On September 17, 2018, Peter McNally presented the following talk to the Cardinals Startup club at Catholic University of America. The user experience is a key aspect for startups as much of business today is conducted online. Senior User Experience consultant Peter McNally discussed why a good experience is not only good for your business, but important from a Catholic viewpoint. Moreover, Peter provided some practical techniques and tips for entrepreneurs to consider when thinking about how to design products and interact with customers in the digital world.

1. DOING GOOD IN THE DIGITAL
WORLD
FOR ENTREPRENEURS…A CATHOLIC POINT OF VIEW
Peter McNally
September 17, 2018
Cardinal Startups
The Catholic University of America

2. THOUGHTS
• What are some of your innovative business ideas?
• You don’t have to give away any secrets?...
•Do they involve a digital or online component?
• Today, does anything not involve a digital or online
component?

3. ABOUT ME
• Pete McNally, User Experience (UX)
Consultant
• Current: User Experience Center
at Bentley University Bentley.edu/uxc
• Past: 3M, HP, CSC
• MS, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)
• BS, Northeastern University
• Catholic

4. FIRST AN EXAMPLE
• Arrived in area with my family on Friday
• We wanted to take the metro from VA into DC on Saturday
• Last time in DC got 4 SmarTrip cards for each family member
• Goal: Add $10 to each family member’s SmarTrip Card.
• My assumption: this should be fairly straightforward on
https://www.wmata.com/

5. • Have 4 cards for each family member in my account

6. • Have $10.15 and want to add $10 more.
• Click Add Value to start my process

7. • Next, I change 20 to10 and click the Add button
• Then I click Shopping Cart

8. • Added $10 on the first card. So far so good…
• Need to add $ on the other cards… guess I need to click
on Continue Shopping…

9. • Back on the Add Products page.
• Don’t see any way to add $ on other cards, so I must have
to go to Manage Account.

10. • Select another card to add money to.

11. • On second card, what happened?

12. • On second card, what happened?

13. • Shopping cart
was emptied
• Must pay for
each SmarTrip
card separately.
• 4 credit card transactions
for my family.
• Not efficient.
• No big deal, but should
have been 1 transaction.

14. WMATA EXAMPLE
• Poor User Experience (UX)
• Not malicious
• Probably never thought and designed for the case of one person adding
value for multiple cards.
• Caused slight frustration…others examples may be worse
• As entrepreneurs, what can you do to create a great experience and let
your faith shine through your digital brand?

15. USER EXPERIENCE DEFINITION
• Every aspect of the user's interaction with a product, service, or company
that make up the user's perceptions of the whole.
• User experience design as a discipline is concerned with all the elements that
together make up that interface, including layout, visual design, text, brand, sound,
and interaction. UX works to coordinate these elements to allow for the best possible
interaction by users.
(UX Professional Association)

16. CATHOLIC TEACHING AND UX
• What does Catholic Church say about UX?
• Nothing (but Everything) (some examples: The Ten Commandments,
The Gospels…)
• Nothing specific on UX, other examples have some relevance:
• Laudato Si’
• Catholic Social Doctrine
• Writing/Examples of the saints

17. LAUDATO SI’
•2015 Encyclical letter from Pope Francis – On Care for Our
Common Home.
•Primarily focuses on our impact on the environment, but
relates to all human activity and the legacy it leaves, for
example technology.
•http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/doc
uments/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-
si.html

18. LAUDATO SI’
Paragraph 107:
…We have to accept that technological products are not neutral, for they create a
framework which ends up conditioning lifestyles and shaping social possibilities along
the lines dictated by the interests of certain powerful groups. Decisions which may
seem purely instrumental are in reality decisions about the kind of society we want to
build.
- Pope Francis
ENCYCLICAL LETTER LAUDATO SI’ ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME

19. LAUDATO SI’
• God has given us the talents to develop technology (and
associated processes, products, services).
• We have free will on how we use (and design) technology.
• The appropriate use of technology in society depends on us
making the right decisions.
• Given our dependence on technology we have much responsibility
to impact society.

20. CATHOLIC SOCIAL DOCTRINE
• Human Dignity
• Solidarity
• Subsidiarity
• Common Good
Force for Good, The Catholic Guide to Business Integrity, Brian Engelland
https://www.sophiainstitute.com/products/item/force-for-good

21. CATHOLIC SOCIAL DOCTRINE
• Human Dignity
• People-first
• We are all created in image and likeness of God
• We all have transcendent dignity
• Well-being of the individual is the first priority
• Human-Centered Design - People should easily accomplish their
goals

22. CATHOLIC SOCIAL DOCTRINE
• Solidarity
• Teamwork of important relationships
• Among our family and the community
• Community should mean our customers
• If we treat our customers right…they will treat the business
right.

23. CATHOLIC SOCIAL DOCTRINE
• Subsidiarity
• Personal responsibility resides with the “lowest” level,
e.g., the customer.
• Customers should feel in control of their experience
and make the right decision for themselves.

24. CATHOLIC SOCIAL DOCTRINE
• Common Good
• The business’ goods and services should have the
best impact for the broadest community
• Good design for all even if we have different
abilities.

25. HOW TO APPLY
•UX Principles
•Accessibility

26. UX PRINCIPLES
• Catholic Social Doctrine: Human Dignity, Solidarity,,
Subsidiarity
• Engage early with customers (Part 1)
• Design for customers
• Speak customers’ language
• Help customers find their way
• Engage early with customers (Part N…)

27. ENGAGE EARLY WITH CUSTOMERS (PART 1)
• Talk to your (potential) customers before you start designing
anything.
• Do you really understand their goals?
• Do they want to put $ on 1 card or more than 1 card?
• If you are replacing a manual/non-digital process do you
understand their current motivations and frustrations?
• Observe them doing their current process
• Once you start design get feedback from your customers as often
as possible.

28. DESIGN FOR CUSTOMERS
•Don’t force customers to have to understand your world.
•You should approach design from your customers point of
view.
• They will have an easier time (less learning)
•Do customers need to be exposed to your internal business
processes?
• Answer should be NO!

29. SPEAK CUSTOMERS’ LANGUAGE
•All text, copy, and messages should be clear and not in
industry/corporate jargon.
•Use plain language
•Menu choices should be clear and known to your users
•When errors occur make sure your error messages make
sense and offer a solution.

30. HELP CUSTOMERS FIND THEIR WAY
•Customers should know what to expect (next step in the
process) as they use your design/product/service
•Provide a way to save work if a break is needed.
•Customers should not have remember what they did in
previous steps. They are using a computer after all.

31. ENGAGE EARLY WITH CUSTOMERS (PART N…)
• Once you design something… Don’t need to code anything.
• Can use mock-ups.
• Sit down 1:1 with some customers for a few minutes.
• Show them your design.
• Ask them to complete a task.
• Don’t tell how to do anything.
• Watch what they do and what they say. (Active Listening)
• No wrong answers.
• Update design. Usability
Testing
Empathy

32. ENGAGE EARLY WITH CUSTOMERS (PART N…)
https://www.bentley.edu/centers/user-experience-
center/facilities#UXCLabs

33. ST. TERESA BENEDICTA OF THE CROSS (EDIT STEIN)
• St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross has a lot to say about empathy
• Empathy: (Wikipedia: understand or feel what another person is
experiencing from within their frame of reference)
• Aleteia article
• https://aleteia.org/2017/08/13/4-ways-to-develop-empathy-according-
to-edith-stein/
“As for what concerns our relations with our fellow men, the anguish in our
neighbor's soul must break all precept. All that we do is a means to an end, but
love is an end in itself, because God is love.”

34. HOW TO APPLY
•UX Principles
•Accessibility

35. ACCESSIBILITY
• Key part of a good User Experience
•Giving people with disabilities the ability to use
technology
•Giving all the ability to access products and
services
•Today, no alternative – digital is the only way

36. ACCESSIBILITY
• Why?
• Catholic Social Doctrine: Human Dignity, Common Good
• Good business.
• As a business why would you not want to get new or retain
customers?
• By not looking at accessibility you are leaving money on
the table…

37. ACCESSIBILITY
• 61 million (26%) in US have disability.
• https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/infographic-disability-impacts-all.html
• Globally about 1 billion have a disability.

38. ACCESSIBILITY
• But when we talk about disabled people who are
really taking about?
• Vision
• Hearing
• Dexterity
• Mobility
• Cognitive
• Older people (> age 50)
• Spend close to 70 million online
• Others… (e.g., Veterans)

39. ACCESSIBILITY RECOMMENDATIONS
• Think about accessibility as early as possible in the design process:
• Quality Assurance (QA)/Testing it in will not be good enough.
• Get familiar with WCAG 2.1 and Section 508 (Federal Government)
• Start off focusing on a few key areas.
• Keyboard.
• Video captions.
• Use of color.
• Mobile – Ensure all buttons/icons are big enough and far enough apart for good
"tapability".
• 10mm x 10mm with 2mm between buttons/icons.

40. ACCESSIBILITY RECOMMENDATIONS
•Keyboard access
• Make all functionality available from a keyboard.
• Can you navigate each page (all navigation elements and all data entry forms) with the
keyboard only?
• Careful with pop-ups and dialog boxes.
• This benefits people with motor/dexterity disabilities and visually
impaired users.
• Screen readers are based on keyboard navigation.

41. ACCESSIBILITY RECOMMENDATIONS
•Video Captions
• Videos must have correct captions
for deaf and hard of hearing.
• Do not rely on YouTube default
captions!
• Also benefits others
(0:33) “We treat every
customer the same way, just like
family…”

42. ACCESSIBILITY RECOMMENDATIONS
•Use of color
• Color blindness
• Color contrast
• Print out without color. Is meaning still conveyed?

43. A SHORT VIDEO
•EBSCO
•Integrating accessibility into the User Experience
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVexCo6N8p4&feature=youtu.be

44. IN SUMMARY
• Think about Catholic Social Doctrine during design
• Human Dignity
• Human-Centered Design - Customers should easily accomplish their goals.
• Solidarity
• If we treat our customers right…they will treat the business right.
• Subsidiarity
• Customers should feel in control of their experience and make the right decision for themselves.
• Common Good
• Good design for all customers even if they have different abilities.

45. FOR MORE INFORMATION
UX
• DC Chapter of the UXPA (UX Professional Association)
• http://www.upa-dc-metro.org/
• UXPA
• https://uxpa.org/resources/about-ux
• Bentley UX Certificate program (online option)
• https://www.bentley.edu/centers/user-experience-center/certificate-program/certificate-
program
• Bentley MS HFID (Human Factors in Information Design) (online option)
• https://admissions.bentley.edu/graduate/masters-in-human-factors

46. FOR MORE INFORMATION
UX
• Plain language guidelines. From federal government,
but can be applied to business
• https://www.plainlanguage.gov/guidelines/
• The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman
• https://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Revised-
Expanded/dp/0465050654#reader_0465050654

47. FOR MORE INFORMATION
Accessibility
• WebAim (A good intro)
• https://webaim.org/articles/
• IAAP (International Association of Accessibility Professionals)
• https://www.accessibilityassociation.org/
• ICT Accessibility Testing Symposium (11/5-8)
• November 5-6 – Introduction training on accessibility testing
• https://www.ictaccessibilitytesting.org/

48. PRAYER TO SAINT ISIDORE (PATRON SAINT OF INTERNET)
BISHOP OF SEVILLE, 7TH CENTURY
Almighty and eternal God, who created us in Thy image and bade
us to seek after all that is good, true and beautiful, especially in the
divine person of Thy only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, grant
we beseech Thee that, through the intercession of Saint Isidore,
bishop and doctor, during our journeys through the internet we will
direct our hands and eyes only to that which is pleasing to Thee and
treat with charity and patience all those souls whom we encounter.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen

49. THANK YOU!
Questions?
Peter McNally
Email: pmcnally@Bentley.edu
Twitter: @pmcnallyux
User Experience Center
Bentley University
Waltham, MA 02452

50. Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Attribution-NotCommercial 4.0 International