UX Research The most powerful tool in your kit?

Mary Wharmby UX Design Director, Spring Studio !@marywharmby www.marywharmby.com

Presented to Tradecraft September 30, 2014

You must UNDERSTAND

a problem before you can solve it.

Who are we designing for?

What do they want?

What do they they hate?

What do they love?

When, where, how do they engage?

Who are they with?

What is the scenario?

How can we help?

Where are the hand offs?

How do we know?

Research.

Top three goals of research

understanding empathyinsight

On that foundation

generate opportunities prioritize features

inform strategy and tactics

But it doesn’t have to be really big or expensive

Research can be as simple as “people watching”

Listening

Having a meaningful conversation

Two major purposesGenerative

Conducted before beginning design. Helps

identify user goals, needs, behaviors,

attitudes,and mental models. Used to generate

ideas for design solutions.

Evaluative

Conducted once there are designs to test with

users. This can be a completed design, wireframes or even

concept sketches. Used to determine the success of

the design.

Generative EvaluativePrototype

Ideas

Insights

Opportunities

Effectiveness

Improvements

Usefulness

Understanding Usability

Two broad approachesQualitative

Gain an understanding of underlying reasons

and motivations.

Provide insights into setting, touch points and relationships.

Quantitative

Quantify data and generalize results from a

sample.

Measure the incidence of various views and

opinions in a chosen sample.

Mix and matchQualitative Quantitative

Gen

erat

ive

Eva

luat

ive

Interviews

UsabilityTesting

Surveys

Analytics

Regardless of purpose or approach, research

usually has three phases

Before, during and after

Strategize

Hypothesize

Script

Prepare

Facilitate

Observe

Listen

Collect

Group

Synthesize

Map

Understand

AnalysisExecutionPlanning

Time budgeting

Time for planning and analysis is usually

underestimated

Loose rule of thumb

Planning : Execution : Analysis 1 : 1 : 1 (at least)

PLANNING

Start broad !

What problem are you trying to solve?

Then go narrow !

What specific questions will provide insights?

What triggered the journey/encounter? What were the expectations?

What did he or she think, feel, do at different

points in time? What touch points did he or she interact with?

What people were involved? What tech (screens, devices, etc.) were involved?

How was the experience?

How can we find out?

Choose a method

Stakeholder/SME Interviews

Competitor Reviews

Observation

Contextual Inquiry

Usability Testing

Focus Groups

Surveys

Remote Testing

Card Sorting

Diary Studies

But which method when?

Focus Groups

Interviews

Surveys

Card Sorting

Cognitive Walkthrough

Usability Testing

x

x

x

User Needs Concept Validation

Usability

!

x

!

x

x

!

x

!

!

x

x

Choose participants

Who are you designing for? Choose participants that closely match your target audience.

Where can you find them? Its usually best to observe them in the wild.

How can you get them to participate? Many people are interested in helping. Or, compensate.

Formulate a planResearch goal

Schedule and budgetProblem / hypotheses

Recruitment profile/screener (persona hypotheses) Research method

Task listTesting environment and/or equipment

Facilitator script / discussion guide Evaluation criteria

Prepare your materials

Discussion guide

Post-Its or index cards

Sharpies

Prototype

Visual aids

Camera

Recorder

Notetaker/observer

EXECUTION

Be ready and nimble

The better your research is planned and executed, the more valid and useful the results.

Let participants react to your designs and not to the test itself.

Pivot when necessary.

Warm it up

Put your participant at ease - make them welcome and relaxed Establish rapport

Thank them for participating!Give them their overall objective Give them an idea what to expect

Make sure they understand we are NOT testing them Explain that you may not be able to answer questions Ask them to think out-loud as they go through tasks

Lead and follow

Start wide and narrow as you go Ask open questions

Articulate a scenario so the user can orient themselves Don’t ask leading questions

Keep the wording of tasks simple Don’t give away the answer in the task description

Ask what they are thinking and feeling as well as doing Observe what they do (not necessarily what they say)

React smoothly

Answer a question with a question (what do YOU think that

button should do?) Be patient!

Their are no wrong answers Take criticism with grace

At the end answer any questions that came up Thank the participant

Capture everything

Video the interview/encounter Sketchnote the interview

Use sticky notes to record observations and ideas Take photos of setting and artifacts

ANALYSIS

What does it mean? !

How can you make the information most accessible and actionable to team

members, stakeholders and yourself?

Create tools (design research artifacts)

!

Mind maps, personas and journey maps are my top three

Discover connections with mind maps

Start with one story then build outGroup ideas and draw connections

Look for surprises, trends and opportunities

Issues

Link to Source/ File & Inline/

URL

Descriptionof problem, how

to fix and examples

References

Correlated Issues

Advice/Recommend

ations

Comment History

Explanation/ Examples

Status(Issue Age)

Not Fixed

History

Fixed(gone)

Attempt Fail

No Attempts

Maps

HP Defined Priority

Kingdoms

PCI

OWASP

OtherOtherOther15 Others

High

Critical

Medium

Low

First Appearance

(new)

Which scans has it show

in

Category(~550)

Understand users with personas

Capture:

Attitudes and mindsets Goals

Behaviors Opportunities

Who is the user? What do they care about? What do they love/hate?

How do they interact? How can we help?

Model context with journey maps

Illuminate the complete experience a person may have with your product or service.

Visually describe how an experience unfolds over a period of time and through different touch points and channels.

Enable deep understanding of the user’s entire experience.

Highlight design opportunities.

Experience Map for Rail Europe | August 2011

STAGES

DOING

FEELING

Research & Planning Shopping Booking Post-Booking, Pre-Travel Travel Post Travel

EXPERIENCE

Rail Europe Experience Map

Kayak, compare

airfare

Google searches

Research hotels

Talk with friends

Relevance of Rail Europe

Enjoyability

Helpfulness of Rail Europe

Paper tickets arrive in mail

• I’m excited to go to Europe! • Will I be able to see everything I can?• What if I can’t afford this?• I don’t want to make the wrong choice.

• It’s hard to trust Trip Advisor. Everyone is so negative.

• Keeping track of all the different products is confusing.

• Am I sure this is the trip I want to take?

• Website experience is easy and friendly!• Frustrated to not know sooner about which

tickets are eTickets and which are paper tickets. Not sure my tickets will arrive in time.

• Stressed that I’m about to leave the country and Rail Europe won’t answer the phone.

• Frustrated that Rail Europe won’t ship tickets to Europe.

• Happy to receive my tickets in the mail!

• I am feeling vulnerable to be in an unknown place in the middle of the night.

• Stressed that the train won’t arrive on time for my connection.

• Meeting people who want to show us around is fun, serendipitous, and special.

• Excited to share my vacation story with my friends.

• A bit annoyed to be dealing with ticket refund issues when I just got home.

View maps

Arrange travel

Blogs & Travel sites

Plan with interactive map

Review fares

Select pass(es)

Enter trips Confirm itinerary

Delivery options

Payment options

Review & confirm

Map itinerary(finding pass)

Destination pages

May call if difficulties

occur

E-ticket Print at Station

Web

raileurope.com

Wait for paper tickets to arriveResearch destinations, routes and products

Live chat for questions

Activities, unexpected changes

Change plans

Check ticket status

Print e-tickets at home

web/apps

Look up timetables

Plan/confirm activities

Web

Share photos

Share experience (reviews)

Request refunds

Follow-up on refunds for booking changes

Share experience

Buy additional tickets

Look up time tables

Opportunities

Guiding Principles

Customer Journey

Information sources

RAIL EUROPE

THINKING

• What is the easiest way to get around Europe?• Where do I want to go?• How much time should I/we spend in each

place for site seeing and activities?

• I want to get the best price, but I’m willing to pay a little more for first class.

• How much will my whole trip cost me? What are my trade-offs?

• Are there other activities I can add to my plan?

• Do I have all the tickets, passes and reservations I need in this booking so I don’t pay more shipping?

• Rail Europe is not answering the phone. How else can I get my question answered?

• Do I have everything I need?• Rail Europe website was easy and friendly, but

when an issue came up, I couldn’t get help.• What will I do if my tickets don’t arrive in time?

• I just figured we could grab a train but there are not more trains. What can we do now?

• Am I on the right train? If not, what next?• I want to make more travel plans. How do I

do that?

• Trying to return ticket I was not able to use. Not sure if I’ll get a refund or not.

• People are going to love these photos!• Next time, we will explore routes and availability

more carefully.

Ongoing, non-linear

Linear process

Non-linear, but time based

Communicate a clear value proposition.

STAGE: Initial visit

Connect planning, shopping and booking on the web.

STAGES: Planning, Shopping, Booking

Arm customers with information for making decisions.STAGES: Shopping, Booking

Improve the paper ticket experience.

STAGES: Post-Booking, Travel, Post-Travel

Make your customers into better, more savvy travelers.STAGES: Global

Proactively help people deal with change.STAGES: Post-Booking, Traveling

Support people in creating their own solutions.STAGES: Global

Visualize the trip for planning and booking.STAGES: Planning, Shopping

Enable people to plan over time.

STAGES: Planning, Shopping

Engage in social media with explicit purposes.STAGES: Global

Communicate status clearly at all times.

STAGES: Post-Booking, Post Travel

Accommodate planning and booking in Europe too.STAGE: Traveling

Aggregate shipping with a reasonable timeline.

STAGE: Booking

Help people get the help they need.

STAGES: Global

GLOBAL PLANNING, SHOPPING, BOOKING POST-BOOK, TRAVEL, POST-TRAVEL

Relevance of Rail Europe

Enjoyability

Helpfulness of Rail Europe

Relevance of Rail Europe

Enjoyability

Helpfulness of Rail Europe

Relevance of Rail Europe

Enjoyability

Helpfulness of Rail Europe

Relevance of Rail Europe

Enjoyability

Helpfulness of Rail Europe

Relevance of Rail Europe

Enjoyability

Helpfulness of Rail Europe

Mail tickets for refund

Get stamp for refund

OK, BUT THEN WHAT?

Make use of your artifacts

Define and rank opportunities

Inform strategy and tactics

Share understanding within and across teams

And keep using them

Create living documents that are continuously updated

Gut check designs along the way Maintain the overall vision

Keep your audience at the center of your thinking

DON’T FORGET

You must UNDERSTAND

a problem before you can solve it.

Research can be the MOST POWERFUL TOOL

in your kit!

Methods will vary from project-to-project

!

Scope and cost will vary (widely)

But, some research is always better than

none.

Thank you!

Mary Wharmby UX Design Director, Spring Studio

!@marywharmby

www.marywharmby.com

Photo Credits

Men talking: https://flic.kr/p/zkGwh Chess: https://flic.kr/p/e62U9Z Lab: https://flic.kr/p/cW3F6C

Journey Map: Adaptive Path Road: https://flic.kr/p/4Bo5g

Brain: https://flic.kr/p/5kpAF6