the anatomy of an excellent user experience (ux)
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The Anatomy of an Excellent User
ExperienceAlan Blood
@thealanbloodspring, 2013
Thankfully, now and then, we find something that is really well designed.
So...
What makes something really well designed?
“It's reliable.”
“It looks really nice.”
“It does just what I want.”
“It’s fast and doesn't make me wait.”
“Wow, it’s really cool, and all my friends use it.”
Whatever your criteria of cool, there is a rational,
scientific explanation of
what makes a thing work really well.
Here’s the explanation:
Success in a design means that three fundamental human needs are being
addressed in a balanced way...
Those needs are:
SimplicityRelevanceOrientation
simplicity, relevance, orientation
Simplicity
The design must be simple enough at any point in a process to be picked up
and easily understood and used by the average person.
Relevance
The design must provide all necessary information needed for a person to effectively and efficiently
complete the desired tasks.
Orientation
The thing must inform and reassure the person of where they were, where they are, what they're doing, and what
they can do next.
A violation of any of those three criteria results in a usability failure,
and therefore a design failure.
too complex
lacks relevance
lacks context and
feedback
too complex, lacks relevance, lacks context and feedback
ALL usability issues are the result of one or a combination of three root
issues:
Cognitive OverheadIrrelevant Information
Disorientation
Things you can do to resolve ANY usability issue:
Reduce complexity Improve relevance
Orient the user
1. Reduce Complexity
Get the visual communication and interaction minds together to reduce cognitive
overhead.
Top Results:
- Improved information accessibility - Improved UI efficiency and effectiveness
- Improved overall structural quality of the UI
Reduce Complexity
Get the visual communication and interaction minds together to reduce
cognitive overhead.
visual communication, interaction and workflow, user experience, ux, issues with the under interface, interface structural quality, information packaging quality, information accessibility
2. Improve Relevance
Get the visual communication and evaluation/usability minds together to improve
information relevancy.
Results:
- Improved accuracy of the information- User intents more accurately targeted- Scope of the information is improved
Improve Relevance
Get the visual communication and evaluation/usability
minds together to improve information relevancy.
visual communication, evaluation and insight, user experience, ux, issues with the content, information accuracy,information relevance, information completeness
3. Orient the User
Get the interaction design and evaluation/usability minds together to address
problematic models, patterns, and ideas.
Results:
- Users are effectively guided to next steps - Information is more effectively delivered- Connection between past and present is
clearer
Orient the User
Get the interaction design and
evaluation/usability minds together to address
problematic models, patterns, and ideas.
evaluation and insight, interaction and workflow, user experience, ux, issues with the context and timing, history maintenance quality, information delivery quality, information currency
Summary:
For cognitive overhead/complexity issues, focus on the form of the UI.
For information relevancy issues, focus on the content.
For orientation issues, focus on the timing of the information.
Remember that:
The "form" of information primarily involves the user interface
The "relevance" of information primarily involves the content
The "timing" of the information primarily involves sequencing
information form, information content, information time, cognitive overhead, irrelevant information, disorientation
information form, information content, information time, cognitive overhead, irrelevant information, disorientation, history maintenance quality, information delivery quality, information currency, information accuracy,information relevance, information completeness, interface structural quality, information packaging quality, information accessibility
And, during all phases of the process...
CONTENT IS KING
(users don't want UI, they want the information)
information form, information content, information time, cognitive overhead, irrelevant information, disorientation, history maintenance quality, information delivery quality, information currency, information accuracy,information relevance, information completeness, interface structural quality, information packaging quality, information accessibility,information content is presented using aspects of information form, information content is delivered using aspects of information time
The point:
The various members of a UX team must come together and strengthen each other's
weaknesses.
When that truly happens, there's always magic.
user experience, ux, visual communication, interaction and workflow, evaluation and insight, information form, information content, information time,
UX team members bring three fundamentally different areas of
expertise to the table.
The team must assess where the skills and experience are, and then
coalesce.
user experience, ux, visual communication, interaction and workflow, evaluation and insight, information form, information content, information time, Product Design,Prototyping,Content Strategy, Messaging, Market Research, Design Strategy, Usability, Observation, Accessibility, Workflow Analysis, color principles andtheories, typography and grids,writing and voice, illustration, iconography, gestalt principles, mood boards, composition, brand integrity, design language, archetypes, actors, and personas, user interface and interactivity, scenarios, workflows, and tasks, mental models and heuristics, user and activity centered design, information architecture, ethnography, market research, and comparative analysis, ci, observation, usage patterns, walkthroughs and interviewing, screeners and user samples, measuring success, presenting results and feedback
It's at the skill overlaps that the root issues in a UX are effectively addressed...
...not by the individual UX areas of expertise.
It takes team maturity and individual humility for all UX disciplines to unify
toward the center.
When that happens, three magical things happen that can help the entire
organization catch fire...
The envisioning of new concepts led with visual communication skills
The emergence of new workflows and
solutions led with interaction design skills Gui
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Unity brings joy to everyone...
...especially our patrons!
a rocking ux with simplicity, relevance, orientation
References
http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1089108
Download the ACM pdf for freeee: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~rkishore/papers/Kim-CACM-
48-10.pdf
http://www.dubberly.com/concept-maps/creative-process.html
from dq to eq: understanding data quality in the context of e-business systems, communications of the acm, october 2005, by yong jin kim, rajiv kishore, g. lawrence sanders
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