This document provides an introduction to user experience design (UXD) and UX methodologies on a budget. It discusses what UX is and how experience design focuses on the quality of the user experience. It then outlines a modified waterfall process for UX projects with limited time and resources. This involves defining the problem through stakeholder interviews, personas, and other techniques. It recommends sketching wireframes and interactive prototypes to design and test solutions early. The goal is to create remarkable user experiences through understanding user needs and removing barriers in a simple way.

1. Discount User Experience Design
An Introduction to UX and UX Methodologies on a Budget

2. What is User Experience Design (UXD)?

3. Experience Design.

4. “
Experience design is the practice of designing
products, processes, services, & environments with
a focus on the quality of the user experience...
Aarts, Emile H. L.; Stefano Marzano (2003). The New Everyday: Views on Ambient Intelligence. 010 Publishers. p. 46.
“

5. Experience is everywhere, everything.

6. Bad experiences get noticed.

10. Good experiences go unnoticed.

14. Good experiences go unnoticed.
(Generally)

15. A few very important exceptions.

19. Good User Experience Design lowers
barriers between users & their goals.

20. Great User Experience Design lowers
barriers between users & their goals, as
well as encourages buy-in
(true believers).

21. Good vs. Great
Expected, Functional Unexpected, Remarkable

22. Great User Experience Design
anticipates needs and delivers, simply.

26. Bad User Experience Design is...

28. Oh snap.

29. Creating Remarkable User Experiences

30. An Overview of Process

31. Traditional Waterfall Process
Define
Design
Develop
Deploy

32. Traditional Waterfall Process
(Let’s not do this)
Define
Design
Develop
Deploy

33. Modified Waterfall Process
(Ah, that’s better)
Define
Design
Develop
Deploy

34. Define the Problem

35. The Foundation

36. Define the Problem
Stakeholder Interviews
Customer/User Interviews
Customer/User Surveys
Competition Analysis
User Personas
Contextual Inquiry
Card Sorting
Usability Testing

37. What to use when?

38. Don’t Need Every Tool.
Just the Right Ones.
(Phew)

39. No time. No money. Make it awesome.

40. Stakeholder Interview(s)
Determine business goals.
Gauge and fine tune expectations.
Talk to those with the closest contact with customers/users.

41. User Interview(s) and/or Survey(s)
(when possible)
Understand goals.
Discuss pain points with existing solutions.
Insight into environment and context of use.

42. You might know some people who use
computers. Ask them some stuff.

43. Give Users a Voice
...in your head.

44. Practical Personas

45. Practical Personas

46. Practical Personas
Motivations
Scenarios
Features
Behaviors

47. Motivations
“Find a vacation rental within budget and availability range.”

48. Scenarios
“Mary has a week of vacation she’s planning and only a
couple windows of opportunity in which to use it.”

49. Features
“Advanced search and sorting options for vacation rentals.”

50. Behaviors
“Sorts and filters with Ajax-powered sliders on search
results pages.”

52. “ “
Personas are to persona descriptions as vacations
are to souvenir picture albums.
-Jared Spool

53. Collaborate.

54. Understand the problem? Cool.
Design the solution.

55. Design
Sketches/Paper Wireframes
Interactive Prototypes
Visual Design

56. Sketches/Paper Wireframes

57. Fail fast to succeed quickly.

58. 6-Up Approach

59. Interactive Prototype

60. Paper or HTML?

61. Whatever Communicates Best

62. Test Early, Test Often
(Ideally)
Define
Design

63. Everyone is a UX Designer

64. Practice Mindful Design

65. Thx!
Some further reading:
http://delicious.com/jdelabar/ux-design
Hit me up for book recs!