10 years of picking fights and getting kicked out of a meetings - Mike Downs shares his personal quest to define "usability." Mike will dive deep in to describing why usability is important for your websites and web applications. He will offer up pointers on how to think about your own projects with a user focused mind. Mike has over eighteen years of Internet marketing strategy and product management experience helping create, shape, and launch technology products on the Web. Mike is very passionate about how human beings use computers. Focusing on usability and user experience for the last 10 years, Mike has helped retail giants like Macy's and The Gap as well as government organizations like Tourism British Columbia and Service Nova Scotia deliver experiences that engage their audience.

3. Three key areas of this talk
• What is ‘usability’?
• What makes a good usability person?
• What can you do?

4. All of these things
• Will be told through stories about me

5. What is ‘usability’?

6. Good Question

7. Why is Usability Important?

8. What Led Me Into Usability

9. What led me into Usability?

10. I’ve Always Questioned Authority

12. Dreams Do Come True

13. What Does a UX Consultant Do?
• Another good question
• We consult with clients to improve the usability of a digital interface
• We also specialize
• I have co-workers whose specialties are Information Architecture, Content,
Design
• My specialty is Usability Testing

14. Usability Testing

15. What Makes A Good
Usability Person?

16. You Have To Give A Fuck

17. You Have to Understand Your Own Bias

18. You Have To Ask Questions

19. DO NOT EVER SAY

20. What Can You Do?

21. Testing for Usability is not Difficult
• You need to validate your assumptions
• With people who represent the target
audience of your app/site/game
• You need to write good tasks

22. Online Tools
• Surveys

23. Online Tools
• Surveys

24. Online Tools
• Surveys
• Heuristic Evaluation

25. Online Tools
• Surveys
• Heuristic Evaluation
• Mechanical Turk

26. Online Tools
• Surveys
• Heuristic Evaluation
• Mechanical Turk
• UserTesting.com

27. In Closing

28. Tip: Use Videos to Convey Findings

29. Thank You
@thinkusability
@MozStudios
@AtomicGeekDowns
@BoxwoodBrewing
@BigBusinesDowns