This document summarizes a collaborative brainstorming session on developing a mobile strategy for a pet store client. In the session, participants used humanized user personas and sticky notes to generate ideas for how users would want to interact with the store through mobile before, during, and after a visit. They grouped similar ideas and identified important tasks. They then discussed how a mobile strategy could support those tasks. The session provided an approach the participants could use internally or with clients to involve others in the design process and gain different perspectives.

1. Collaborative
Brainstorming for
Better UX
jessicaivins@gmail.com
@jessicaivins
Jessica Ivins

6. http://aweber.jobs

7. http://aweber.jobs

8. What is User
Experience (UX)?

9. How Someone Feels About Using a
Product or Service

11. Designing the Hospital Visitor
Experience

12. Surgery at Cooper Hospital in
Camden, NJ

17. Good Design Doesn’t Happen by
Accident

18. What Do UX
Practitioners Do?

19. “I make websites easy to use.”

20. Working With Others to Solve
Design Problems

21. It’s Not Just About the User

22. Business
Goals
User
Needs
Technical
Constraints
UX

24. Understanding Your
Audience

26. Americans Love Cup
Holders

27. Americans Love Cup
Holders

28. How Do You Understand Your
Audience?

29. How Can You Understand Your
Audience if You Can’t Talk to or
Study Them?

30. Workshop Exercise

31. Kevin M. Hoffman
Better Meetings & Collaboration
http://www.kevinmhoffman.com

32. Meet Our Client

34. The Problem:
Define a New Mobile Strategy

35. Mobile =
Phones, Tablets,
iPods, eReaders, etc.

36. Client Goals
• Make Mobile Purchasing Easy
• Facilitate Sharing of Petsmart Content Through Mobile
• Keep Customers Coming to Brick & Mortar Locations
• Engage Customers with Services, Not Just Merchandise
• Improve Brand Presence

37. Not Just Pet Supplies
• Adoption
• Grooming
• Training
• Boarding
• “Doggy Day Camp”

38. Sorry,
No Budget for User Research

39. We’ll Gather What We Know About
Our Audience

40. Off the Cuff Ideas

41. Write Down 5 Ideas for a Mobile
Strategy

42. Let’s Brainstorm Ideas

43. Goal:
Brainstorm Ideas for Mobile
Strategy

44. First, We’ll Be Generating Ideas on
Our Own

45. Quantity, Not Quality

46. Be Creative with Ideas!

47. Let’s Humanize Our Users So We Can
Brainstorm on Their Behalf

48. Ben, Law School
Student
Ben’s a student on a shoe
string budget. He and his long
term girlfriend are moving in
together to save money.
His 20 gallon freshwater fish
tank has a tiny crack at the
top & he’s hoping he can
move it into his girlfriend’s
place without breaking it. He’s
also low on fish food.

49. What Would Ben Want to Do
At the Store?
• One Idea Per Sticky Note
• Write With Sharpies
• Keep Ideas Brief, Technology-
Agnostic, Specific
Periwinkle
• No: Look for Pet Food, Look
for Pet Food on iPhone
• Yes: Find Fish Food on Sale,
Find “Fishy Coupons” Hidden
Throughout Store
Pink

50. Ben, Law School
Student
Ben’s a student on a shoe
string budget. He and his long
term girlfriend are moving in
together to save money.
His 20 gallon freshwater fish
tank has a tiny crack at the
top & he’s hoping he can
move it into his girlfriend’s
place without breaking it. He’s
also low on fish food.

51. What Would Ben Want to Do
Before Arriving At the Store?
Pink

52. What Would Ben Want to Do
After Leaving the Store?
Pink

53. Kim, Physical
Therapist & Mom of 2
Kim’s 10 year old yellow lab,
Charlie, is starting to show his
age.
He’s been sick lately and she’s
trying to find time for a vet
appointment. She’s
wondering if there’s anything
she can buy or do to help him
in the meantime.

54. What Would Kim Want to Do
Before Arriving at the Store?
Purple
Seafoam
Green

55. Kim, Physical
Therapist & Mom of 2
Kim’s 10 year old yellow lab,
Charlie, is starting to show his
age.
He’s been sick lately and she’s
trying to find time for a vet
appointment. She’s
wondering if there’s anything
she can buy or do to help him
in the meantime.

56. What Would Kim Want to Do
At the Store?
Purple
Seafoam
Green

57. What Would Kim Want to Do
After Leaving the Store?
Purple
Seafoam
Green

58. Kathleen, Accountant
Kathleen just got her first
apartment and is excited to
adopt a cat. Her family had to
get rid of their cat years ago
when they realized her
younger brother was allergic.
She has no cat food or
supplies yet.
She wants to make sure she
gets a really friendly and
lovable cat.

59. What Would Kathleen Want to Do
Before Arriving at the Store?
Seafoam
Green
Purple

60. Kathleen, Accountant
Kathleen just got her first
apartment and is excited to
adopt a cat. Her family had to
get rid of their cat years ago
when they realized her
younger brother was allergic.
She has no cat food or
supplies yet.
She wants to make sure she
gets a really friendly and
lovable cat.

61. What Would Kathleen Want to Do
At the Store?
Seafoam
Green
Purple

62. What Would Kathleen Want to Do
After Leaving the Store?
Seafoam
Green
Purple

63. Let’s Get Into Groups

64. As a Group
• Put All Your Stickies on the Wall
• Group Similar Stickies Into Clusters
• Put Duplicates on Top of Each Other
• Color Doesn’t Matter

65. Periwinkle
Label Each Cluster
with a Periwinkle
Sticky

66. Everyone in Your Group:
Put a Dot on 1 Task You Feel is Important

67. Everyone in Your Group:
Put a Star on One Important Task that
Surprised You

68. Share Out!

69. Discuss Dots and Stars
Tell Us About Your Process

70. How Can a Mobile Strategy Support these Tasks?
Dotted & Starred Stickies

71. How Can We Use This Exercise at
Our Jobs?

72. With Your Internal Team?
• Crowdsource Ideas
• Generate Ideas on Behalf of Users
• Bring People Into Your Process

73. With a Client?
• Learn their Perspective of User Needs
• Compare Client Perspective to Research
• See Dissenting Viewpoints/Opinions
• Bring the Client Into the Process

74. Wrapping Up

75. How Do I Learn More About UX?

76. Get Involved In Local UX Groups

77. UX Books

80. Podcasts & Articles

81. Podcasts
• UIE Brain Sparks http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/
topics/podcasts/
• The Big Web Show http://5by5.tv/bigwebshow
UIE Brain Sparks Podcast
http://goo.gl/vexl

82. UX Publications
• User Interface Engineering (UIE) http://www.uie.com/
• A List Apart http://www.alistapart.com/
• UX Magazine http://uxmag.com/
• UX Matters http://uxmatters.com/
• Adaptive Path http://adaptivepath.com/ideas

83. • 20 Tips for Your Next Moderated Usability Test http://goo.gl/
zD9bvt
• How To Conduct A Usability Test On A Mobile Device http://
goo.gl/DRBFs
• Recruiting Better Research Participants http://goo.gl/NuEdp
• Unmoderated, Remote Usability Testing: Good or Evil? http://
goo.gl/0GEi9
• How to Shop for Unmoderated Usability Testing Tools http://
goo.gl/IgNGz
Usability Testing Articles

84. Jessica Ivins
jessicaivins@gmail.com
@jessicaivins
Thank You!