This presentation, given at Boston's Design for Drupal Camp in 2012, talks about how to bring strategic UX to the planning and development of Drupal projects. In particular, it discusses two key methods to make UX more efficient and accurate: user interviews, and post-up workshops for working through complex navigation issues with clients.

1. BRINGING STRATEGIC UX
TO DRUPAL PROJECTS
Dani Nordin :: @danigrrl :: tzk-design.com

2. Dani Nordin
founder, the zen kitchen
• UX Designer and
Strategist
• Specialize in design
strategy, UX and
prototyping for
Drupal projects
• Author, Drupal for
Designers (O’Reilly,
2011/2012)
Contact
@danigrrl
dani@tzk-design.com
tzk-design.com

3. What happens during the UX phase
• Get an understanding of the site’s target users
• Map out how users will flow through specific key tasks, and
what information needs to be there to support them
• Find out what content exists for the current site, what needs
to be created, and how the content will be organized
• Come up with a set of assumptions, and standards that will
govern the project as you move forward

4. UX TECHNIQUES
For Drupal projects

5. Basic Techniques & Deliverables
• Market research (competition, demographics, etc.)
• Functional Requirements & Specifications
• User Personas
• Task Flows & User Journeys
• Wireframes

6. Personas

7. Task/User Flows

8. Wireframes

9. Techniques to enhance UX
• User Interviews
• Post Ups/Card Sorting

10. USER INTERVIEWS
Learn more about the real people who will be interacting
with your project

11. User interviews: Why?
• Helps separate stakeholder whims from what actual users
will find relevant
• Includes perspectives from all the various user types
involved in your site:
• End users
• Content admins and moderators
• Marketing team
• Can uncover needs not addressed by current design
• Provides important and real data for personas, task flows
and other project deliverables

12. User interviews: How?
• Define 2-3 main user types
• Set preliminary characteristics based on market research
• Aim to interview 3 users of each type
• Get client’s help in recruiting participants
• Develop questions ahead of time for each type of user
• Record interviews for later transcription/analysis
• Timing: ½ hour for interview, ½ hour for notes, 2-4 hours
for thematic analysis (once interviews are complete)

13. POST-UPS
A quick and visual way to organize content, perfect
navigation and solve sticky IA issues

14. Post-Ups/Card Sorting: Why?
• Helps quickly identify major themes and content priorities
• Tools are cheap and easy to move around
• Butcher paper
• Post-its
• Sharpies
• Allows the team to work collaboratively, which is more
efficient than working alone—particularly for complex
navigational structures

15. The Post-Up IA Workshop
• Start with initial architecture posted up on butcher paper
• Include 4–6 people, all of whom have a stake in the site
(include content admins, not just execs)
• Post on wall
• Each person gets 5 minutes to move things around
• Have them think aloud
• Videotape or record each person’s turn
• Offer help, but avoid criticism or debate during each person’s turn
• Take picture of result after each person finishes
• Finish with discussion and finalization of architecture
• Document result in content strategy documents

16. Congregational Library: version 1

17. Congregational Library: final

18. Results
• Ensured that all voices were heard, not just the executives
• Enabled discussion of pages’ relevance and usefulness
• Identified and prioritized new sections/pages that were
needed, and assigned stakeholders to them
• Accomplished in two hours what would have taken
weeks of back and forth over email

19. QUESTIONS?
@danigrrl on Twitter
dani@tzk-design.com