A high level broad stroke intro to User eXperience, starting with a survey, a dash of my own thoughts, some thoughts from Mike Rapp, and some samples and resources. Also some slides from a presentation I did for Great American Teach in in 2014 to 3rd and 5th graders.

1. What is UX?
Mike Gallers -
Enterprise UX
Mike Rapp -
Startup UX
Julia Lubarsky -
Vanderbilt Thought Leader

2. Who are we?
Mike G -
Psychology > Computer Science > Front End Dev > Front End
Design & User Testing > Strategy, Innovation & User Research
Mike R -
Front end design and dev > User interface design > Product
design and strategy > User testing > Information architecture

3. UX defined
(noun) short for user experience — Google
"User experience" encompasses all aspects of the end-
user's interaction with the company, its services, and its
products.— Nielsen Norman Group (NNG)
:(
ok

4. user interface
user experience
web app design
design solutions
solving problems
user research
business research
easy to use
fun to interact with
design
voice of the customer
the journey
context
images
What do normal people think UX is?
https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-H2TFYT3HL/

5. What do normal people think UX is?
feedback
testing
customer experience
IA
layout
interaction design
usability
satisfaction
brand perception
technical constraints
user needs
graphics
strategy
form & function
https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-H2TFYT3HL/

6. What do normal people think UX is?
frictionless
completing a task
i have no idea
couldn’t have told you
evolution
process flow
responsiveness
abnormal conditions
information
improving experiences
habits & needs of people
delightful
make life easier
expectations
https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-H2TFYT3HL/

7. What do normal people think UX is?
anticipation
understanding
task/objective/job
data
goals
how something works
architecture
blueprint
schematic
navigate
https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-H2TFYT3HL/

8. holistic process of your audience interacting with your product
designing useful products
the way a person feels when interacting with a product
human + system interaction
What do normal people think UX is?
https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-H2TFYT3HL/

9. a user’s experience is the set of thoughts, actions, and emotions a
person has while interacting with a thing.
UX Design aims to produce products and services that results in
customers/users having positive experiences.
What do I think UX is?

10. The UX Process
1. Understand the (real) problem
2. Ideate
3. Sketch
4. Prototype
5. Test
6. Refine
7. Re-test

11. Who is ‘doing’ UX?
UX Designers
Sales
Digital Strategists
UI Designers
Communications
Interaction Designers
Product Designers
Full stack developers
Market researchers
Customer Insights
Education managers
Developers
Designers
Product owners
https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-H2TFYT3HL/

12. Who is ‘doing’ UX?
Process Designers
Portfolio Managers
Digital Solutioners
Customer experience
Agile developers
Directors of product
Researchers
Head of product design
Mobile app designers
Brand stewards
Customer service
IT Managers
Programmers
…
https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-H2TFYT3HL/

13. So, who is ‘doing’ UX?
EVERYONE!

14. Typical UX roles
- UX Strategist/Architect (Lead)
- User Researcher
- Visual Designer/Graphic Designer
- (G)UI Designer
- VUI Designer (Voice)
- Interaction Designer
- Front End Developer (HTML/CSS/JS)
- Content Strategist/Writer

15. Samples of UX Artifacts
Research Plan:
List of questions that people
want answered.
Your plan for how you will get
answers to the questions.
(e.g. survey? interview?
usability test?)

16. Samples of UX Artifacts
Wireframes (Sketches)

17. Samples of UX Artifacts
Comps (Compisitions. High Fidelity Mockups)

18. Samples of UX Artifacts
Prototypes (Axure, Invision, Balsamiq, HTML/CSS/JS…)

19. How can you ‘do UX’ better?
• ask questions all along - challenge everything! - leadership
MUST understand & support this
• Talk to YOUR customers & prospects - have them use
prototypes - prototype with a purpose

20. How can you ‘do UX’ better?
• find out if your interface is needed (can you automate?)
• find out if the interface is usable, desirable and even delightful

21. How can you ‘do UX’ better?
Iterate over and over and over and over and over and over and
over and over and over and over and over and over and over
and over …
Obsess over your customers. Focus isn’t enough.

22. So, what is the goal of “UX”?
Create products that get used by the customer.
They won’t come just because you build it.
Its a form of Risk Mitigation! Don’t guess, know!

23. Qualifying experiences
Bad experiences are caused by unmet expectations.
Good experiences are caused by meeting expectations.
Great experiences are caused by exceeding expectations.

24. What is design and research?
Design is a way to solve a problem. Its great if you know
what the problem is. If you don’t, research is a great way to
find out.
Then usability testing will help you know if your design
solution solves the problem.

25. Things you never want to say to a
UX Designer:
1. It’s only for our internal people.
2. It’s MVP. We will design it in the next iteration.
3. The customer will figure it out.
4. It makes sense to me.
5. That’s how we’ve always done it, no one ever complained.
6. Were doing this because it’s on our roadmap.
7. Some people will use it, that’s who it’s for.
8. We need to do this to get this client, we will make it right later.
9. Our customer is (fill in the blank). Implication that there is only one persona.
10. We will do research after we figure out whether people like it.

26. (s0me) Resources
• Nielsen/Norman Group
• A List Apart / An Event Apart
• Boxes and Arrows
• Twitter/Medium
• Pinterest for ideation
• Comparative/Competitive analysis
• Nashville UX Slack
• Webaim (accessibility)
• Invision blog
• Smashing magazine
• LukeW - form design/usability testing
• UIpatterns
There are thousands more

27. (s0me) Tools
• UserTesting.com
• validately.com
• Axure
• Sketch
• Invision
• Your brain
• Photoshop
• Illustrator
• Napkins and sharpies
• Whiteboards
• Your arm
There are hundreds more
• Adobe XD
• Paper and pencil
• Balsamiq
• Mike Rapp
• Mike Gallers
• TheUserIsDrunk

28. Questions ?

29. Thanks!
Mike Gallers
@delcerebro
704-681-0447
mike.gallers@gmail.com
Mike Rapp
@mikerapp
615-400-0646
mjrapp@gmail.com

30. Notes
POs have to be incentivized/motivated not JUST by releasing stuff quickly, but by
releasing QUALITY stuff.
HAS to come from top of the house and trickle down.
Say NO more! build rapport. know your internal clients, train them, teach them.
Interview the company! What do THEY think they’re hiring you for vs what you think
you’re being hired for vs what you actually end up doing. Do you want to fight and sell
UX? or do you want to go into a place where they already know and support what you
do

31. Notes (cont.)
UX thinking is cultural, not just a checkbox
design systems, pattern libraries can be your friend
don’t ask a Sr UX architect to do UI design
don’t lie! communicate! be open! don’t be afraid!
CEOs are like scarlet witch. they can suspend and shape reality at their whim.
Use case studies for a “UX” portfolio vs just visual samples for a Visual Designer

32. Notes (cont.)
Conversations with people are THE MOST IMPORTANT thing! its not just photoshop
and sketch and envision.
VERY Hard to ‘do UX’ if you’re an introvert.
be prepared to present/sell your own work. justify every character and pixel that is
visual.
there’s an art to presenting. take an improv class. know your audience. LEARN.
PRACTICE
house metaphor - architect, electrician, city planner, brick layer, roofer

33. Notes (cont.)
Its okay not to know things!! Not knowing things is where i want to spend most of my
time.
Very few people question things and challenge. Most are doers.
humans don’t always want a better way to do things, they want to do things the way
they know how to do things.
define “good”, “better”
Try to know as fast as you can. be honest about what you don’t know!
Don’t wait for acceptance criteria!

34. Slides from Great American Teach In
(2014)
Mike G talked to a 3rd and 5th grade class about what UX
design is

35. What is UX Design?
35
Designing experiences for people.
Usually between a person and an object or
computer system.

36. What is UX Design?
Problem Solving
Graphic/Visual Design
Information Architecture
Asking questions
Designing for everyone (accessibility)
User research
UI Development
Content strategy/content creation
Usability
Marketing
Sales
Sketching 36

37. Where is UX Design?
Web sites
Phone apps
Tablet apps
Stores
Buildings
Remote controls
Car dashboards
DVR menus
…everywhere!
37

38. Why is UX Design important?
If your goal is for people to have a
good experience with your product,
service, website, app then that
experience needs design, research,
and testing. NO ONE gets it right the
first time (not even Apple)
38

39. What do I need to learn and be
passionate about to be a UX Designer?
People
People
People
39
Cognitive Psychology
Behavior
Peoples’ desires and needs
Peoples’ situations and emotions
How to research
How to ask the right questions
How and why people use certain things (phones, laptops, tablets,
ATM machines, car dashboards, TV menus, microwave displays,
etc
More specifically:

40. What is good (and
bad) design?

41. 41
Is this good design?

42. 42
Is this good?

43. 43
• The main task users have is to search for flights, and
that form is hidden.
http://www.southwest.com
What about this? Good? Bad? Meh?

44. 44
Huh? What is what now?
If your buttons need instructions, they aren’t useful
buttons.
Small dialogs and error messages
also need design

45. 45
Imagine if it was your job to
use this every day.

46. 46
Does your toilet have this many buttons?

47. 47
Even door handles need design!

48. 48
Handles are for pulling, flat
panels are for pushing.

49. What are you supposed to do here?
49

50. 50
• Its pretty clear what the site is and what the site’s designer
wants you to do
https://www.spotify.com/us/

51. 51
http://www.apple.com/
What is the most important thing
apple wants you to know about?

52. 52
Apple – then (1997) and now

53. 53
Amazon - Then (1995ish) and now

54. 54
Yahoo – then (1994) and now

55. People have experiences
every day with many things.
Our job as UX Designers is to
make sure they are positive
experiences.
55
Mike Gallers – UX Designer – Regions Bank