User Experience Design

Evolution, Mindset, and Methods

Prepared by Dorothy M. Danforth for DelVal HF&ES

About Me

Dorothy M. Danforth

President, Danforth Media

● Design strategy consultant

● 20 years practicing user-centered design

● Trained as fine artist, PDS & Metalwork

● Software programmer, web designer

● Kayaker, DIY-er, science nerd

Presentation

Evolution, Mindset, Methods

1. The User Experience Revolution

2. The Role of Research

3. User-Centered Case Study

4. Iterative Design Case Study

The User Experience Revolution

All user-facing software has a user experience

Not all software

is designed using human-focused methods

Software Was Really Bad

User Experience Design

Common Vision, Different Flavors

● Human Computer Interaction

• 1980s

• Usability

• Goal Directed Design

• User Centered Design

• User Experience Design

…and many more.

19

90

s

An Evolving Definition

…it’s not User Interface

…it’s not Usability

…it’s not Marketing

…but it is...

(Basically, we still can’t agree.)

‘‘User experience’

encompasses all aspects of

the end-user's interaction with

the company, its services,

and its products.” – NN/g

UX in 200 Words…

● “UX is community”

● “UX: An RX for Humanity”

● “User Experience is a

commitment to developing

products and services with

purpose, compassion, and

integrity”

● “UX as an approach for

organizations to add value to

what they offer”http://www.giantux.com/category/ux-in-200-words-or-less/

So, really, what is it?

● User Experience Design

● Visual Design

● Interaction Design

● Information Architecture

● Content Strategy

…and so on

● User Centered Design

● Contextual Inquiries

● Personas

● User Narratives

● User Testing

…and so on

● Empathy

● Active Listening?

Empathy. Think like a user to design for one. ..

Storytelling. Our brains are wired for stories.

Delight. Delighting users drives conversions.

The Role of Research

(or research-like activities)

What the heck are they doing over there?

Applied Research

● Its not really science

(or academia)

● Exploratory

● Insights, not proof

● Best practice methodsDramatization: A user study gone very wrong.

Design Research Strategy

Good strategies

use multiple methods

to uncover a breadth

and depth of

information

Chris Jordan’s ‘Cans Seurat’ (2007)

Quantitative

Qualitative

Contextual Inquiry

User Testing

User Testing

Card Sorting

Surveys & Quantitative Tests

User Centered, Iterative Design

(failing until you succeed)

User Centered: Case Study

Contextual Inquiry

User Testing

Design Planning

1. Design KickoffPriority

ScreensPersona

2. PersonaDefine User Narratives

Workflows

3. WorkflowsFinalize Key Narratives

Content Priorities

4. Home DesignCollaborative

SessionDashboard

5. OS&D DesignCollaborative

SessionPlanning Screens

Five work sessions

Collaborative

Persona

User Narratives

“Missy is just back from lunch and would

like to continue processing trailers that

have been “inbounded” in the morning.

Workers have been uploading scanners

as they complete each trailer. Scanner

information is automatically updated so

when Missy begins, everything is ready and up to date in the system.

Missy clicks on the application window already open to the Inbound

screen. From Inbound she clicks through to the Trailers screen to view

the status of all trailers…”

User NarrativesMissy will get lost if we

include all those options

and something goes

wrong…so, what specific

decisions will Missy need

to make here?

Narratives to Workflows

Design

Design

Iterative Design

User Testing

Research Planning

Early Concepts

Paper Prototype

Clickable PDF

Interactive Prototype

Evolved into Production

www.danforthmedia.com/ideas

@danforthmedia

Thank You.