First Users: Designing for Web Developers

Heuristics for improving designer/developer collaboration

UIllinois Web Conference 2013

Jonathan Abbett @jonabbett · jonathan@abbett.org · http://abbett.org

Questions? Critiques?

Suggestions?

24 December 1990

The CONCISE FOLK HISTORY of “WEB PEOPLE” Webmaster Information Architect

The CONCISE FOLK HISTORY of “WEB PEOPLE” Webmaster Information Architect Web Designer Web Developer Usability Analyst Interaction Designer User Experience Designer Content Strategist JavaScript MVC Developer, etc., etc., etc.

vs. “The User”

1990 JAKOB

NIELSEN 10 Usability Heuristics

for User Interface

Design

2011 RESMINI &

ROSATI Heuristics

for a Pervasive

Information Architecture

2011 JUHAN SONIN Design Axioms

2012 ABBY

COVERT Information Architecture

Heuristics

2004 LOU

ROSENFELD IA

Heuristics

The CONCISE FOLK HISTORY of “WEB PEOPLE” Webmaster Information Architect Web Designer Web Developer Usability Analyst Interaction Designer User Experience Designer Content Strategist JavaScript MVC Developer, etc., etc., etc.

vs. “The User”

“Designers have to be aware that what is ‘normal’ to them, in terms of how they read sketches and what they see in them, is not obvious to others, and they must take that into account in how they educate others, and what representation they use to communicate ideas.”

“Those without design training … need to be sensitive to this difference of skills … before making uninformed judgments... [They] should do their best to gain some literacy in design representations, and designers should go out of their way to help them in this.”

A common language

Intentionality Consistency

Thoroughness Inforealism

Adaptation Maintenance Measurability

Communication

ONE / INTENTIONALITY All design choices are made for a reason.

ONE / INTENTIONALITY / KEY QUESTIONS • What user/business/communal goals are served by

each component of the design? • Are design decisions supported by best practices? • Do you understand why you’ve copied something

from elsewhere?

ONE / INTENTIONALITY / IN ACTION • Annotate design materials with references to user

research (scenarios, personas, etc.) • Refer to known design patterns, best practices, or

heuristics • Present new interactions for team critique • Simplify!

TWO / CONSISTENCY The same interactions are represented the same way throughout the design.

TWO / CONSISTENCY / KEY QUESTIONS • If recommending an alternative to an established

interaction pattern, why is this new type of interaction necessary or desirable?

TWO / CONSISTENCY / IN ACTION • Define visual treatments (type, color, layout

patterns) in one place and use consistently throughout design materials.

• Define frequently used interactions once in detail, and refer back when used in designs.

• Justify differences (see #1) • Create templates so you can work quickly without

being sloppy

THREE / THOROUGHNESS The design comprehensively represents all system states, transitions, and modes of communication.

THREE / THOROUGHNESS / KEY QUESTIONS • Does the design include examples of all interaction

states? • Does the design show transitions from one state to

another? • Has the software team agreed that it has enough

detail to build?

THREE / THOROUGHNESS / IN ACTION • Wireframe in sequence • Review materials with devs and annotate directly • Prototype unfamiliar or complex interactions in a

more realistic medium • Don’t forget errors, delays, service interruptions,

validation • Supplement visual materials with software

requirements if necessary

FOUR / INFOREALISM The design fully reflects the data to be displayed and captured.

FOUR / INFOREALISM / KEY QUESTIONS • Are designs and prototypes populated with real

data? • Do you understand the extremes of your data?

FOUR / INFOREALISM / IN ACTION • Get access to your company’s data (now). • Look at extremes of individual fields. • Look at overall orders of magnitude. • Include examples of missing/absent data. • Take time to write real copy. No lorem ipsum.

FIVE / ADAPTATION The design indicates how the system will adapt to different form factors.

FIVE / ADAPTATION / KEY QUESTIONS • What devices, browsers and screen orientations will

you support? • Will you implement one responsive interface, or

specialized interfaces?

FIVE / ADAPTATION / IN ACTION • Wireframe every relevant form factor (at least at a

high level, e.g. layouts). • Build responsive prototypes. • Identify which user scenarios require mobile device

access. • Remember accessibility! (Screen readers, etc.) • Mobile first…

http://www.lukew.com/presos/preso.asp?26

SIX / MAINTENANCE The design describes how the user will administer the system.

SIX / MAINTENANCE / KEY QUESTIONS • What data elements need to be managed? • How will you monitor system health? • How will the right people compose content? (help,

marketing, field labels, validation) • How will you internationalize the content? • What system scenarios require proactive

notification?

SIX / MAINTENANCE / IN ACTION • Design all administrative interfaces up front.

Don’t leave for the end. • Bring content writers (customer service, marketing,

content strategists, etc.) into process early. • Remember that i18n can be employed for low-

literacy users.

SEVEN / MEASURABILITY The design specifies what measures will be collected to indicate the success of the system.

SEVEN / MEASURABILITY / KEY QUESTIONS • How will product owners track operational success? • How will you gauge success of redesign over legacy

design? • How does the design communicate those measures?

SIX / MEASURABILITY / IN ACTION • Design reports and analytical tools up front.

Don’t save it for the end. (In fact, you might want to start here.)

• Define your [design] success criteria. • Refer to user goals & corporate goals.

(You have them, right?)

EIGHT / COMMUNICATION The design specifies how the system will communicate with users throughout the product experience.

EIGHT / COMMUNICATION / KEY QUESTIONS • Does the design include real & thoughtful content? • What synchronous & asynchronous events within

the application will trigger communications? • What mode(s) of communication are appropriate

for each event?

EIGHT / COMMUNICATION / IN ACTION • Again, no lorem ipsum: write real informational,

instructional/help content. • Design & test your e-mails (e.g. Litmus) • Think across spectrum: growl, popup, e-mail, text

message, automated phone call, snail mail… • Understand your users’ technology access

(e.g. smartphone vs. SMS)

Ways to use 1. Add a step in your process for review. 2. Use as a kickoff document for projects with

new teams. 3. Teaching tool, alongside other heuristics 4. Dismiss as common sense (at your peril)

With thanks to these developers and designers

William Wechtenhiser, Jeremy Hert, Timothy Danford, Chaim Kirby, Flavia Gnecco, Patrick Keller,

Patrick Schmid

And recognizing great inspiration from

Juhan Sonin, Abby Covert, Atul Gawande, Bill Buxton, Alok Nandi

Thank you! http://devheuristics.com

@jonabbett jonathan@abbett.org

References & Resources JAKOB NIELSEN: 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design http://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/

RESMINI & ROSATI: Heuristics for a Pervasive Information Architecture http://pervasiveia.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/chapter3-heuristics.pdf

JUHAN SONIN: Design Axioms http://www.mit.edu/~juhan/design_axioms.html

ABBY COVERT: Information Architecture Heuristics http://www.slideshare.net/AbbyCovert/information-architecture-heuristics

LOU ROSENFELD: Information Architecture Heuristics http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000286.html

BILL BUXTON: Sketching User Experiences http://www.billbuxton.com/

ATUL GAWANDE: The Checklist Manifesto http://gawande.com/the-checklist-manifesto

Image Sources

WorldWideWeb browser: http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/WorldWideWeb.html Nielsen: http://jakob.nielsen.usesthis.com/ Rosenfeld: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jodieandlarry/1386993480/ Sonin: http://about.me/juhansonin Resmini: http://uxbrighton.org.uk Buxton: http://billbuxton.com/