Prioritising User Experience
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Presented at Ark Group Conference on Information Architecture, 30th September 2009 in Sydney. * User Experience (UX) is more than just the Information Architecture (IA) of a site * A good UX addresses the useful as well as the usable * Thus I will discuss why UX should be prioritised over IA * To create a good UX we need to do research to uncover the goals, attitudes and behaviours of our audience * This high level approach can then direct lower level design such as the IA * However getting user involvement at both the UX and IA levels can be challenging, and organisations often need some encouragement from UX/IA practitioners * Thus I will also discuss prioritising UX within the organisation
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Prioritising User Experience
- 1. Prioritising User Experience Patrick Kennedy Design Research Lead News Digital Media Ark Group – Information Architecture 30 th September 2009 Rydges World Square, Sydney
- 2. UX IA UX
- 4. UX IA IxD ID EA UE UI HCI XD
- 6. UX IA IA UX
- 7. IA UX Structure Navigation Labelling
- 9. IA UX All aspects of the experience someone has with, or around, a product, service or organisation Structure Navigation Labelling (Website)
- 11. IA UX Web Phone Print In-store Email Social network Website
- 13. IA UX Service Design Customer Experience
- 15. Useful Usable Appropriate Relevant
- 17. Web Phone Print In-store Email Social network
- 22. Web Phone Print In-store Email Social network ?
- 24. “ Supposing is good, but finding out is better.” Mark Twain
- 31. IA UX Structure Navigation Labelling
- 41. Design Research Testing ? ?
- 43. Research Website Email Call centre Twitter
- 45. Busy building business Scared of users Want to control Quality not rewarded No time and budget UX maturity
- 48. UX maturity Busy building business Scared of users Want to control Quality not rewarded No time and budget
- 54. Listen to the business
- 58. Tell stories
- 60. Collaborate
- 62. Be passionate
Editor's Notes
- This session will cover two main topics * Why user experience (UX) should be prioritised over information architecture (IA) * Prioritising UX within the organisation
- They're the same thing aren't they? depending on level, both of these views hold true forms of user-centred design (UCD) and similar to each other than… synonymous let's define them as being quite different from each other
- Better way of illustrating them
- A fairly narrow definition of IA of a website or other information system product-centric; user interface, the system, the thing
- Holistic UX many different factors, and many different components It's more than just the IA, it's more than just the UI, it's more than even the product itself A good UX will satisfy your audience, and keep them coming back
- We're talking about multiple touch points and multiple elements Not just the technical elements JJG
- IF low level definition of IA--one that is focussed on the interface--then you're leaving out quite a bit! Service Design and Customer Experience
- focus on the overall experience Not interface, IA, visual design, technical design and usability usability is not the most important factor So prioritising UX, making sure useful Does it make some aspect of their life easier/faster/better?
- appropriate I mean fitting a user's "ecosystem“ variety of sources from which you gather information often offline, little loyalty killing the myth of the "one stop shop“ sense check might be tasked with designing a website, yet does that make sense?
- Of course there are times when product/service can have a marked impact on people's lives change their ecosystem, change their habits, change the way they see the world people do do things differently now because of the impact of those things serendipitous "this will be a market killer!“
- Point is need to fit into your audience's ecosystem doesn't matter how pretty, clever or usable can easily miss the boat, and forget to meet our true objective meet the needs of real people in the real world just usable not enough – just IA not enough
- To go to UX, beyond IA, you must understand Who your audience is What they need What they want What they do before creating something useful and fits ecosystem You need to undertake research to find out these things
- Confusion between User research is generative, exploratory and formative Usability testing on the other hand is evaluative, validitory and summative similarity user involvement many methods similar
- research - generating insight that informs design, and strategy Who is our audience? What are their goals, attitudes and behaviours? What are their information needs? variety of methods
- how inform our UX strategy? And how doe this trickle down to structuring the IA? strategy is deciding "what to do" at a big picture level go on to the IA CLICK - need to create an IA at some point Your user research can inform each one of these
- structure of the information card sorting feedback on an existing categorisation scheme
- closely related to both structure and labelling task analysis process users follow -> model your navigation
- naming parts of your IA should reflect the words/terminology/jargon that the audience uses "taking holidays" unlearn the official language In research you bridge the gap between org and participant The bottom line is: speak your audience's language
- How do we get them involved? Costs can be high if you outsource But cut costs if DIY, Internal recruiting or Ethnio grab people in the hallway, rather than lab The approach really depends on your objectives and available resources Compensation Non-users
- Even before research, be open to feedback and suggestions from your audience website, email address, UserVoice Twitter Stop hiding phone number
- Get in front of users is relatively easy Encouraging your colleagues is somewhat harder Many people talked about maturity And user involvement is definitely one area in which this is quite evident Sometimes an organisation or a team just aren't ready to have user involvement
- IF you can sell UX IF the organisation sees that bad user experience means… Those are, of course, rather large IFs Easier said than done Even in companies whose sole business is… Dan Szuc and John S. Rhodes I'm not going to repeat, but rather I'll discuss a few tactics that I have seen work
- Don't expect respect and understanding, rather "gain their belief" You'll do this by showing you're effective make some quick wins, get a few runs on the board, prove why R equires choosing the right projects to demonstrate value and impact
- As I said before with reference to labelling, ditch the pseudo-scientific jargon and geeky terminology Speak the language of your audience Which in the case of selling UX is likely to be business and management types This will probably require you to drop the ego
- They might just tell you what they're looking to get out of your relationship Thus giving you something to aim for and hopefully exceed You may need to study up a bit in order to understand them and what they do
- products of UX very useful for (some say sole purpose) attracting attention and generating discussion Personas and concept models Stick them on the wall in a high traffic part of the office Make sure it's clear who created them and that they welcome feedback life-size cardboard cut-out personas
- They are a great way of breathing life into what can be a rather dry subject Tell stories of your success but also of UX challenges The latter works in the same way as that old usability cliche: show management a video of usability testing where the user becomes frustrated by the product and they will probably get on board the usability train pretty quickly Better yet invite key stakeholders to research and testing sessions It can be tough letting them watch but you'll need to get past that if you really want them to take you and your work seriously
- overlapping or complimentary skills and capabilities A UX "Community of Practice" good, low cost way to kick off this co-operation In many ways more effective cross-pollination: knowledge and skills, but also reputation, legitimacy and respect
- If you're boring and act like the situation is dire, then why on earth would anyone want to encourage or support you?
- getting someone with authority on board Look for like-minded or sympathetic people who "get it“ Usually the result of demonstrating value through a project but also networking "off the clock" A born networker is thus a valuable asset for the UX team