The document discusses how to integrate user experience (UX) into projects by: 1) Ensuring corporate sponsors understand the value of UX; 2) Using internal marketing and customer service departments to obtain user data; 3) Conducting quick evaluations of your own product and getting feedback; 4) Creating a concept model to map user needs and goals.

1. Getting UX integratedA presentation for

2. My professional backgroundSenior web designer >Digital design manager > Information ArchitectPreviously I worked for Reed Elsevier’s business division as an Information Architect responsible for the information organisation, interaction design and quality of the user experience for their major publications. Two years ago I joined Hello group…

3. Hello Group is a Next Practice agency - characterised by a wide variety of well informed practitioners who are user focussed. We go beyond a ‘best practice’ approach to creative execution and are concerned not just with what works but what can work better.

4. At Reed Elsevier I experienced a company that went from…The waterfall model of big design up-front and a linear approach to production.

5. …to thisTo the iterative model with users very much involved in the concept and testing stages of production.

6. CollaborationThe need for collaborationbetween professionals is fundamental to delivering the bestproducts. This diagram looks at some of the disciplines involved in production. A main success criteria is to gauge the culture you operate in and be in tune with your team member’s needs.

7. We know this isn’t easy….This is a project timeline for the computerweekly.com website that shows how different areas of site production had to be synchronised as development took place.

8. Userexperience is morethanusabilityHow things look (visual design) how they work (how usable, the interaction and development of functionality) and how the product answers the needs and wants of a user (aligned to the business purpose) all are a part of the user experience.flickr: julianbleeker

9. Usability tests canvalidateourassumptions……but they shouldn’t prescribe the solution. Testing need not be an obstructive part of the development of a product – it is a question of timing and validating the work quickly and changing the product immediately upon that feedback. flickr: julianbleeker

10. How did we get here?Business intelligenceAnalysisStructureInteractionSampleOur projects typically feature five phases and often require unique approaches. This approach ensures engaged users, enabling the solution to answer users’ needs whilst ensuring business objectives are met.

11. The UXBASIS modelThis is not solely user centred design, but a way of practically applying techniques from a business perspective, whilst aligning the user goals and needs, thus making a product that is successful

12. UXBASIS – UX in a boxAn aspect in being involved in this type of work is the ability to convince stakeholders that a certain approach is relevant to their business. We built a physical version of the model so our account people could take the box and discuss the tools with clients.

13. The cardsEach card describes a tool we use in our process. This helps to explain in an easy to understand way what it is, when it is used and why we use it. The cards can be taken out and they become discussion points. The ‘game like ‘ quality encouraging free thinking.

14. Poster for development roomsWe do not make deliverables for the sake of deliverables. All have a purpose and are used towards the end goal of producing a solution with real value. The poster in the working environment keeps the user front of mind and helps initiate conversations.

15. Business Intelligence tools – Heuristic EvaluationThis is a thorough and cost-effective way to look at the different requirements that a website or product needs to fulfill to ensure a good standard of usability

16. Business – Heuristic EvaluationIt looks mainly at the user’s basic goals and sees if the site supports these. It also looks at copy, visual design and interactive elements. It does not address user behaviour (how they think or feel about what they see and their actions that result from this).

17. Analysis tools – Concept ModelConcept models or concept maps are one of the most important tools for any project. Even if the project is an update of a site, a redesign or restructure, this approach allows the team to analyse what is working for users and the business

18. Analysis – Concept ModelA very simple approach to the problem here with general content areas placed next to user needs. This is a less thorough analysis but is good for getting a quick idea of the scale of a site, or the features of a product

19. Analysis – Concept ModelWhen two different user groups are present (three in this case) the diagram can be split. The alignment of common goals can be seen and those that are unique to one segment of the user group.

20. Structure tools – User JourneysUnlike user stories (used to define the project backlog in sprint planning as part of the Agile process) user journeys look at the user’s progress within a system from start to end. This would involve many use cases as they typically describe several different tasks on the journey

21. Structure – User JourneysUser journey for the use of email or an SMS for adding a profile to the website Refugees United – dedicated to reuniting refugees with their family.

22. Structure – User JourneysThis is a user journey for a Facebook application. The journey here is more focused on the functionality than the story of what the user wants to do, but it does show the flow between states, something very important when designing applications

23. Interaction toolsA deliverable that is constantly subject to change - every wireframe will be altered during the design and development phases. They are best thought of as a thinking device and are best as collaborative documents with various team members.

24. Interaction - WireframesA very simple wireframe for a simple site – Dansk Fibernet, to give users the overview of the availability of fiber optics in the user’s region.

25. Interaction - WireframesSome software allows the wireframes to be clickable. This transforms a flat page to a working prototype where user tests can be conducted before any physical code has been written.This is a standard method to reduce development costs further on.

26. Sample – Eye TrackingEye tracking really works best on completed visual designs, and are helpful in seeing where a user’s eyes rest. It effectively describes how successful a designer’s use of colour, layout, contrast and font usage is in guiding the use around a page or product interface.

27. Sample – Eye TrackingHere we see the results on a page for mobile tarif calculation on specific mobile phones.

28. Getting UX integrated – Corporate sponsorshipEnsure your corporate sponsor understands the value of UX

29. Use the marketing and customer services departments

30. Do your own quick evaluation

31. Create a concept model

32. Speak the voice of the user and the businessMake the boss an advocate and champion of this approach. Show the results of improvements to an interface before and after changes have been made. Also show the ‘live’ feedback from Twitter or other social networks. UberVu and TweetMeme are great free tools to help here.

33. Getting UX integrated – Use internal departmentsEnsure your corporate sponsor understands the value of UX