UX Design Tools

Selecting UX Design Tools

Q: What capabilities and attributes should you consider when selecting a UX design tool?—from a UXmatters reader

“When selecting a UX design tool,” answers Whitney, “think about the following:

• time—Are you at the beginning of a project, in the midst of design iterations, or wrapping up?

• people—How can you get access to participants? How much time will you have with them?

• goals—What are the usability or design problems that you are trying to solve?

• resources—What budget, staff, time, and facilities do you have available?

“If you are clear about the answers to these questions,” continues Whitney, “it becomes a lot easier to sort through the available tools and choose the one that will fit into your project best. For example, I would consider all of the following UX research or usability tools:

• five-second tests—to get quick input on users’ first reactions to presentation design
• remote usability tests with no moderator—to learn about success rates for a few key activities
• moderated, remote usability tests—to reach participants in different locations
• usability tests in your lab—to let the product team observe sessions
• visits to users’ location—to learn about their context
• diary studies—to understand usage over time

“But all of these tools answer different questions and fit into a project differently. They are all valuable, but have different advantages and constraints. With all that said for the first question, the remaining questions in this column are really asking about UX tools that fit into fast-moving projects.”

Design Tools for Lean UX

Q: What UX design tools are critical to facilitating lean UX?—from a UXmatters reader

“Rapid prototyping and presumptive design are the closest I’ve seen to a standard toolkit for lean UX,” replies Leo. “While we can argue the nuances of lean UX, presumptive design is inherently lean;

• It is rapid, requiring the minimum effort necessary to elicit user reactions.
• It requires only low effort for maximal output.
• There is little in the way of waste.”

“For usability testing,” responds Whitney, “the ‘Rocket Surgery’ approach that Steve Krug describes in his book is a great solution: fewer participants, everyone watches, immediate decisions, fix the problems, and do it again. Combine fast tests within sprints with user research that looks at the product and the users’ context more broadly.”

Tools for the Later Stages of a Project

Q: When you are assigned to a design project at a later stage in a development cycle, what tools can help you to make the best of your available time?—from a UXmatters reader

“This question covers a wide field,” answers Tobias. “But, because I’ve just given a Webinar on this topic in relation to user interface design, I’ll focus solely on tools that enable you to assess the current state of screen-level designs for a user interface on which a client has requested your help. My reply won’t answer the question of whether you’re designing the right product—but it will help answer the question of whether you’re building the product in the right way. I’ll assume that, when you’re brought in late in the game, screens have already been designed. All of the following tools are available online and are free:

• Colors on the Web’s Color Contrast Analyzer—This tool lets you check for color-contrast issues—even when you’re not designing a Web site, so it doesn’t need to comply with WCAG or Section 508.
• Vischeck—With this tool, you can check for color-perception issues.
• Eric Puidokas’ Grid Fox—Use this tool to check whether a layout is consistent, and if it’s not, use Grid Fox to create a grid-based design.
• Feng-GUI—This tool lets you see what screen areas draw the most visual attention and compare the results to where you actually want users to look. This site employs a SAS model, but you can get one heatmap a day for free.

“Before you continue someone else’s design effort or start redesigning things, these tools will allow you to see where things currently stand with the product under development.”

“When we find ourselves being asked to contribute to a development effort late in the game,” replies Leo, “we quickly need to assess the following: What are the highest risks? What areas would most benefit from UX design? Where should we cut bait? Once again, using the presumptive design method, we can quickly assess the state of a project, get user reaction to proposed designs and feedback on desired designs, and so forth. With this information in hand, we can redirect our design efforts wherever necessary and possible, provide risk assessments to management, and inform marketing where the user experience will likely fall short.”