There’s No “You” In “User” Seeing the Digital World Through Users' Eyes Jeffrey Veen Partner, Adaptive Path

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Hi, I'm remodeling my kitchen and buying new appliances. While researching my decisions, I visited your site to see how your refrigerators compared to other manufactures. One of the most important factors in my decision is the amount of energy the product uses -- but I couldn't find this information listed on your site anywhere. Am I not looking in the right place? -jeff

Dear Jeff, Thank you for visiting the Maytag Home Page. We welcome the opportunity to assist you. Please forward your model number and we can send the energy rating for the model. Eric Maytag Customer Service

Eric, I think you may be misunderstanding my query. I'm interested in buying a new refrigerator. One of my key decision-making points is the energy rating of the product. I'd like to be able to see the rating of all of your models on their respective product description pages. -jeff

Dear Jeff, Unfortunately, the energy ratings are not listed on the web page. Sorry for the inconvenience. Jennifer Maytag Customer Service

Jennifer, Right. I realize that. That's why I mentioned it. It's a pretty crucial decision-making point for a lot of people (including me). You should consider having your Web team add it to the standard product page. -jeff

Dear Jeff, Thank you for your comments regarding the Maytag.com Home Page. In the future, please include the model number of your Maytag appliance so that we may assist you more efficiently. Scott Maytag Customer Service

To develop an experience that empowers users to accomplish their goals by finding the patterns inherent in your stuff. Our goal...

It’s how we get a pile of stuff...

...into a structured experience.

This includes labeling... SquaresTriangles Circles SquaresCircles Triangles

...and navigation systems...

...that are intuitive to users. SquaresTriangles Circles Ah Ha!

But! Not all users have the same goals. Shapes!Colors!

So, good design lets many users...

...access lots of content...

...in many ways.

But this isn’t always as easy as it sounds...

Ancient Chinese Taxonomy “The Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge” Belonging to the Emperor Embalmed Tame Suckling Pigs Sirens Fabulous Stray Dogs Included in the present classification Frenzied Innumerable Drawn with a very fine camelhair brush et cetera Having just broken the water pitcher That from a long way off look like flies -- Jorge Luis Borges, “The Analytical Language of John Wilkins”

Design faces global issues... Colors? Colours? ¿De Colores? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Design faces accessibility issues... Colors ???

Design suffers from jargon... ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Shapes WebBeans tm

Design suffers from politics... CEO User Excellent!???

Design must be extensible... !?!

Successful design comes from two approaches... Top-down Figure out what users need Derive mental models Focus on user research Bottom-up Figure out what you have Develop content model Domain of traditional IA

What is a Mental Model? Grocery Shopping Prepare shopping list Look in fridge Talk to spouse Walk the store aisles Does the car need gas? How much time do I have? Plan meals Look for discounts Clip coupons

Top down: Understanding your users User research may be a science, but formality isn’t required. Ethnographic research methods sound impressively scary, but we all do it every day. Research is a way of life, not a special project you schedule and do.

User Research Tips Test often –No matter what stage your product is in, there's always some research you can do Test what’s testable –Time the research for the needs of the product and the abilities of the development team –Example: Don't research label wording before you know whether the audience wants the function it's naming Avoid research paralysis –It's OK to make decisions without first asking people, just don’t make all your decisions that way –Don’t get distracted by research and forget the product Be open-minded

User Profiles, Personas, Scenarios Studies and stories of fictional members of audience segments Humanizes rigid task-based interaction Sells user centered design throughout the organization Depersonalizes product development debates

Ethnographic Interviews, Task Analysis Engaging potential users in discussion of how they accomplish tasks in the real world. Interview transcripts are deconstructed into specific tasks that map to potential features Provides assurance of feature selection and nomenclature Provides an opportunity for innovation

Usability Testing Validation of feature decisions and implementation choices. “Measures” not only ability to complete tasks, but user expectations as well No longer the domain of the “lab coat and stopwatch” crowd

Finding Users For a simple test, find 3-4 people similar to your site’s audience –Friends, family, coworkers from other departments Determine target audience demographic/webographic/psychographic Seek them out Existing user base, customer support inquiries, advertise on existing site User groups, discussion lists Traditional means: classified ads, etc. Use a recruiter: Charge per user based on how specialized your population needs to be

What Did You Learn? Did the evaluators consistently misunderstand anything? Were they ever confused? What were they doing? What mistakes were consistently made? What did they have the most trouble with? When did they look frustrated? What were they doing? Did they do the things that you had expected them to do? Did they do things in the order in which you had expected? If not, what order did they do them in? What did they find interesting? What did you expect them to find interesting, which they did not? Did they know what the site is for?

Lessons Learned Plug-ins and Flash are two-edged swords –Interactive features are desirable when seamless –Most of our instructions are meaningless jargon Users do not read a lot on screen, regardless of the quality of the writing –People scan pages looking for the next valuable link. –They gravitate to different areas of the page for different tasks Keep it simple –Many, many expectations are brought from the external Web –Pop-up windows are instantly closed unless initiated –Underlined words are always links

User Expectations: Shopping Cart

Bottom Up: Designing with patterns

Abstract solutions to common problems in context

Patterns are applicable not only to architecture, but all kinds of design: computer science, corporate organization, traffic signage and (of course) Web design

ContentItem Detail ListInputTabular Data

Prototyping Tips Try to work in the Web’s native language if possible Extremely tight iterations (daily!) serves as high-bandwidth team communication Documentation captures “What we’ve learned,” not “What I want you to do” Avoid the “handoff” – the team refines a prototype through higher resolution versions, testing frequently

Going Dynamic Prototype is built according mental model and architecture diagrams Templates and content components can go through iterative design Changes can be viewed globally and instantly tested

Benefits of Dynamic Sites Higher initial development cost, but much lower maintenance Separates operations of site from development Do more with fewer resources Inherent interface consistency benefits user experience

The Process: Before Dynamic Sites Author Editor Copy Edit Production Design QA Post

The Process: After Dynamic Sites Author Editor Copy Edit Post ProductionDesign Template System OperationsDevelopment

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