Update of a talk originally given as a Skillshare workshop. Given at BioRaft Drupal Nights in summer 2013, and to be given at UX Boston in September 2013.
1. USER RESEARCH
For the Web and Applications
Dani Nordin :: @danigrrl :: tzk-design.com
2. Dani Nordin
founder,thezenkitchen
• UX Designer, teacher
and author
• Work with Drupal
teams to envision,
prototype and test
new functionality and
make sense of
complex content
models.
• 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
5. 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
6. Contextual Inquiry: Why?
• Watching a user do their work gives new insights that can’t
be gained from an interview.
• Talking to users in their own environment builds trust and
repoire, makes participants more comfortable
• Works particularly well for redesigns of existing
functionality
8. Step 1: Define User Types
• Defined by behaviors they are looking to engage in
• Enthusiast vs. casual browser
• New account vs. existing customer
• What qualities do they share?
• Age, gender, education?
• Level of interest in, or knowledge of, your service?
• Specific goals?
9. Step 2: Create a research plan
• Define a goal for the study: what are you trying to learn?
• Questions should focus on behaviors, not desires:
• How does the participant solve this problem currently?
• What do they like or dislike about their solution?
• What tools do they use to solve this problem?
• How important is solving this problem to them?
• It’s not about what they want, it’s about how they work.
10. Step 3: Recruit users
• Goal: 2–3 users of each type (minimum)
• Enlist client’s help in recruitment
• Is there a budget to compensate participants?
11. Step 4: Conduct Interviews
• Have a set of open-ended, non-leading questions ready
• Record if possible
• Take note of key insights, quotes
• Take note of ideas you’ve heard in other interviews
• Timing: ½ hour for interview; ½ hour for notes
12. Step 5:Analyze
Findings
Pull out key insights,
quotes, ideas
Note duplicate
insights/comments
Tools: Post-Its, Sharpies,
butcher paper
13. POST-UPS
A quick and visual way to analyze research findings,
organize content, and solve sticky IA issues
14. Post-Ups: Why?
• Helps quickly identify and prioritize major research themes
• Helps quickly sort out 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
• 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 architecture 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
19. 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