Ask questions, establish terminology.
Start critique with a positive (but not just, “I like it.”).
Evaluate based on the goals of the piece.
Avoid directives. It’s not your responsibility to solve the
problem. It’s your responsibility to identify the problem.
Follow up.
1. ESTABLISHING A PRACTICE OF CRITIQUE
Using critique to make your process more effective

17. RESOURCE
Discussing Design: Improving Communication & Collaboration Through Critique
“Because critique, when well done, focuses on
analyzing design choices against a products
objectives, it also provides teams with
additional benefits, acting as a mechanism for
building shared vocabulary, finding relevant
consensus, and driving effective iteration. “

18. A N Y O N E C A N R U N A D E S I G N T H I N K I N G E X E R C I S E W I T H S O M E P R E P A R E D N E S S
2 . D E S I G N
T H I N K I N G
E X E R C I S E S

19. “It’s the activity, not the artifact.”
A D A P T I V E PAT H

20. Rose, Bud, Thorn
Remember the Future
2. UTILIZE DESIGN THINKING EXERCISES
Anyone can run a workshop or exercise with some preparedness

25. RESOURCES
101 Design Methods | Innovation Games

26. W H O I S Y O U R U S E R A N D W H A T D O T H E Y C A R E A B O U T ?
3 .
P E R S O N A S

27. Make a list of all the possible people who use your
product or service.
Document the list.
Choose 3-5 core users to develop personas for.
PERSONAS & PROTO-PERSONAS
Establishing empathy for your customer

30. RESOURCES
About Face | Designing for the Digital Age

31. H O W D O P E O P L E E X P E R I E N C E Y O U R P R O D U C T O R O F F E R I N G
4 .
E X P E R I E N C E
M A P P I N G

32. “"Experience mapping is a strategic process of capturing
and communicating complex customer interactions. The
activity of mappingbuilds knowledge and consensus
across your organization, and the map helps build
seamless customer experiences.”
A D A P T I V E PAT H

37. RESOURCES
mappingexperiences.com from Adaptive Path

38. H O W D O Y O U R B I G I D E A S S T A N D U P I N T H E R E A L W O R L D
5 . U S E R
F E E D B A C K

40. Meeting with real users for 30 minutes to an hour to probe for attitudes, beliefs,
desires, and experiences to get a better understanding of who is using your
product and why.
User interviews usually happen at the beginning of a project or
development cycle.
Select participants and set up meetings
Creating a script and asking neutral questions (rather than leading)
Getting permission to record if necessary
Team: 2 people and 1 interviewee
USER INTERVIEWS

41. Usability testing is a method by which users of a product are asked to perform
certain tasks in an effort to measure the product’s ease-of-use, and the user’s
perception of the experience.
Develop a solid test plan or script
Recruit partipants (ideally the same people you met with before, or
similar)
Analyze and report on your findings
USABILITY TESTING

42. Priority Health, HealthInSite User Testing Results & Recommendations
Top Issues & Recommendations
1. Filter Drop down: Currently it is not evident that after a user interacts with the filter drop down that the reports and data are changing.
Recommendation: add in animations to the filter drop down and actual charts. Possibly consider adding a “go” button as a second option.
2. Presentation of data: Many of the users had questions about what exactly they were viewing (examples: what does plan paid mean? or what does plan paid include? What does
Percentage of total cost mean? Need better labeling for cost vs plan paid. Does the claim data include health, pharm, vision, dental?)
Recommendation: Work to identify the charts and information are not yet clear, and add that content to the design.
3. Filter Drop down: Some users did not find the filter drop down right away.
Recommendation: consider making this button style different from the view claims list button.
4. Health & Pharmacy: A user brought the feedback that she instructs customers to just look for the red (problem areas).
Recommendations: Pending scope, consider a way to bring all problem areas in to one place. Also consider if a similar treatment could be used for High Cost Claimants.
5. Awareness: Awareness about HealthInSite and other products could be addresses to improve customers experiences.
Recommendation: consider timelines for when customers get access to these tools, and how new tools get marketed to customers.
Other Observations
1. Each user had positive remarks regarding the new features and data available to them.
2. Users made comments like “This is much easier to read than the existing reports”
3. Each user was pleased to see membership counts right away.
4. Users were happy that they could pull up a member list, claims list and download that information.
5. Users often wanted to be able to break down information even further than the tool.
6. Though users liked what they saw, some remarked that this data was surface level stuff.
7. Users tended to use the back button, impulsive links, and interior page drop downs more often than using the sidebar navigation.
8. Some users were more interested in the numbers than the visuals.
9. There was some confusion about Date Incurred and Paid Date.
Action Items
1. Filter dropdown: Change View Settings and Incurred/Paid Settings to radio buttons.
2. Filter dropdown: for subgroup and class - by default should read “All Subgroups”/“All Classes” instead of “none selected”
3. Dashboard>High Cost Claimants: Add in stoploss pooling point/warning amount. Also add in that chart the percent to stop loss.
4. Dashboard>High Cost Claimants: Add a “+x more high cost claimants” expand link to show more.
5. Color palettes for donut charts: need to be more distinct between parts.
6. Overall: Add in breadcrumb style to the top left and top center.
7. Dashboard: Use common pattern for View details links.
8. Overall: emphasize that this is a tool for self-funded groups.
9. Membership: When on the members page, users also wanted to see dollar amounts. Can we link to the claims page?

43. Ideal Feedback Workflow
M E E T W I T H U S E R S F O R
I N T E R V I E W S
S TA R T W O R K I N G ,
C R E AT E A P R O T O T Y P E
M E E T W I T H U S E R S F O R
U S A B I L I T Y T E S T I N G
A P P LY A C T I O N I T E M S &
L E A R N I N G S

44. RESOURCES
About Face | Designing for the Digital Age | usability.gov

45. Y O U N E V E R K N O W W H A T M I G H T H A P P E N
G I V E I T A T R Y

46. @juliajamieson
juliajamieson.com
julia.jamieson@atomicobject.com
T H A N K S F O R L I S T E N I N G … Q U E S T I O N S ?

47. Adaptive Path | mappingexperiences.com
Discussing Design: Improving Communication & Collaboration Through Critique
Human Centered Design Model | ideo.com
usability.gov
S O U R C E S