UX – A Way of Thinking, Lessons from the Real World

LESSONS FROM THE REAL WORLD
User Experience
A WAY OF THINKING
Veronica Wong, November 2014

3
Prepared by Veronica Wong, User Experience Designer. Fri Oct 17 2014
Formal Definition
The ﬁrst requirement for an exemplary user experience is to meet the exact needs of the customer,
without fuss or bother. Next comes simplicity and elegance that produce products that are a joy to
own, a joy to use. True user experience goes far beyond giving customers what they say they want,
or providing checklist features. In order to achieve high-quality user experience in a company's
offerings there must be a seamless merging of the services of multiple disciplines, including
engineering, marketing, graphical and industrial design, and interface design.
"User experience" encompasses all aspects of the end-
user's interaction with the company, its services, and its
products.
- NN Group

What is a User
Experience
Designer?

6
The Gap
What the client thinks I do What my parents thinks I do What my friends thinks I do
What my team thinks I do What I think I do What I actually do

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What I Actually Do
I balance and make sense of:
▪ What people say and what people mean
▪ Customers and user expectations
▪ Business and user goals
▪ Risks, costs and beneﬁts
▪ Design and technical constraints
▪ User environments
▪ Mediums
▪ Experiments and test results
▪ Feedback
▪ Accidents and errors
▪ And many other things...

8
Skills
These skills are
not unique.

9
Before the Web
▪ Researchers
▪ Translators
▪ Architects
▪ Interior Designers
▪ Engineers
▪ Advertisers
▪ Urban planners
▪ Restauranteurs
▪ Scientists
▪ Product designers
▪ And many other things...
People with those skills became:
- NN Group

10
Problems
The problems we
solve are not
unique.

Check aisle 2.
Source: https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/i5design/6075050600/in/photostream/

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Wayfinding, Ex. 1
Source: https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/39908901@N06/7327745326

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Wayfinding, Ex. 2

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Wayfinding
Search.
Make search easily accessible. Leverage online
capabilities to help users ask better questions.
Navigation.
Develop navigation and taxonomy in a way that
leaves a strong Information scent.
Content.
Contextual links to relevant content to encourage
engagement and exploration.
Consider your product and competitors.
How unique is the application? How often does the
users use the application?
Online Implications
Direction.
If the customer knows what they're looking for, they
may ask a sales associate. They may rely on the
associate's expertise.
Guidance.
Alternatively, customers may opt to find things for
themselves, using signs and signals.
Exploration.
In the case of no immediate goals, users may spend
their time exploring.
Familiarity.
From repeat interactions, customers may know
exactly where to find what they're looking for.
Offline Strategies

17
Wayfinding: Considerations
• People may use a combination of strategies to ﬁnd what they're looking
for.
• Users and familiarity
• Their choice may be limited, e.g. Time, medium
• How you service their need may depend on what you're doing. Products
that require consideration. Request for demos. Big purchases.
• Brand vs. utility vs. usability.

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Wayfinding: More Examples
OnlineOfﬂine
• Switching workstations
• Taxonomy: specialized vs.
everyday
• Naming room and buildings
• The PATH
• Landmarks

Pull door to open.
Source: https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/russmorris/481397004

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Controls, Ex. 1

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Controls, Ex. 2

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Controls
Affordance and distinction.
Without the physical dimension, we need to
leverage visual cues to imply interactions. Controls
that behave different should look different.
Proximity.
Consider where to place controls (e.g. context,
timing) and how to group them. Be aware of any
visual noise that might disconnect the control from
its target.
Support experimentation.
Allow the user to experiment without risk. Support
undo and redo.
Instructions.
Digital technology enables us to provide timely and
contextual feedback.
Online Implications
Affordance.
A quality of the object that lends itself to how it
should be used gives us clues to interact with it.
Distinction.
Controls that behave different should be different.
Proximity.
How close the control is relative to the object gives
us an indication of what it affects.
Experimentation.
Sometimes we take things apart or play with it to
understand how it works.
Instructions.
Manuals and instructions are sometimes provided
as a fallback to help us understand a product.
Ofﬂine Strategies

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Controls: Considerations
• We rely heavily on our mental model of the world to inform us of how
things work. Our expectations are inﬂuenced by past experiences. E.g.
Skeuomorphism.
• Muscle memory. Repeated actions condition our bodies to respond to
certain triggers. We may import these reﬂexes to different contexts for
better or for worse.
• Ergonomics. Hardware should be designed to address our body's natural
movements. Software should do the same.

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Controls: More Examples
OnlineOfﬂine
• Switching workstations
• Taxonomy: specialized vs.
everyday
• Door handles
• B-17, B-25, P-47 planes
• Deﬁbrillator

What's for breakfast?
Source: https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/bcostin/3094372944

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Choice Architecture, Ex. 1
Source: https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/ianalexandermartin/8575661231/

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Choice Architecture, Ex. 2

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Choice Architecture
Recommendations.
Develop a platform for social proof such as reviews,
recommendations and ratings.
Features.
Narrow down the selection and funnel users to
featured or special content. Keep the content fresh
or create the illusion of it.
Product Placement.
Surface similar and relevant content.
Trials.
Support software trials.
Online Implications
Recommendations.
We value the recommendations of our friends and
experts.
Features.
Store displays, features and specials are designed
to capture our attention.
Product Placement.
Prime products get placed at eye level. Products
that tend to get purchased together gets placed
together.
Trials.
When introducing a new product or service,
companies offer samples or trials to reduce risk.
Ofﬂine Strategies

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Choice Architecture: Considerations
• Our decisions are based on motivation (e.g. relevance, need, peer
pressure) and ability (e.g. resources, distractions). A lot of that can be
manipulated without our awareness.
• As we guide the users through their/our goals, identify and remove friction
and barriers.

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Choice Architecture: More Examples
OnlineOfﬂine
• Subscriptions and forms• Menus
• Organ donor defaults

Make a Genuis Bar reservation.
Source: https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/mgarbowski/10467754225

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Branding, Ex. 1
Source: https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/jirka_matousek/8397348851/

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Branding, Ex. 2

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Branding
Brand Language.
Beyond the brand logo and colours, designers can
manipulate font, spacing, images, language, and
shapes.
Online as a touchpoint.
...
Community.
Social media allow brands and their customers to
have dialogues. It also gives customer the power to
initiate conversations.
Online Implications
Brand language.
A strong visual language that goes beyond the logo
and the colour an organization uses, such that if we
remove them, we can still identify the organization.
Design experience around touchpoints.
Understanding the customer lifecycle allows us to
create end-to-end service, creating an experience
beyond the product.
Community.
Connecting with the customers through outreach
and engagement programs can turn them to your
ambassadors.
Ofﬂine Strategies

38
Branding: Considerations
• Perceived value is just as important as real utility.
• Different mediums

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Branding: More Examples
Notable Brands
• Google, "Google It"
• Apple
• Nike, LuluLemon

Where's the washroom?
Source: https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/donsolo/3986739360/

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Layout, Ex. 1
Source: https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/polygonhomes/5636321780

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Layout, Ex. 2

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Layout
Optimize for user flow.
Movement between the application is harder to
observe.
Optimize for purpose.
...
Ergonomics.
....
Online Implications
Optimize for user flow.
Observe how people move through physical space
and how putting obstacles in their way changes their
workflow. Optimize accordingly.
Optimize for purpose.
Objects are optimized for their intended purpose.
Ergonomics.
....
Offline Strategies

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Layout: Considerations
• ...

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Layout: More Examples
OnlineOfﬂine
• Wizards
• Forms
• Content design
• Grocery Stores
• Ofﬁce and hospitals
• Highways
• Teapot

The Multi-
Channel
Experience.

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Example 1

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Example 2

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Takeaways
• UX is solving problems through design and deliberate experiments.
• Design thinking is not something unique to the digital space.
• It starts and ends with people.
• But to ignore the environment and the medium is naive.
• You cannot work in a vacuum.

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Resources
Using Menu Psychology to Entice Diners
Predictably Irrational, by Dan Ariely
The Design of Everyday Things, by Don Norman
Emotional Design: Wy We Love (or Hate) Every Day Things, by Don Norman
Objectiﬁed
Books
Light Reading
Video
The Secrets of our Supermarkets
The Psychology of the Supermarket
The Paradox of Choice

UX – A Way of Thinking, Lessons from the Real World

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