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DIY UX: Give Your Users an Upgrade (Without Calling In a Pro)

The document discusses various aspects of user experience design, including the importance of design research, web analytics, usability testing, and constant iteration. It emphasizes listening to users' needs, analyzing usage data, and testing designs early and often to improve overall user satisfaction. Key contributors share insights on improving workflow and developing a collaborative, creative environment for continuous improvement in design practices.

Design◦Technology◦
Related topics:
Web Analytics Overview•Design Research Themes• User Research•Usability Testing Insights•
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DIY UX Give Your Users an Upgrade (Without Calling In a Pro) Whitney Hess whitney@whitneyhess.com @whitneyhess http://whitneyhess.com
Hi, I’m Whitney Hess User Experience Designer Consultant New Yorker @whitneyhess
ﬔisIsIndexed.com
You are a user experience designer
Shawn Liu & Danny Wen Founders Iridesco New York, NY
http://getharvest.com
Design research Web analytics Usability testing Experimentation & iteration
Design research What do our users actually need?
Footer
Kaizen means “continuous improvement” in Japanese
Kaizen means “continuous improvement” in Japanese
http://iridesco.wufoo.com/forms/harvest-survey/
“We don’t just want to patch; we want to address the core problem.” – Iridesco
“Customers love to tell you their workflow.” – Iridesco
Design Research Make it easy for customers to reach you Log their requests & use them to prioritize new features Dig deeper to discover the underlying problems Keep in touch
For more on design research... Observing the User Experience Mike Kuniavsky
Web analytics What are our users actually doing?
“We don’t believe in data-driven design, but data doesn’t lie .” * – Iridesco * Sometimes it does
One month of visits Mon Mon Mon Mon Highest usage at beginning of week Dropoffs on weekends Somewhat lower usage mid-month
Crazyegg.com
Crazyegg.com
Google Website Optimizer Same exact page with three different Free Trial buttons Found green and blue buttons performed much better than muted gray button 10% improvement in trial acquisition over two buttons (Learn More and Free Trial)
Matthew Marco Visual Designer House of Representatives Washington, D.C.
Chief Administrative Officer -> House Information Resources -> CAO Advanced Business Solutions -> Web Solutions Branch
House.gov
97 most frequent queries on House.gov and top 10 results of each
97 most frequent queries on House.gov and top 10 results of each
Queries are, in fact, case-sensitive. “Nancy Pelosi” and “nancy pelosi” produce different quantities of results ﬔe Pell Grant Underfunding PDF by the Oversight Committee appears in the top-ten results of most state searches; more relevant than any member-generated page in Colorado, Missouri, North Carolina, and Texas ﬔere is no apparent weight given to the title of a document. Untitled documents are not subdued in the results http://www.matthewtmarco.com/studies/2007/pathetic-to-absurd-to-disheartening-in-97-queries/
Sunday, September 28, 2008 1347 bailout 419 bailout bill 282 bail out 208 bailout plan 184 financial services 132 Search Other Sites 130 Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 103 bail out bill 95 financial bailout 80 Bailout 78 tarp 68 email 68 700 billion 66 rescue plan 66 rescue bill 66 old AND eye AND 6 64 financial 62 rescue 62 financial markets bill 58 contact
“Stats let me refute the client’s notion of how their constituents were behaving.” – Matthew Marco, House.gov
Web Analytics Understand your traffic cycles Use analytics tools to uncover usage patterns Test design variations Explore your search logs to see what people are looking for
For more on web analytics... Web Analytics: An Hour a Day Avinash Kaushik
Usability testing How well does our stuff actually work?
NOT Shawn & wife
Usability Testing Light Shows a build, a prototype, a comp, a sketch, whatever Doesn’t tell participant what she’s supposed to be doing Asks “What are your general feelings about this?” and then lets participant talk
“‘It looks good’ is the worst feedback we can get.” – Iridesco
“You need to have humility and listen. Users aren’t always right, but you need to hear them.” – Iridesco
Where to Find Participants Friends and family Folks in your office who don’t work on the project: receptionist, HR, sales Twitter followers Starbucks Craigslist
Tools to Capture Feedback
#1 Most Common Question: What about testing online?
Online Testing Tools
Online Testing Tools Moderated Self-Moderated For A Long Time Automated Live Conceptual Automated Static http://remoteusability.com
Drawbacks of Online Tools Don’t see the participants’ expressions and body language Can’t ask probing, follow-up questions A lot harder to internalize the findings It’s cowardly – you need to feel the embarrassment of a sucky design
Usability Testing Test your designs early and oen Informal tests are just as valuable Use people in your environment who aren’t involved in the project Choose participants of different backgrounds & capabilities Do it yourself & acknowledge your poor design choices
For more on usability testing... Handbook of Usability Testing Jeffrey Rubin and Dana Chisnell
For more on remote usability testing... Remote Research Nate Bolt and Tony Tulathimutte
Experimentation & iteration How are we always getting better?
Sketch Photoshop Test Static HTML prototype Test again Working prototype Test again Tweak Launch quietly Get feedback Tweak
Roz Duffy Web Developer Comcast Interactive Media Philadelphia, PA
Refresh Philly - June 2009
“We aren’t always working on the most interesting stuff, but we always want to work smarter.” – Roz Duffy, Comcast Interactive Media
An amazing thing happened because of this presentation
A relationship formed
An Experiment: Engineering Lab Week
Experimentation & Iteration Never stop improving your product Make your working environment a creative one Encourage everyone on the team to solve problems together Soak up inspiration from everywhere
For more on experimentation and iteration... Sketching User Experiences Bill Buxton
Design research Web analytics Usability testing Experimentation & iteration
IMPORTANT STUFF Always be listening Ask questions to get to underlying problems Use data and anecdotes to inform the design Test your designs and have the humility to admit you’re wrong Complete the feedback loop Never stop trying to make things better
Make your users happy and they will thank you
ﬔank you! Whitney Hess whitney@whitneyhess.com @whitneyhess http://whitneyhess.com Special thanks to: Danny Wen and Shawn Liu of Iridesco, Matthew Marco, and Roz Duffy