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