The document discusses how to integrate user experience (UX) into projects by: 1) Ensuring corporate sponsors understand the value of UX; 2) Using internal marketing and customer service departments to obtain user data; 3) Conducting quick evaluations of your own product and getting feedback; 4) Creating a concept model to map user needs and goals.

1. Getting UX integrated A presentation for

2. My professional background Senior web designer >Digital design manager > Information Architect Previously I worked for Reed Elsevier’s business division as an Information Architect responsible for the information organisation, interaction design and quality of the user experience for their major publications. Two years ago I joined Hello group…

3. Hello Group is a Next Practice agency - characterised by a wide variety of well informed practitioners who are user focussed. We go beyond a ‘best practice’ approach to creative execution and are concerned not just with what works but what can work better.

4. At Reed Elsevier I experienced a company that went from… The waterfall model of big design up-front and a linear approach to production.

5. …to this To the iterative model with users very much involved in the concept and testing stages of production.

6. Collaboration The need for collaborationbetween professionals is fundamental to delivering the bestproducts. This diagram looks at some of the disciplines involved in production. A main success criteria is to gauge the culture you operate in and be in tune with your team member’s needs.

7. We know this isn’t easy…. This is a project timeline for the computerweekly.com website that shows how different areas of site production had to be synchronised as development took place.

8. Userexperience is morethanusability How things look (visual design) how they work (how usable, the interaction and development of functionality) and how the product answers the needs and wants of a user (aligned to the business purpose) all are a part of the user experience. flickr: julianbleeker

9. Usability tests canvalidateourassumptions… …but they shouldn’t prescribe the solution. Testing need not be an obstructive part of the development of a product – it is a question of timing and validating the work quickly and changing the product immediately upon that feedback. flickr: julianbleeker

10. How did we get here? Business intelligenceAnalysisStructure InteractionSample Our projects typically feature five phases and often require unique approaches. This approach ensures engaged users, enabling the solution to answer users’ needs whilst ensuring business objectives are met.

11. The UXBASIS model This is not solely user centred design, but a way of practically applying techniques from a business perspective, whilst aligning the user goals and needs, thus making a product that is successful

12. UXBASIS – UX in a box An aspect in being involved in this type of work is the ability to convince stakeholders that a certain approach is relevant to their business. We built a physical version of the model so our account people could take the box and discuss the tools with clients.

13. The cards Each card describes a tool we use in our process. This helps to explain in an easy to understand way what it is, when it is used and why we use it. The cards can be taken out and they become discussion points. The ‘game like ‘ quality encouraging free thinking.

14. Poster for development rooms We do not make deliverables for the sake of deliverables. All have a purpose and are used towards the end goal of producing a solution with real value. The poster in the working environment keeps the user front of mind and helps initiate conversations.

15. Business Intelligence tools – Heuristic Evaluation This is a thorough and cost-effective way to look at the different requirements that a website or product needs to fulfill to ensure a good standard of usability

16. Business – Heuristic Evaluation It looks mainly at the user’s basic goals and sees if the site supports these. It also looks at copy, visual design and interactive elements. It does not address user behaviour (how they think or feel about what they see and their actions that result from this).

17. Analysis tools – Concept Model Concept models or concept maps are one of the most important tools for any project. Even if the project is an update of a site, a redesign or restructure, this approach allows the team to analyse what is working for users and the business

18. Analysis – Concept Model A very simple approach to the problem here with general content areas placed next to user needs. This is a less thorough analysis but is good for getting a quick idea of the scale of a site, or the features of a product

19. Analysis – Concept Model When two different user groups are present (three in this case) the diagram can be split. The alignment of common goals can be seen and those that are unique to one segment of the user group.

20. Structure tools – User Journeys Unlike user stories (used to define the project backlog in sprint planning as part of the Agile process) user journeys look at the user’s progress within a system from start to end. This would involve many use cases as they typically describe several different tasks on the journey

21. Structure – User Journeys User journey for the use of email or an SMS for adding a profile to the website Refugees United – dedicated to reuniting refugees with their family.

22. Structure – User Journeys This is a user journey for a Facebook application. The journey here is more focused on the functionality than the story of what the user wants to do, but it does show the flow between states, something very important when designing applications

23. Interaction tools A deliverable that is constantly subject to change - every wireframe will be altered during the design and development phases. They are best thought of as a thinking device and are best as collaborative documents with various team members.

24. Interaction - Wireframes A very simple wireframe for a simple site – Dansk Fibernet, to give users the overview of the availability of fiber optics in the user’s region.

25. Interaction - Wireframes Some software allows the wireframes to be clickable. This transforms a flat page to a working prototype where user tests can be conducted before any physical code has been written. This is a standard method to reduce development costs further on.

26. Sample – Eye Tracking Eye tracking really works best on completed visual designs, and are helpful in seeing where a user’s eyes rest. It effectively describes how successful a designer’s use of colour, layout, contrast and font usage is in guiding the use around a page or product interface.

27. Sample – Eye Tracking Here we see the results on a page for mobile tarif calculation on specific mobile phones.

29. Use the marketing and customer services departments

30. Do your own quick evaluation

31. Create a concept model

32. Speak the voice of the user and the businessMake the boss an advocate and champion of this approach. Show the results of improvements to an interface before and after changes have been made. Also show the ‘live’ feedback from Twitter or other social networks. UberVu and TweetMeme are great free tools to help here.

34. Use the marketing and customer services departments

35. Do your own quick evaluation

36. Create a concept model

37. Speak the voice of the user and the businessThey will have information that will be useful regarding audience behaviour, product usage, requests and complaints. They should also have research that you can use in offering the users what they want and need.

39. Use the marketing and customer services departments

40. Do your own quick evaluation

41. Create a concept model

42. Speak the voice of the user and the businessDownload our form to use on your own site and see what issues occur from your own experience and ask colleagues and friends to see if they experience the same issues. The more serious the problem the quicker it needs to be resolved.

44. Use the marketing and customer services departments

45. Do your own quick evaluation

46. Create a concept model

47. Speak the voice of the user and the businessThink about the needs and wants of your users and have this visible in your office or workspace. It will be a map for you and your team to navigate, to reach the desired destination (and will develop over time). It will provide inspiration and motivation.

49. Use the marketing and customer services departments

50. Do your own quick evaluation

51. Create a concept model

52. Speak the voice of the user and the businessYou carry the responsibility of running the teams that builds a quality product that people will use, enjoy and recommend to others. The most important part of getting UX integrated into large projects is face time with the team and remembering who we build for.

53. Thank you for listening Find out more on uxbasis.com Or follow us on Twitter: @uxbasis @hellogroup