Intro to user centered design

intro touser-centered design

Business idea

Tryit out

Launch!

User-centered design | @rebeccadestello

User-centered design?

“Merely being the victim of a particular problem does not automatically bestow on one the power to see its solution. Alan Cooper “The Inmates Are Running the Asylum” p123



Much less funny when you think about how much this can cost.



?

Business idea

Tryit out

Launch!

Research problem

IdeateEvaluate

goal

Prototype

User-centered design!

Iterate


II. IdeateGenerate ideas

V. LaunchBuild, Measure, Learn

Design → Evaluate → Iterate

III. PrototypeProduce something tangible

IV. EvaluateDetermine ease of use

I. ResearchDiscover goals & needs

User-centered design


Why have a process for design?


A designer’s expertise lies not in the thing he or she is designing. You do not have to be a widget expert to be a designer of a widget-manufacturing interface. Instead, you must

be an expert in the process of design.

• It helps us know where to begin• It helps us keep the user first• It prevents us from omitting important steps• It's more reliable than intuition• It reminds us to iterate

Why follow a design process?


Wireframe

Ideate

Sketch

Paper Prototype

High fidelity

Good design requires iteration


Phase I: ResearchDiscover the user’s goals and needs








I. Research


You cannot design apart from the world in which your users live.

Why start with research?


First, identify users and their needs• Who is the target audience?• Who are the stakeholders?• What are the user and business requirements?

How do we learn what we want to know?


Then develop a research question• How do users do it now?• What do users want?• What do users need?• What else have they tried?• Is there already another solution?

How do we learn what we want to know?


Qualitative(insights)

Quantitative(validation)

Goals & Attitudes

(what people say)

Behaviors(what people

do)

Diary studies

User interviews

Participatory design

Card sorting

Field studies

Usability testing

Site traffic

A/B testing

User surveys

Contextual inquirylandscape of

research methodologies


for best results, use triangulation to learn about your user

Survey dataA/B test results

Qualitative research

APPARENT TRUTH


Qualitative(insights)

Quantitative(validation)

Goals & Attitudes

(what people say)

Behaviors(what people

do)

Diary studies

User interviews

Participatory design

Card sorting

Field studies

Usability testing

Site traffic

A/B testing

User surveys

Contextual inquiry

For example: Your business goal is to…

Attract prospective students who look at the UW website to register for the master’s program.

Where would you begin?

1

2

3

4

5

Focus groups


Phase II: IdeateGenerate lots, and lots, and lots of ideas








II. Ideate


2013 | Rebecca Destello

Ideate to increase the chances for success by considering a huge volume of ideas in a systematic way. One of the worst things you can do is go with the first idea that you get. Remember:

You can always come back to it later.User-centered design | @rebeccadestello

a fewideation methods…


Design mapping

Cardboard mockups

Story telling w/props

Sketching

Affinity diagramming

Intro to the UCD Process | R. Destello, T. Zeiler | UX Research, Nordstrom Direct, 2014User-centered design | @rebeccadestello

Phase III: PrototypeCreate something tangible to test








III. Prototype


first... a note about sketch vs. prototype


exploring ideas testing ideas

Sketch vs. Prototype


• You can test ideas• It brings the user into the design process

early on• Prototyping brings subtleties and nuances

into the light• Begin to wrestle with the technical

constraints

Why prototype?


• Body storming• Cardboard / foam core mockups• Paper prototypes• Wizard of Oz• Screenshots• Video mock-ups• Digital prototypes

Lo-fidelity

Hi-fidelity

Prototyping techniques


fun / cheapprototyping technique:paper prototype


fun / unusualprototyping technique:body storming


fun / unusualprototyping technique:wizard of oz

http://youtu.be/DL9cAcQ-gKQ




http://youtube.com/v/DL9cAcQ-gKQ

Phase IV: EvaluateDetermine ease of use









IV. Evaluate


It also helps drive iterations :-)

Evaluation helps answer..• If a product is learnable, efficient, memorable,

error tolerant, and satisfying • If there is a problem, “why” it might exist• If we built it right

Why evaluate?


• Heuristic Evaluation• Cognitive Walkthrough• Usability Testing

Some evaluation methods


Expert review of an interface against a set of guidelines or principles. For example, Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Heuristics:

Heuristic evaluation


http://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/

For each action a user has to take to complete a task, the reviewer needs to describe the user's immediate goal and answer 2 questions: 1. Will the user know what to do at this step?2. If the user does the right thing, will they know that they

did the right thing, and are making progress towards their goal?

Cognitive walkthrough (streamlined)


Usability assesses how easy user interfaces are to use. Usability is defined by 5 quality components:

• Learnability• Efficiency• Memorability• Errors• Satisfaction

Usability testing


Phase V: LaunchBuild, measure, and learn








V. Launch


• Product is fully developed and in actual environment

• Assess in a quantitative way which design performs better

• Helps answer “Did we get it right?”

Why measure at launch?


• Site analytics• Surveys• A/B or multivariate testing• Benchmark testing

Some measurement methods


https://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/ab-testing/

A/B testing


https://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/ab-testing/

http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/multivariate-testing.php

Multivariate testing


http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/multivariate-testing.php

If problems are in . . .I. ResearchDiscover goals & needs


Usefulness / Appropriateness

User’s performance

User’s understanding





Evaluation drives iteration


In summary

Intro to the UCD Process | R. Destello | UX Research, Nordstrom, 2014

RESEARCH, IDEATE, PROTOTYPE, EVALUATE, LAUNCH


• Research to understand the user’s problem space, goals, and needs

• Ideate to generate ideas for solving the user’s needs, and problem space

• Prototype to create something tangible to test• Evaluate the prototype to assess performance• Iterate! Iterate! Iterate!• Launch, build, measure, learn…. repeat

Summary of the UCD process


Thank you!Rebecca Destello@rebeccadestello

Technology

Intro to user centered design