This document discusses common obsessions of people who work in user experience (UX) design. It presents a "top 10" list of things UX professionals tend to get obsessed about, beginning with stationary supplies and ending with door handles being identified as the number one obsession. This is attributed to Donald Norman's influential book "The Design of Everyday Things" which analyzes everyday objects like door handles and engenders an obsessiveness in examining the design of common items. The document explores each item on the list in turn, providing examples and explanations for why they capture the attention of and fuel the obsessions of people in the UX field.

1. © Rufus Leonard, 2015

2. Hello!
My name is Andy Marshall,
I’m Head of UX at Rufus Leonard.
@andy__marshall

3. When I was asked to give this talk,
I gave some thought to the topic.
And then it came to me…

4. The more we learn working in UX design,
the more we start to see the world
through the lens of UX.

5. This is where obsessions with
everyday things begins.
And people working in UX can
obsess about some unusual things.

6. And so I had a thought…

7. And so I had a thought…
‘Why not create a top 10 of things
we get obsessed about?’

8. So here it is…

9. The top 10

10. The top 10
(not necessarily annual)

11. The top 10
(not necessarily annual)
things that UX people

12. The top 10
(not necessarily annual)
things that UX people
get obsessed about

13. 10
Stationary

14. For people who workpredominantly in
producing stuff online we spend a lot of
time producing stuff offline.

15. We. Love. Stationary.

16. Mmmm….
Adjustable, aluminium
pencil.
http://www.uistencils.com

17. http://www.uistencils.com
Thanks UI Stencils for fuelling our desire for
stationary we never knew we needed.

18. Not just any ruler…
http://www.uistencils.com

19. Not just any ruler…
This one measures in pixels.
http://www.uistencils.com

20. So which is the single piece
of stationary to rule them all?

21. The humble Post-It.

22. Can you have too many?
https://plus.google.com/+originalartiste/posts?pid=5999657580888958402&oid=111541287404252539466

23. It’s competition time.
Spot the UX family at the park.
http://www.etsicommunication.fr/blog_etsi/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Swiss-Cancer-Foundation-Post-It-Man-03.jpg

24. It’s competition time.
Spot the UX family at the park.
http://www.etsicommunication.fr/blog_etsi/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Swiss-Cancer-Foundation-Post-It-Man-03.jpg

25. Obsession rating:
Dangerously expensive
Stationary

26. 9
The Definition of UX

27. Each year I ask each member of my
team to give me their definition of UX.
And each year they give me slightly
different answers to the previous year.

28. We continually evolve our definition,
refining to ourselves what we do.
It can get very philosophical.

29. Unsurprisingly, there are a lot of
people talking about this obsession…

30. Google results for the “difference between UX and UI”.
The high number results comes as no surprise…

31. So let’s have a look at a few of the
definitions that are out there.

32. On one hand, UX is fuzzy.
http://www.slideshare.net/MaryWharmby/great-ux-portfolios-39212601

33. http://www.slideshare.net/uxcrank/the-ux-umbrella
On the other hand, it’s nicely articulated
with this metaphor; the UX umbrella.

34. “UX Design” is an awkward umbrella term
for things that already have names:
interaction design, information architecture,
visual design, user testing.
I don’t know what a UX Designer does.
Although according to Peter Merholz,
it’s an ‘awkward umbrella’.
http://www.peterme.com
Peter Merholz

35. Further evidence there is no such thing as
“UX Design”
Read the 15 answers from “User Experience Experts”
to the question “What is UX Design?”
And then come backand tell me if there is actually
such a thing as UX Design. I suppose there might be
15 things as UX Design…
And this is verging on existentialism.
http://www.peterme.com/2015/09/24/further-evidence-there-is-no-such-thing-as-ux-design/
Peter Merholz

36. “User Experience is a commitment to developing products and services
with purpose, compassion, and integrity.
It is the never-ending process of seeing the world from the customers'
perspective and working to improve the quality of their lives.
It is the never-ending process of maintaining the health of the business
and finding new ways to help it grow sustainably. It is the perfect
balance between making money and making meaning.”
Thanks to Whitney Hess for this eloquent definition.
Should we all agree to stick with this one?
https://whitneyhess.com
Whitney Hess

37. …the concept of user experience attempts to go beyond the task-
oriented approach of traditional HCI by bringing out aspects such
as beauty, fun, pleasure, and personal growth that satisfy general
human needs but have little instrumental value.
Therefore, when compared to basic usability, enjoyability plays
an essential role in user experience. The extent to which an
interactive product is enjoyable to use is referred to as the
product’s hedonic quality.
No, we shouldn’t. You’ll always discover new definitions. To continually
redefine means we question, understand, and evolve what we do.
http://www.academia.edu
Marc Hassenzahl

38. Obsession rating:
Obsessed with ourselves
The Definition of UX

39. 8
Dashboards

40. You may not have become
obsessed with dashboards, yet.
But you should.
Because clients love them.

41. enterprise-dashboard.com/img/tim-oreilly-dashboard.jpg
This is where I go whenever I’m feeling down…
I literally have no idea what this is telling me.

42. What’s worse than a pie chart for visualising information?
http://dashboardspy.com/img/Sales-Dashboard-ERP.jpg

43. What’s worse than a pie chart for visualising information?
Yes, that’s right. A 3d pie chart.
http://dashboardspy.com/img/Sales-Dashboard-ERP.jpg

44. http://www.liesdamnedlies.com/...DashboardImage2%5B8%5D_2.gif
This one has it all. Pie charts. Skeuomorphs.
Tons of wasted real estate…

45. Fortunately there are some thought-leaders
in visualising information, guiding us in the
world of dashboard design.

46. First came Edward Tufte, one of the forefathers and
pioneers of visualing information.
http://www.edwardtufte.com
EdwardTufte

47. Stephen Few’s book Information Dashboard Design
is an absolute must read for enthusiasts.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Information-Dashboard-Design-Effective-Communication/dp/0596100167
Stephen Few
“A dashboard is a visual display of the most important
information needed to achieve one or more objectives;
consolidated on a single screen so the information can
be monitored at a glance.”

48. Noah Iliinsky is also on the recommended reading list, particularly
Designing Data Visualisations, co-authored with Julie Steele.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Designing-Data-Visualizations-Noah-Iliinsky/dp/1449312284/
Noah Iliinsky

49. Having been through the dashboard
obsession myself, I’d like to share a little
dashboard nugget I picked up along the way.

50. When presented with a spreadsheet
and asked to make some kind of
judgement or decision based on the
numbers we see, we use our working
memory to hold individual pieces of
data as we make sense of it, and as
we process our decision.

51. But working memory has limited capacity
(to three of four items, by modern thinking).
So we expend effort in just making sense
of the data. And this is inefficient.

52. Holding pieces of data in our working memory is like spinning plates,
where you can only ever get three or four plates spinning at once.
Working memory

53. Add a new plate, and one of the other plates falls off.
Working memory

54. Iconic memory Working memory
But if you visualise the data, you engage the reader’s visual systems. This is very
powerful as it alleviates effort from our working memory in making sense of the data.

55. Iconic memory Working memory
And this frees up working memory to help us focus on the decision
making. As a result, this leads to better decisions. Beautiful.
Long term memory

56. Obsession rating:
A slippery slope
Dashboards

57. 7
Signage

58. It’s easy to slip into this obsession.
We’re constantly surrounded by signage,
and working in UX seems to hone our
ability to spot poor signage.

59. An instruction for a light switch. Notice the instructions have
been added as an afterthought. Not that this really helps.
http://www.globalnerdy.com/

60. If you visit this lavatory, be sure to allow plenty of time to read the door
instructions. Failure to do so could lead to embarrassment…
https://www.flickr.com/photos/keithbraithwaite/3545334842/

61. I’m pretty sure the first floor is rarely found in the basement.

62. We don’t know if we’re coming or going with this one.
Twitter/Snickers/BBDO

63. And can anyone explain this?
http://www.findsigns.com

64. Obsession rating:
I’m starting to annoy myself
Signage

65. 6
Customer Service

66. Working in UX can be an odd
education in customer service.

67. On most projects we spend at least
some time with the customer.
And even when this can’t happen, we
still strive to deliver the best possible
experience for the customer.

68. It’s perhaps this constant attention
we give customers that makes us
more aware of our own customer
service experiences.

69. © 2015 Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
And we rarely need much prompting to share our experiences. We practically feel obligated
to feedback to those providing a service where they would benefit from improvements!

70. Obsession rating:
You can’t switch off!
Customer Service

71. 5
Every Hardware
Interface We Encounter

72. Our obsession with hardware interfaces is not new.
Ever heard of the ‘blinking twelve problem’?
www.mentalfloss.com/

73. https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/386254105516822997/
Car parks hide some of the worst culprits in hardware interfaces.
At this point you may want to consider a different car park.

74. http://develion.co.uk/article/2011/01/17/the-design-of-everyday-items/
And just don’t bump against the dial of the washing machine,
unless of course you don’t actually want your clothes washed.

75. Obsession rating:
Anorak.
Every Hardware
Interface We Encounter

76. 4
Reducing Complexity

77. I’m always surprised to hear people ask for
‘simple’, and ‘clear’ in briefs.
I’m pretty sure this is part of the job description.
We certainly don’t set out to create complexity.

78. https://choin519.wordpress.com/blog/health-care-visualization/
Of course, complexity is never far away, so I can
understand why people crave ‘simple’.

79. qwikspot.com/e/design-ideas-3515179/
Our brains are pattern seeking machines. We naturally seek
simplicity and regularity. We know, and leverage this in UX.

80. But our obsession with reducing complexity
can sometimes take us too far, creating
products that may not work.
Simplicity versus complexity is about balance.

81. http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/42-66800717/airbus-a320-cockpit
The cockpit of a plane reduced to a single joystick may still fly, but pilots also need
to be able to monitor the plane’s systems. Sometimes complexity is inherent.

82. Obsession rating:
Obsessively compulsive
Reducing Complexity

83. 3
Forms

84. Forms.
Not the most exciting topic.
Yet this is an area we easily
become obsessed with.

85. eggcupwebdesign.com/web-design-usability-best-practice-support-your-users/
Well designed forms look effortless, yet this is
fiendishly hard to achieve.
We constantly have to push for fewer form
fields (and sometimes this can be a hard sell!).
There are the affordances of form fields to
consider because not all form fields are equal.
And if we’re really keen we get into fixations
and saccades.

86. Designing great forms is difficult.

87. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned about form design, it’s this:
Luke Wroblewski knows everything.
Web Form Design is compulsory reading.
http://www.lukew.com
Luke Wroblewski

88. http://www.ict4u.net/databases/paper-forms.php
And once armed with a thing or two about form design, paper based forms
start to look hilarious. You’ll wonder how we coped before the web!

89. Obsession rating:
Geek.
Forms

90. 2
Social Proof

91. static1.squarespace.com/.../90-billion-burguers.png
Social Proof, which describes the way we tend to follow the
behaviours of others, is incredibly persuasive.

92. When we first discover Social Proof,
we feel empowered.
It’s like we’ve discovered the silver bullet
to persuading people to do anything.

93. http://www.influenceatwork.com/
But we soon learn there’s much more
to influence than Social Proof alone.
Robert Cialdini's best selling book
‘Influence’, introduced many to ‘the
big six’ elements of influence.

94. Reciprocity
Social Proof
Commitment and consistency
Authority
Liking
Scarcity
From Cialdini’s six elements of influence, you quickly slip into a
world of psychological principles, heuristics and biases. From this…

95. Reciprocity
Social Proof
Commitment and consistency
Authority
Liking
Scarcity
Concession
Curiosity
Status
Achievements
Humour Effect
Value Attribution
Limited duration
Familiarity Bias
Proximity
Peak-End Rule
Self-Expression
Sequencing
Serial Position Effect
Visual Imagery
Status Quo Bias
Sensory Appeal
Limited Access
Duration Effects
Chunking
Priming
Recognition Over Recall
Set Completion
Variable Rewards
Commitment and Consistency
Contrast
Loss Aversion
Need For Certainty
Limited Choice
Reputation
Uniform Connectedness
Framing
Feedback Loops
Ownership Bias
Conceptual Metaphor
Anchoring and Adjustment
Gifting
Positive Mimicry
Pattern Recognition
Endowed progress effect
Fear appeal
Reflection effect
The Overjustification Effect
…to this. And much more.

96. Obsession rating:
A super blackhole
Social Proof

97. Let’s recap on
the top 10 so far.

98. The top 10
10. Stationary
9. The Definition of UX
8. Dashboards
7. Signage
6. Customer Service
5. Every Hardware Interface
4. Reducing Complexity
3. Forms
2. Social Proof
1. …?

99. So what is
number one?

100. 1
Door Handles

101. faniereynders.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/some-api-best-suggestions.html
Yes, door handles.

102. image.slidesharecdn.com/.../basics-of-interaction-design-training-slides-12-638.jpg
Door handles.

103. www.andhrafriends.com/topic/569592-construction-failures/page-2
Door handles.

104. www.epicfail.com/2013/05/17/door-design-fail/
Door handles.

105. cheezburger.com/7074511360
Door handles.

106. cheezburger.com/5774468352
Door handles.

107. Door handles are our number one obsession.
And this can be credited to just one person…

108. http://www.jnd.org
Dr Donald Norman. Co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group,
who popularised the term ‘User Experience’ in the mid-1990s.

109. http://www.influenceatwork.com/
Norman’s seminal book, ‘The Design of
Everyday Things’, is the top of many a
UX recommended reading list.
And a significant chunk of the book is a
narrative from Norman describing a day
in his life, where he analyses the design
of the things he comes into contact with.
He discusses alarm clocks, coffee pots,
light switches, door handles (of course),
and so on.

110. Norman’s insights and his own obsession
engenders obsessiveness in all of us to look
at everyday things in a new light.

111. Most people working in the field of UX at some
point readThe Design of EverydayThings.
This equates to a lot people obsessing about
door handles.

112. Obsession rating:
Without them, there’s no escape
Door Handles

113. The top 10
10. Stationary
9. The definition of UX
8. Dashboards
7. Signage
6. Customer service
5. Every single hardware interface
4. Reducing complexity
3. Form design
2. Social proof
1. Door handles

114. Thank you

115. © Rufus Leonard, 2015