User Experience (UX) Basics for Business

#PixieSessionswww.brutalpixie.com | @brutalpixie
Ux Basics for Business
A short introduction for business owners
and founders without any
User Experience skills.

Introducing the Pixie
lBrutal Pixie is an Australian content strategy company
lOur core concept is “connection”
https://hangouts.google.com/call/6yotwmamw6b4mho3nhlknrqxmma

lUx projects and consulting include:
lThe Location SA Map Viewer (2015)
l(unofficially) the SA Water Website (2014)
lA range of startup and small business websites

lUx projects and consulting include:
lThe Location SA Map Viewer (2015)
lhttp://location.sa.gov.au/viewer
l(unofficially) the SA Water Website (2014)
lhttp://www.sawater.com.au

Definitions
lAccessibility
lCustomer experience
lUsability
lUser Experience

5 Stages of Work
1. Plan
2. Prepare
3. Prototype
4. Test
5. Triage & Iterate

Stage 1: Plan
Planning Ux is like planning any commercial thing that
has people interaction.
lExamples include books, websites, products,
businesses.

Stage 1: Plan
Who is your audience?

Stage 1: Plan
lWho is your audience?
lKnow who they are, and the devices they use
lUnderstand their contexts of use
lUnderstand their reasons for using the product or site
lKnow when they use it
lKnow how they use it
l… etc

Stage 1: Plan
What is the purpose of your site or product?

Stage 1: Plan
lWhat is the purpose of your site or product?
lThere are 3 parts:
lYour purpose
lYour audience's purpose
lThe purpose of the site or product

Stage 1: Plan
lAudience + Purpose = Relevance
lRelevance of the product is essential, or you wouldn't build it
lCreate use cases
lCreate a relevant user experience study
lGood questions = good results
lBad questions = good results that don't help you

Stage 1: Plan
lCritical question: What problem are they solving?
lKnow the problem
lKnow how you solve it
lUnderstand the fastest, simplest way to the solution
lBuild the solution
lTest for the solution
lDon't frustrate people or make them think.

Stage 2: Prepare
Six minutes of thinking saves you six weeks of work

Stage 2: Prepare
lSix minutes of thinking saves you six weeks of work
lUse cases:
lWhat
lWhy
lHow
lWhen
lDefine what success looks like (key measures)

Stage 2: Prepare
lWork out your method.
For the purposes of today, I'm going to teach you the
method that we use and recommend for SMEs.

Stage 3: Prototype
lPrototyping is not development
lThere are many tools you can use.

Stage 3: Prototype
lPrototyping is not development
lThere are many tools you can use.
lAxure
lBalsamiq Mockups
lOmnigraffle
lOther wireframing tools

Stage 3: Prototype
lAs far as tools go, here's our preferred one:
Paper & Pen

Stage 3: Prototype
lBest practice paper prototyping by Mozilla.
Mozilla used paper prototyping to go through a lot of
iterations of the Firefox interface. They did it before they
went back to development.

Stage 3: Prototype
lWhen people click the right thing first, they are three
times more likely to succeed in whatever they are
doing.
lSo, the first stage was to limit choice.

Stage 3: Prototype Example
This is the first
prototype used
by Mozilla.

This is a later
iteration of the
same page.
Note the
increased
simplicity.

An early HTML
version of the
page.
Note use of
colour groups.

The final version.

Stage 3: Prototype
lMozilla's key learnings were:
lUse a method that lets you do fast, frequent iterations
lTest early
lBe consistent with colour, size, and resolution.

Stage 3: Prototype
lGood prototyping is quick
lPaper is the fastest prototyping method
lGo to HTML in your last stages only

Pro Tip
lPaper prototyping also works for continuous
improvement. You can use it:
lIn meetings with people you know
lIn meetings with people you don't know
lOver the phone
l… and in many other situations.

Stage 4: Test
lTypical understanding of Ux testing = $$, difficult
lTest components are:
lDesign
lTest conductors
lObservers
lFocus groups are not tests or test environments.

Stage 4: Test
lHow many should you test?
5 tests will surface 80% of the problems.

Stage 4: Test
lThere are two types of test
lTask-oriented test
lA “do they get it” test

Stage 4: Test
lTask oriented tests give testers a purpose and problem
to solve.
lWhat they don't do is tell them what they have to do
Task-based tests present a problem and ask for a
solution. Be careful about your language: Avoid using any
of the items on the prototype to describe it.

Stage 4: Test
lTask oriented tests give testers a purpose and problem
to solve.
lWhat they don't do is tell them what they have to do
“Do they get it” tests are not so directed. You still want a
use case, but the purpose is to see if people understand
the interface, not necessarily to solve a direct task.

Stage 4: Test
lExample of task-based test phrasing.
This is good:
You want red shoes.
This is not:
You need to go to shoes and put
the red ones in your cart.

Stage 4: Test
lArrange for observers. Or alternatively, use your
smartphone to record the tests.
lReview the tests with your team straight away. Block out
the morning for tests, then lunch over a review.

Stage 5: Triage & Iterate
lKnow the difference between problems and distractions
lPut them into an order that will help you test again.

lThings to fix
lSurprises with an obvious solution.
lThe first time a user encounters it and everyone goes
“ohhhhhhh”. Fix immediately.
lShort, cheap wins.
lChanges that require almost no effort. OR things that require a
bit of effort but are highly visible. Fix next.

lThings to ignore
lFeature requests. Probe deeper – usually people just request
what they like.
lYour impulse to add things. NEVER add things. More likely you
need to remove things that are distracting or obstructive.
lKayaks. If the user quickly realises they've gone wrong, and
right themselves, and is unfazed, it isn't enough of a problem.

lFix the immediate problems
lNext, fix the short, cheap wins
lRe-test.
lRinse and repeat until you're satisfied that you've solved
as much as possible.

Sometimes it's not usability
lTesting, testing, testing, and getting nowhere fast?
Maybe it's the content.

Sometimes it's not usability
lTesting, testing, testing, and getting nowhere fast?
Maybe it's the content.
lUnderstandability versus usability
lPull the content out and test it without the design

Or…
lUse a content-first method. (It's faster.)
lTest the content, make sure people can do what they
need to, and that they get it
lThen put the content into a prototype to test.

Get a content strategist on board
If you've got the time and ability to do it, get a content
strategist on board at the beginning.
When you can go content-first, you know that
understandability is never going to be a problem.

Post-launch
lUnderstand that Ux studies never end
lMethods and tools you can use:
lDecibel Insight www.decibelinsight.com
lCrazy Egg www.crazyegg.com
lAnalytics (Google/Clicky/KISSMetrics)
lContinuous questioning using printouts/paper

Beyond your site or app
lA journey has a start and an end
lThe experience starts before the user takes action (is
just thinking)
lThe experience ends at the conclusion, which is not at
completion of shopping, for example. It's at transactional
completion (receipt of product)

Recap
lLean, fast Ux has 5 stages:
lPlan
lPrepare
lPrototype
lTest
lTriage & Iterate

Recap
lThe fastest method is paper prototyping
l3-5 test subjects at a time is plenty
lTest often, don't test more
lRemember your triage (fix surprises & cheap, fast wins;
ignore requests, adding, or kayaks)
lRemember it never ends.

This is the
Help page
beforehand

Contact us
Brutal Pixie
is on a mission to improve the communication and connection of 50 law
firms by 2020. But if you're not in law, we will still help you too.
Ask us about partnering with your design or web team.
brutalpixie.com | hello@brutalpixie.com
Phone/Skype: +61 81 8121 4134
Twitter: @brutalpixie

User Experience (UX) Basics for Business

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (18)

Similar to User Experience (UX) Basics for Business

Similar to User Experience (UX) Basics for Business (20)

More from Brutal Pixie

More from Brutal Pixie (7)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

User Experience (UX) Basics for Business