Introduction to UX Design Principles and Process

Introduction to User Experience Design
School of Visual Arts | 16 February, 2019 Robert Stribley

Today’s presentation will be available on SlideShare following the
workshop:
www.slideshare.net/stribs

Robert Stribley
Associate Creative Director,
Experience
Introductions
Sample clients:
• Citibank, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley,
Oppenheimer Funds, Prudential, Wachovia
• Boston Scientific, Nasonex
• AMResorts, Choice Hotels, RCI, Sotheby’s
International Realty
• Computer Associates, EMC
• Ford, Lincoln
• Mercedes-Benz, MBFS, Mercedes-Benz
Vans, smart
• AT&T, Nextel
• Red Cross, Smithsonian National Air &
Space Museum
• Pearson, Travel Channel, Women’s Wear
Daily
• I’m an Associate Creative Director,
Experience at SapientRazorfish
• I enjoy literature, cinema, music,
photography
• I drink coffee

About You
• What’s your name?
• What do you do for work?
• What do you do for fun?
• Coffee, tea or bottled water?
Introductions

Goals for our workshop today:
• Understand the basic concepts of user experience (UX)
design
• Review the basic deliverables a UXer develops within a
project
• Experience the general process and techniques used on
a design project
Introductions

Morning
• History & Definition
• UX Principles
• Design Process
• Agile
• Deliverables
• Our Project
• User Research
Agenda

Afternoon
• Card Sorting
• Site Maps
• Page Types
• Navigation
• Sketching
• Break
• Wireframes
• Usability Testing
• Responsive Design
• Q&A
Agenda

information
architectur
e
interactio
n design
content
strategy
usability
testing
user
research
user
experience
Background

Image by Oliver Reichenstein on
flickr

Walt Disney,
the original
user
experience
designer?

A Brief History of UX
1975
• Richard Saul Wurman coined the term “information architecture”
to describe the field now more often described as “information
design”
1994
• Argus Associates founded in Ann Arbor, MI, the first firm devoted
to IA
1998
• First edition of Peter Morville and Lou Rosenfeld’s Information
Architecture for the World Wide Web, affectionately known as
“The Polar Bear” book
2000
• First IA Summit, Boston, MA – Defining Information Architecture
History of UX

Partially adapted from: “A brief history of information architecture” by Peter Morville and Information Architecture: Designing
information environments for purpose, edited by Alan Gilchrist and Barry Mahon
A Brief History of UX
2002
• Boxes & Arrows, online journal for UX and design goes
live
• 3 new books on UX published, including Jesse James
Garrett’s The Elements of User Experience
2014
• Capital One purchases Garrett’s UX-consulting firm
Adaptive Path
2018
• 18th Annual IA Summit was held in Chicago, IL, March
12: “Converge”
History of UX

in•for•ma•tion ar•chi•tec•ture n.
• The combination of organization, labeling,
and navigation schemes within an information
system.
• The structural design of an information space
to facilitate task completion and intuitive
access to content.
• The art and science of structuring and
classifying web sites and intranets to help
people find and manage information.
• An emerging discipline and community of
practice focused on bringing principles of
design and architecture to the digital
landscape.Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (1st Edition), p. 4, Rosenfeld and Morville
Navigation
Interaction
Art/Science
Discipline/
Community
Defining UX

userscontent
context
IA
Defining UX

interface
(skin)
information architecture
(skeleton)
Defining UX

metaphor: architectural plans
Defining UX
Flickr.com: Cornell University Library

3 Clicks? A myth
Designing for
scent is more
successful than
designing for
navigation.
– Jared Spool, UIE
If there is a scientific
basis to the Three-Click
Rule, we couldn't find it
in our data.
- User Interface Engineering,
April 2003
Self Study
“Designing for the scent of information” - Jared M. Spool, Christine Perfetti & David Brittan, User Interface Engineering

Tease users.
Then draw them to the
details.

“Progressive disclosure
defers advanced or rarely
used features to a
secondary screen, making
applications easier to learn
and less error-prone.”
- Jakob NielsenSelf Study
“Progressive Disclosure” - Jakob Nielsen, December 4, 2006

Self Study
“Progressive Disclosure” – Jennifer Tildwell

Information Clustering
& Hierarchy
3

“Designers can create
normalcy out of chaos; they
can clearly communicate
ideas through the organizing
and manipulating of words
and pictures.”
—Jeffery Veen, The Art and Science of Web

When information is
clustered appropriately on
a screen, users can scan
and quickly come to terms
with the intent of the
content.

1. Group features
and content by
type

1. Group features
and content by
type
2. Position them
according to an
intuitive hierarchy

1. Group features
and content by
type
2. Position them
according to an
intuitive hierarchy
3. Drop or demote
the less
important content

Reduce the field of view
Once users commit to a
path, remove irrelevant
navigation

Consistency is an important but
sometimes over-rated tool
It’s key in maintaining a coherent
experience
But develop an eye to know when to
break from it

Design pages so they’re scalable
Suppress modules or sections of the
page until they're needed
Don’t labor to create content just to
ensure every screen or element is
“consistently” populated

People may come to your homepage
But more and more likely not
They’re more likely coming from Google or social
media
Many sites report only 20% of visitors landing on their
homepages
Some as few as 10 or 5%
• 88% of traffic coming to The Atlantic not hitting home page
• More than 50% of visitors to the NYT not arriving at the home
page
Have you ever bought a book on Amazon.com

More Important?
• SEO*
• Taxonomy
• Meta data
• Tagging
*search engine optimization

Large Apple desktop monitor iPhone 6S

“Web users spend 80% of their
time looking at information above
the page fold. Although users do
scroll, they allocate only 20% of
their attention below the fold.”
- Jakob Nielsen, “Scrolling and Attention,” March 22, 2010

“People will look very far down a page if (a) the layout encourages scanning, and (b) the initially viewable
information makes them believe that it will be worth their time to scroll.
Finally, while placing the most important stuff on top, don't forget to put a nice morsel at the very bottom.”
- Jakob Nielsen, “Scrolling and Attention,” March 22, 2010

Consider the amount
of attention an
audience needs on a
particular screen*
*It may be zero

Recapping:
• Scent of Information
• Progressive Disclosure
• Information Clustering & Hierarchy
• Remove Paths Not Taken
• The Tyranny of Consistency
• Death of the Home Page
• There Is No Fold
• Know Your Audience

Discovery Definition Design Development
Design Process

Discovery Definition Development
• Stakeholder Interviews
• Business Requirements
• Feature Prioritization Matrix
• Competitive/Comparative Audit
• User Research
• Site Inventory
• Site Map
Design Process
Design

• Personas
• Content Audit
• Card Sorts
• Use Cases
• Site Map
• User Journeys
• Sketching
• Conceptual Wires/Design
• Experience Brief
Design Process

• Site Map
• Content Matrix
• User Flows
• Sketching
• Wireframes
• Stakeholder Reviews
• Functional Specifications
• Visual Design
• Prototype
Design Process

Discovery Definition Development
• User Acceptance Testing
(UAT)
• Quality Assurance (QA)
Design Process
Design

Design Process
Self Study
“Design Thinking 101” by Sarah Gibbons on July 31, 2016 -Nielsen Norman Group

Design Process
Self Study
“How to solve problems applying a Design Thinking, UX, HCD or any Creative Process from scratch V2” – Dan Nessler, February 6, 2018, Medium

What is “agile”?
relating to or denoting a method of project management, used especially for
software development, that is characterized by the division of tasks into short
phases of work and frequent reassessment and adaptation of plans.
"agile methods replace high-level design with frequent redesign”
—Oxford English Dictionary, contrast with “waterfall”
Agile Methodology

What is “agile”?
points
stories
epics
scrum
sprints
standu
p
backlog
backlog
grooming
kanban board
Agile Methodology

Bug fixing for past sprints
Sprint Diagram by Sasha Tsimbler
Agile Methodology

Lean UX
Agile Methodology
“Lean UX … is less focused on deliverables than traditional UX. It requires a
greater level of collaboration with the entire team. The core objective is to focus
on obtaining feedback as early as possible so that it can be used to make quick
decisions. The nature of Agile development is to work in rapid, iterative cycles
and Lean UX mimics these cycles to ensure that data generated can be used in
each iteration.”
—A Simple Introduction to Lean UX, Interaction Design Foundation

Personas
Small Budget
Big Budget
Planne
r
Promoter
Definition

User Journeys Definition
Self Study
“An introduction to user journeys” - Jason Hobbs, September 6, 2005, Boxes & Arrows

Our Project
Events.com
Events.com want to revamp their website to become the go-to
online resource for people wanting to attend or promote a
large variety of events across the United States.
It should default to the city you’re in—New York—but allow
users to change to other cities within the U.S.

User Research
User Research in Copenhagen’s Elderly Homes

“Through research, we aim to learn
enough about the business goals,
the users, and the information
ecology to develop a solid strategy.”
– Louis Rosenfeld & Peter Morville
Discovery: User Research

Goal
Identify patterns and trends in user behavior, tasks,
preferences, obstacles.
Methodology
• Focus Groups
• Surveys
• Interviews

William James on User Research?
“[I]n a delicate inquiry like this, little is
to be gained by distributing circulars.
A single patient with the right sort of
lesion and a scientific mind, carefully
cross-examined, is more likely to
deepen our knowledge than a
thousand circulars answered as the
average patient answers them, even
though the answers be never so
thoroughly collated by the
investigator.”
– William James, “The Consciousness of Lost Limbs,”
1887

Class Exercise: Survey Questions
• How do you learn about events in NYC?
• What type of events are you interested in?
• What’s more important to you:
– Price
– Type of Event
– Location
– Date
• Do you ever need to promote an event?
• Do you ever invite people to an event?

Afternoon
• Competitive Review
• Card Sorting
• Site Maps
• Page Types
• Navigation
• Sketching
• Break
• Wireframes
• Responsive Design
• Q&A
Agenda

Competitive Review
image by brandon schauer

“This type of assessment helps set an industry
‘marker’ by looking at what the competition is up to,
what features and functionalities are standard, and
how others have solved the same problems you
might be tasked with.”
– Dorelle Rabinowitz
Discovery: Competitive Review

Heuristic Evaluation
… involves evaluators examining the
interface and judging its compliance with
recognized usability principles (the
“heuristics”) —Wikipedia
Self Study
For a more detailed explanation of heuristic evaluation, see Jakob Nielsen’s Ten Usability Heuristics.

Sample Usability Criteria
These examples aren’t comprehensive. Appropriate criteria will depend on the project to be completed.
Home Page
• Elements are appropriately weighted and distributed
• Information is clustered in meaningful ways
Navigation
• Navigation structure is concise and consistent
• Paths to important information are intuitive and unobstructed
Content
• Content is content chunked appropriately
• Headings and titles are scannable
• Content is current. There are visible indications of content freshness.
Design
• Colors are appropriate for the Web. White space is used appropriately. Text is readable.
Search
• Search results are relevant and cleanly presented
Functionality
• Functionality and forms are efficiently designed
Messaging
• Errors messages are presented in clear language. Help readily available contextually to users
• Appropriate channels are provided for user feedback

Methodology
• Review and analyze competitor sites according to
particular criteria (heuristics)
• Draw key findings, which can influence and guide IA
through the design phase
• Include a scorecard for high-level comparison of
points across all sites
Also: Comparative Reviews

Competitive Review
Our
Competitors

Key Findings
• Search is fairly prominent on each site
• Filtering on events is valuable, but not always easily available
• Calendars are helpful, but not always prominent
• Profiles and social features are handled with varying degrees of detail
• Free events are often highlighted
• Event detail pages may have maps, RSVP, sharing, rating, commenting
functionality
• Displaying other venues and restaurants adds utility
• Option to add or promote an event isn’t always prominent

“There are often better ways to organize data
than the traditional ones that first occur to us.
Each organization of the same set of data
expresses different attributes and messages.
It is also important to experiment, reflect, and
choose which organization best
communicates our messages.”
– Nathan Shedroff, Experience Strategist
Definition: Card Sorts

Methodology
• Grouping and labeling with index cards, post it notes
• Two types:
Open – Participants sort cards with no pre-established categories. Useful for new
architectures
Closed – Participants sort cards into predetermined, provided groups. Useful for fitting
content into existing architectures
• Online card sorts
– E.g. OptimalSort
Goals
• Organize content more efficiently
• Find names for categories based on users’ perspectives
Self Study
"Card sorting: a definitive guide" by Donna Spencer and Todd Warfel, Boxes and Arrows, 2004/04/07

Case Studies:
• Wachovia Wealth Management Group
• American Red Cross
• Mercedes Benz

Card Sort
As individuals:
• Take 5 minutes to think of all the events a person could
attend
• Write each event you come up with on a Post-It note
5mins

Card Sort
Now, as a group:
• Take a few minutes to organize your events into
categories (group & label them)
• Then we’ll share some categories
15mins

Characteristics & Findings
• Looking for redundancies
• Lumping and splitting
• Outliers and miscellaneous items
• Placing items in multiple categories
• Categories versus filters
–E.g. Free, Family, Outdoors
• Unique but intuitive labels
–E.g. Geeks, Relax

Next Steps
With the results of a card sort we then can:
• Build consensus
• Refine terminology
• Create a site map
• Help define navigation

Definition: Card Sort Tools
Post-It Plus
This app from 3M allows
you to scan your Post-It
Notes, organize and share
them.

Conceptual DesignDesign: Site Maps
“A site map is a high level diagram
showing the hierarchy of a system.
Site maps reflect the information
structure, but are not necessarily
indicative of the navigation
structure.” – Step Two Designs

Site Map Tools:
• Omnigraffle (Mac)
• Microsoft Visio
• InDesign
• Sketch
Design: Site Maps

Page Types & Templates
The Mercator Atlas of Europe
From The British Library

Home Page Category Page Details Page
Examples:
Design: Page Types & Templates

Navigation
Navigation Bridge, USS
Enterprise

Types of Navigation
• Site Structure – major nav
• Hierarchical – product families
• Function – sitemap privacy
• Direct – banner ad/shortcut
• Reference – related links
• Dynamic – search results
• Faceted Navigation – filters results
• Breadcrumb – location
• Step Navigation – sequence through forms/results
Self Study
Adapted from Atsushi Hasegagwa’s The 7 Navigation Types of Web Sites
Design: Navigation

Areas of Navigation
• Global – universal header/footer
• Local – left nav/right nav
• Local content – text links, buttons
Self Study
Adapted from Atsushi Hasegagwa’s The 7 Navigation Types of Web Sites
Styles of
Navigation
• Rollover
• Dropdown
• Flyout
• Tabs
• Accordion
• Hamburger
Design: Navigation

Mega Dropdowns
Design: Navigation

Power Footers
Design: Navigation

Sketching
Aerial Screw by Leonardo da Vinci, 1485-1487

Can you guess
what this is a
sketch of?
Design: Sketching

Twitter
Design: Sketching
[This sketch] has very special significance – it's hanging in the office
somewhere with one other page. Whenever I'm thinking about something, I
really like to take out the yellow notepad and get it down.
– Jack Dorsey, Twitter

“There are techniques and processes
whereby we can put experience
front and center in design. My belief
is that the basis for doing so lies in
extending the traditional practice of
sketching. ”
—Bill Buxton
Design: Sketching

Attributes of a Sketch
• Quick
• Timely
• Inexpensive
• Disposable
• Plentiful
• Clear vocabulary
• Distinct gesture
• Minimal detail
• Appropriate degree of refinement
• Suggest & explore rather than confirm
• Ambiguity
Design: Sketching

- Stefan Klocek, “Better
together; the practice of
successful creative
collaboration,” Cooper Journal
“Ninja. Rockstar. Gifted
genius. Many of the
ways we talk about
creative work (whether
it’s design or
development) only
capture the brilliance of
a single individual.”
Design: Sketching

Defining Collaborative
Sketching
• Rooted in Design Studio Methodology
• Grew out of industrial design and
architecture
• No “rockstars”
• Todd Zaki Warfel
o Create. Pitch. Critique.
o 6.8.5 (6 to 8 sketches in 5 minutes)
• Different versions/methods but steps
included to encourage outcomes
Design: Sketching

Goals for Collaborative Sketching
• To communicate your ideas effectively by visualizing them
• To benefit from the participation of your colleagues
• To quickly generate ideas and refine through iterations
Design: Sketching

1. Discuss
2. Sketch
3. Share
4. Iterate
Design: Sketching
Process

• Discuss the purpose of the specific experience you’re
sketching
• What does it need to accomplish?
• What features are necessary?
• How would you prioritize them?
• Who’s the audience?
• You’re not discussing layout or design
• Just the problem you’re trying to solve
• You’re not sketching yet
Discuss
Design: Sketching

Sketch
• Sketch silently
• Limit your time – 5,10 minutes
• Sketch as much as possible, as many different
ideas as possible
• Don’t worry about mistakes or style
• Emphasis is on the quantity of ideas, not the
quality of the sketches
Design: Sketching

Share
• Review your work with your team
• Keep it short – 60 seconds each
• Offer your feedback to others
• What you like
• Questions about what didn’t work for you
• You’re not grilling your colleagues and this
isn’t a competition
Design: Sketching

Iterate
• Now sketch again if you need to
• Or collaborate on a high-level wireframe (e.g.
via whiteboard)
• Then begin your wireframe with a more
informed view, with more and better ideas
• Iterate on your design
Design: Sketching

Class Exercise: Collaborative Sketching
In teams, sketch your ideas.
Event Detail Page
1. Take 15 minutes first to discuss what features belong
here Remember, no sketching yet
Design: Sketching

Event Detail Page
here
2. Time for silent sketching
Design: Sketching

Event Detail Page
here
2. Time for silent sketching
3. Time for sharing your sketches
Design: Sketching

Did you come up with any
differentiating ideas for an
event page?
Design: Sketching

Sketching Tools:
The following apps are all for the
iPad:
• Adobe Ideas (Free)
• Bamboo Paper (Free)
• Muji Notebook ($3.99)
• Penultimate (Free)
• SketchBook (Free)
• Paper (Free)
• Adonit Forge (Free)
Design: Sketching

Wireframes
sculpture by Jaume Plensa, Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Wireframes
“Web site wireframes are blue prints
that define a Web page’s content and
functionality. They do not convey
design – e.g. colors, graphics, or
fonts.”
- FatPurple
Design: Wireframes

Design a Home Page
In your teams, create your final deliverable, a home page for Events.com
1) Discuss features needed for a homepage
2) Sketch your ideas for a homepage individually
3) Discuss your sketches again with your team
Design: Home Page

Wireframing & Prototyping
Tools:
• Adobe InDesign
• Adobe XD
• Axure
• Omnigraffle (Mac)
• Microsoft Visio
• Sketch
• Invision Studio
• Mockingbird (online, free)
Self Study
Smashing Magazine: 35 Excellent Wireframing Resources
Also:
• Balsamiq
• iPlotz
• iMockups (iPad)
• Omnigraffle (iPad)
Design: Wireframes

Usability Testing
Testing apps on the iPad by K2_UX

Usability Testing
“Usability testing refers to evaluating a product or service by testing it with
representative users. Typically, during a test, participants will try to
complete typical tasks while observers watch, listen and takes notes. The
goal is to identify any usability problems, collect qualitative and quantitative
data and determine the participant's satisfaction with the product.”
- usability.gov
Design: Usability Testing

Types
• Paper prototype
• Clickable prototype
• Full HTML
• Eyetracking
Design: Usability Testing
Methods
• In person/remote
• Moderated/unmoderated
• “Guerilla”

Responsive Web Design
“Rather than tailoring disconnected designs to each of an ever-
increasing number of web devices, we can treat them as
facets of the same experience. We can design for an optimal
viewing experience, but embed standards-based technologies
into our designs to make them not only more flexible, but more
adaptive to the media that renders them. In short, we need to
practice responsive web design.”
– Ethan Marcotte, Responsive Web Design, A List Apart
Self Study
Ethan Marcotte: Responsive Web Design
Design: Responsive Design

Responsive Design Characteristics
• Think “mobile first”
• Maintain content and features across devices
• Adjust designs at different “break points” corresponding to
various devices
• Modules may be repositioned but hierarchies are maintained
• Much more in my Guidelines for Responsive UX Design
class
Design: Responsive Design

Final Home Page Collaboration
In your teams, create your final deliverable, a home page for Events.com
Collaborate as a team on a final version of the home
page
Design: Final Exercise

Books:
• Information Architecture for the World Wide Web – Louis
Rosenfeld, Peter Morville
• Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web – Christina
Wodtke, Austin Govella
• The Elements of User Experience – Jesse James Garrett
• Designing Web Navigation: Optimizing the User
Experience – James Kalbach, Aaron Gustafson
• Design of Everyday Things – Donald Norman
• Responsive Web Design – Ethan Marcotte
Web Sites:
• Alertbox
• A List Apart
• Boxes & Arrows
• wireframes.tumblr.com
Further Studies:
• The IA Summit
• Interaction 19 (IXDA)
• School of Visual Arts
• Continuing Ed classes
• MFA in Interaction Design
• Pratt – Course in Information Design
• Rosenfeld Media
• General Assembly
• Skillshare
• The Information Architecture Institute
• Nielsen Norman Group
• User Interface Engineering
Video:
The Design Studio Method – Todd Zaki Warfel (Vimeo)
The Right Way to Wireframe – Russ Unger (YouTube)
Additional Resources

My article on how to find a UX job:
UX: Your Guerilla Guide to Breaking In

Slideshare address:
http://www.slideshare.net/stribs
stribley@outlook.com
@stribs

Introduction to UX Design Principles and Process

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