May 2013 Issue
User Research Methods: Has-beens and Stars
Published: May 6, 2013
Remember GOMS analyses? Pluralistic walkthroughs? Have you written any scenarios lately? When was the last time you performed a cognitive walkthrough? Maybe in grad school? Never?
Of all the user research methods that have emerged over last few decades, why did some catch on and become renowned, while others are still waiting for their big break or have declined from their previous glory to has-been status? By comparing the user research methods that never really caught on to those that have become popular, we can determine what it is that makes user research techniques valuable to UX professionals.
Hey, I Still Use That!
In this column, for each of the user research methods that I’ll describe as still waiting for their big break or as has-beens, I’m sure there are some fans who will protest, “Hey, I still use that!” While I’m sure there are people who still do use these methods, I’d bet that most would admit that they aren’t in wide use.
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Topic: Columns | Usability | User Research | User-Centered Design (UCD)
Sharpening Up Your Soft Skills
Published: May 6, 2013
At some stage in your UX career, the focus of your professional improvement will likely switch from what you can produce as a UX strategist, designer, or researcher to how you produce it. Not only do you need to master hard skills such as how to articulate a UX vision, run a card sort, or wireframe for mobile rather than the desktop, you also need to negotiate with developers, facilitate prioritization workshops for teams, and sell design concepts to stakeholders. Soft skills, the interpersonal and behavioral skills that impact how you manage yourself and work with others, can make or break UX professionals and distinguish the brilliant from the respectable among us.
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Topic: Professional Development
Information Wayfinding, Part 2: Elements of the Information Environment
Published: May 6, 2013
In Part 1 of this series, I argued that vestiges of the pre-Web, print era still haunt digital experiences. To create information environments that are truly coherent, we must view them not as books full of pages, but as spaces to navigate and explore—much like finding our way through a city or a museum. This is what I call information wayfinding.
In this article, I’ll scrutinize the nature of information environments by investigating their most fundamental elements. In doing so, my ambition is nothing less than to subtly reframe the way we think about interacting with information on Web sites, in mobile applications, and in other digital experiences.
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Topic: User Experience (UX) | Web Site Design
Augmented Cognition: A Future for UX?
Published: May 6, 2013
“Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.”—Nils Bohr
In my last column, I looked at how we could make the Iron Man suit a reality, using existing technologies. Some of the Twitter feedback and comments on that column talked about using brainwaves to control the suit, so I thought it would be interesting to see what is being done in that area.
Prediction, as Nils Bohr noted, can be a dangerous activity, but also fun: looking at trends in technology can help us to manage and prepare for uncertainty—or at least give us the illusion of doing so. Historically, in user experience, predictions of the future have been tied up with inventing it. Doug Engelbart’s “Mother of All Demos,” shown in Figure 1, being the most notable example. If you’ve not already seen this video, I strongly recommend a viewing. In 1968, Engelbart demonstrated videoconferencing, hypertext; a collaborative, real-time editor; and other technologies that we would not fully realize for decades to come.
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Topic: Columns | User Experience (UX)
4 Tips for a Great First-Use Experience
Published: May 6, 2013
It’s impossible to understate the importance of a great first-use experience of your product or service. No matter how amazing your product’s capabilities are, if using it feels like a struggle the first time users try your product, you’ll have a hard time wooing them back.
What Is First Use?
Some people interpret first use very literally—meaning the experience starts the first time a person uses a system. While that’s certainly true, there’s more to it. In my view, first use starts with a user’s initial introduction to a product or service, continues as the user learns about what the product offers and signs up for an account or downloads the product, and concludes with the user’s actually using it for the first time. Your brand and how you want people to perceive it is also part of first use. For example, walking into an Apple Store is part of a first-use experience. If it weren’t, Apple could sell products off the back of a truck and save a bunch of money.
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Topic: Usability | User Experience (UX)
Getting Your Web Site’s Structure Right
Published: April 22, 2013
The title of this column could have been “Getting Your Information Architecture Right.” But, to be honest, my guess is that the majority of people still don’t understand information architecture and the value that it brings to Web sites and other information-technology experiences. Uttering the term information architecture when speaking to a sophisticated business person or even an intelligent lay person typically leads to raised eyebrows and a tilted head—that is, an expression of perplexity—or perhaps curiosity.
While information architecture, as a term, sounds impressive, it consists of two concepts that can be difficult to grasp—even for IA practitioners and academics.
Even though the average person deals with many forms of information every day, people’s popular view of information is as an abstract idea that applies to just about anything. Anything can be information. As for the term architecture, it’s equally troublesome.
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Topic: Columns | Information Architecture
Client-Centered Services
Published: April 22, 2013
As UX professionals, we practice user-centered design—which means we stay focused on users and their needs when designing a Web site, product, or service for a client. We may spend days, weeks, or sometimes even months surveying or interviewing users or conducting diary studies or focus groups. Often, we create personas to crystallize our understanding of users and their needs. Ultimately, a Web site exists for the sake of its users. If users are not able to find or comprehend the information or functionality that a client’s Web site provides, it won’t be useful to them. On the other hand, if we endeavor to consider the user’s perspective in making every design decision, we can help to ensure a meaningful and successful experience for the users of a client’s Web site.
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Topic: Business of UX | UX Strategy
Following Patterns and Innovating
Published: April 22, 2013
For the past few years, it has been fashionable to point out faults in things like TV interfaces and interactions, while positing that innovative new hardware like smartphones and tablets would fix everything any minute now—but it hasn’t yet.
For example, I chose my television programming service provider largely based on the service’s usability and usefulness. Dish has a rather good remote and, for years, has had many of the features that popular articles insist we need to break out of our current mode of interacting with television programming. For instance, users can perform keyword searches. Our service provider even offers to connect the system to the Internet, so you can control it with any smartphone, tablet, or via the Web—and even watch TV on those platforms from anywhere in your house.
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Topic: Columns | Mobile UX Design
Anatomy of Intuition
Published: April 22, 2013
My intuitive sense must be broken. It doesn’t help me. I hear long discussions about which icon—like that in Figure 1—or layout or menu structure is intuitive, and the words just don’t make sense to me. In fact, it’s gotten so bad that my reaction to someone’s touting a design as intuitive is similar to my reaction when I hear claims that instructions are easy to follow: cynicism. They say intuitive, but I hear: “I don’t personally have any problems with it.”
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Topic: User Experience (UX)
Responsive Web Design and Accessibility
Published: April 22, 2013
In this edition of Ask UXmatters, our experts discuss how responsive Web design and accessibility fit together.
Every month in Ask UXmatters, our panel of UX experts answers our readers’ questions about a variety of user experience matters. To get answers to your own questions about UX strategy, design, user research, or any other topic of interest to UX professionals in an upcoming edition of Ask UXmatters, please send your questions to: ask.uxmatters@uxmatters.com.
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Topic: Accessibility | Columns | Web Site Design
