#2 in a 3-part series on UX Fundamentals: Talking with Users Understand why you should talk to users to uncover, validate and/or understand their goals. Learn how and when to talk with your users: User research methods Planning Best practices for interviews

1. User Experience Design
Fundamentals 2: Talking With Users
Periscope | www.periscopeux.com
We design smart, usable digital products
Laura Ballay & Meghan Deutscher

2. A brief recap…
• What is a User?
• What are User Goals?
• Why are User Motivations
important?

3. Today’s Takeaways
Understand why you should talk
to users to uncover, validate
and/or understand their goals.
Learn how and when to talk with
your users:
• User research methods
• Planning
• Best practices for interviews

4. Why Talk With Your Users?
How well user goals are understood Why you should talk with your users
I don’t know my users’ goals. Uncover user goals by questioning their
behavior.
I have an idea of what my users’ goals Validate user goals by observing their
are. behavior.
I know what my users’ goals are. Understand how users fulfill their goals;
what their behaviors, attitudes and
challenges are.
Does my product help users Validate whether or not your product
accomplish their goals? helps the user and how likely it is they’ll
use it.
Can my product be better? Continuously learn more about your
users and how they use the product.

5. What is User
Research?
“Design research describes any
number of investigative techniques
used to add context and insight to the
design process.
It’s also used to combat the natural
tendency to design for ourselves (or
our stakeholders) rather than
designing for our target audience.
Without design research we tend
towards a self-serving, uninformed
design process.”
– UX Booth

6. Three principles for good
user research protocol:
1. Understanding why
2. Studying users in context (environment) and see any
other influencing factors
3. Biases/behaviors that you have to work around

7. 1. Always Ask “Why”
Empathy: “What happens
to us when we leave our
own bodies...and find
ourselves either
momentarily or for a longer
period of time in the mind
of the other. We observe
reality through her eyes,
feel her emotions, share in
her pain.”
–Kehn Lampert

8. 2. Consider User Biases
When we perceive our own
behavior, we put more weight
into our thoughts than actions.
When perceiving the behavior
of others, we put more weight in
actions, less in thoughts.

9. 3. Study User in Context
A user’s environment contains
clues to their goals and
behavior. You’ll learn things
they can’t tell you.

10. User Research Methods
Personas
Task Analysis
User Interviews
Usability Testing
Participatory Design
Diary Studies
Focus Groups
Hallway Testing
Surveys
Analytics & Log Review
A/B and Beta Testing
Stakeholder Interviews
User Observations
Card Sort
Paper Prototyping
SME Interviews
Automated Testing (i.e.
usertesting.com)

11. “The Good” PROS
Personas
Task Analysis
• Model design on real users
User Interviews • Thoroughly understand user
Usability Testing needs
Participatory Design • Validate ideas before going
Diary Studies “live”
Focus Groups
Hallway Testing
• Prioritize efforts
Surveys CONS
Analytics & Log Review
A/B and Beta Testing
Stakeholder Interviews • Can take a lot of time
User Observations • Can be expensive
Card Sort • Need “lab rats”
Paper Prototyping • Requires significant planning
SME Interviews
Automated Testing (i.e.
usertesting.com)

12. “The Cheap” PROS
Personas
Task Analysis
• Inexpensive
User Interviews • Some can be automated
Usability Testing • Some produce more numbers;
Participatory Design stats can be comforting to
Diary Studies stakeholders
Focus Groups
Hallway Testing
Surveys CONS
Analytics & Log Review
A/B and Beta Testing
Stakeholder Interviews • No understanding of “why”
User Observations • Can be misleading
Card Sort • Often opinion-based rather
Paper Prototyping than behavior-based
SME Interviews
• Feedback may come after
Automated Testing (i.e.
usertesting.com) product is already complete

13. “The Fast” PROS
Personas
Task Analysis
• Can be done quickly and in
User Interviews small teams
Usability Testing • Can show visual concepts and
Participatory Design get feedback early on
Diary Studies • Limited planning required
Focus Groups
Hallway Testing
Surveys CONS
Analytics & Log Review
A/B and Beta Testing
Stakeholder Interviews • Limited understanding of “why”
User Observations • Users may still be kept at
Card Sort arm’s length
Paper Prototyping • Feedback may be limited
SME Interviews
Automated Testing (i.e.
usertesting.com)

14. An Example: Personas

15. To DIY or not to DIY?
A user research study can be a
long, involved process.
Running a study smoothly and
successfully takes practice and
might be better left to the
experts.
But, there’s still a lot to gain by
simply learning how to talk
with your users.

16. User Research Planning
• Setting research goals
• Recruiting participants
• Logistics
• Open interview questions

17. Types of Questions
Background “Tell me about yourself…”, “How did you
come to work here?”
Goal oriented “What makes a good day?”, “What wastes
your time?”
Workflow oriented “What did you do when you came home from
work?”, “How often do you do this?”
System oriented “What do you most often do with the
product?”, “What do you like most about this
product?”
Attitude oriented “What do you enjoy the most about riding the
bus?”, “What do you procrastinate on?”

18. Good questions are open
A closed question:
“Can you find the ‘About Us’ section?”
Rephrased as an open question:
“If you wanted to learn more about this company, where
would you look?”
With a follow-up if they can’t find it:
“Where do you expect to find this? What are you looking
for?”

19. Good questions don’t lead
A leading question:
“Would this feature help you?”
Rephrased to not lead:
“How might you use this feature?”
Another leading question:
“Did you find this form easier to fill out?”
Rephrased to not lead:
“Can you tell me what you liked about both of these forms?”

20. Good questions avoid technical jargon
Jargon:
“Is there anything else you’d expect to see in the Task
Details Pane?”
Lose the jargon:
“Is there anything else you’d want to know about this task?”

21. Good questions follow a conversation
“How often do you watch TV?”
“Not very often. A few nights a week. It
depends if there’s something I want to watch.”
“How do you find shows to watch?”
“Friends, or I’ll watch shows I’ve seen already.
Sometimes I look at some websites that review
TV shows to see if something looks good.”
“Can you show me the websites you go to?” (…)

22. An exercise
Create a list of questions to ask your
target users concerning the main user
goal your product is trying to support.

23. Interview Best Practices
• Use a script
• Start with small talk
• Explain the study
• Ask open-ended and non-leading
questions
• Pause after asking a question and
after a participant responds
• Avoid interrupting, even if it’s just to
agree
• Find out ‘why’
• Record the session

24. Interview practice
Find a partner and interview them with
the questions you’ve written down.
(They can pretend to be your user.)

25. More Hints & Tips for Interviews
• Be impartial – see if you can barter services if this hard
• Small creative incentives can land you participants
• Do a dry run to practice
• Create a checklist so you don’t forget anything
• If you’re asking them to show you how to do something, create
believable & realistic scenarios for your users
• Encourage honesty
• Ask a friend or colleague to take notes for you
• Some tools can help (Excel, video recorder, Silverback, etc.)

26. What you can do now
• Jot down questions you’d like to ask your users.
• Practice your questions with friends and family.
• Go talk with your users.
Next workshop: We’ll teach what to do with what
you’ve learned from users.

27. Homework
Fill out the interview plan template.
Talk to a couple of users.

28. Questions?
info@periscopeux.com

29. Thanks!
…and thank you to all the awesome people who share their photos on Flickr:
Stephen Bowler
Eva Ekeblad
Simon Law
Katia Strieck
Johnathan Hoke
Peretz Partensky
-JvL-
Dipanker Dutta
Mark Roy
Alan Cleaver
Brian Moore
Sancho McCann
Abbey Hendrickson
"Carbon Arc"
See-ming Lee
"Fracking"
Andrea Hernandez
Courtney McGough
Devon Shaw

30. Another User Research Example:
Observation & Participatory Design
Two Samsung designers wanted to make the mobile experience easier for
older users – read what they did in The Value of Empathy (scroll halfway)
uploads/2011/05/429px-Questionmark.svg_.png
Designers Designers Participatory Designers then
asked, “How to watched older design with redesigned the
design mobile people the “out older people, “How to use”
that’s easier to of the box” using bananas manual based
adopt by older experience as “prototype” on what they
people?” phones learned
Link: http://changeobserver.designobserver.com/feature/the-value-of-empathy/11347/