All posts about
UCD

End-User Development

Added on 30 November 2011 Peter Bogaards
Significant body of work on this type of software development. But what about design?

“End-User Development (EUD) is inherently different from traditional software development, and trying to support EUD by simply mimicking traditional approaches is often insufficient to produce successful results. End users usually do not have training in professionals’ programming languages, formal development processes, or modeling and diagramming notations. Moreover, end users often lack the time or motivation to learn these traditional techniques, since end users usually write code in order to achieve a short- or medium-term goal rather than to create a durable software asset that will produce a continuing revenue stream. Consequently, supporting EUD requires providing appropriate tools, social structures, and development processes that are highly usable, quickly learned, and easily integrated into domain practice.”

(Margaret M. Burnett and Christopher Scaffidi ~ Interaction-Design.org)

Goal Driven Design Decisions

Added on 17 November 2011 Peter Bogaards
Goals are achieved when certain events occur. But what are the events? In all other cases, it’s not a goal but an intention, motivation or just a task.

“There are a lot of theories about what drives people and how they move through life. It’s my belief that on a subconscious level we are goal driven creatures. There is nothing people do that can not be defined as a goal. From this starting point I designed a simple model that can help us as designers make the decisions where to focus on in the design process.”

(Jeroen van Geel a.k.a. @jeroenvangeel ~ Johnny Holland Magazine)

Alignment Diagrams: Focusing the business on shared value

Added on 8 September 2011 Peter Bogaards
Or how designers can communicate with MBA’s on strategy.

“Alignment diagrams bring actions, thoughts, and people together to address the causes of poor experience at their root. Ultimately, they are a tool to help designers have real business impact. James Kalbach shows how designers can use their skills to map value creation and use design to solve business problems.”

(James Kalbach a.k.a. @JamesKalbach ~ Boxes and Arrows)

Where Do Good UX Ideas Come From?

Added on 26 August 2011 Peter Bogaards
I would say AAPL, but that’s problably not a satisfying answer.

“Many companies struggle with the question of whether to develop UX strategy, research, and design capabilities internally, or to engage external UX firms as-needed when projects arise. Companies must forecast their need for these services on a long-term basis, and weigh the comparative costs and benefits of each approach. But is it purely a question of economics? Does an external UX team offer value beyond the flexibility and overall cost savings of not maintaining an internal team? When asked only in the context of individual projects, the answer to this question is probably ‘no’. For a single project, the rationale for engaging an external UX firm may remain purely financial. But it’s crucial to ask a broader question: how effective will each approach be at fostering ongoing UX innovation, beyond the limits or needs of existing projects?”

(Nick Gould a.k.a. @nickgould ~ UX Magazine)

You can’t save your way to innovation

Added on 23 August 2011 Peter Bogaards
“Speed, cost or quality, just pick two.” is 20th century thinking. “Creativity, productivity or freedom, just pick one.” is 21th century.

“What’s wrong, you might argue, with keeping costs down? Quite a bit, it turns out. If your objective is to design a product people want to use, or to invent something brand new, you must embark on a journey of creativity and innovation. That might seem like normal, every day business, but don’t make the mistake of trying to run your creative organization like a conventional one.”

(Alan Cooper a.k.a. @MrAlanCooper ~ Cooper Journal)

Why Mobile UX Is More Than Users On-The-Go

Added on 25 July 2011 Peter Bogaards
I love the phrase “Jakob Nielsen has long been at the forefront of information architecture innovation.”

“It’s a common misconception that UX for mobile is all about creating something for users on-the-go – users with little time, checking in on their mobile on the train or at the bus stop waiting for a bus. But today’s mobile user is so much more than that, with the rise in tablet usage further contributing to the growth and variety of their needs. No longer can UX practitioners expect to satisfy the mobile user with added pinch-and-zoom functionality or bigger call-to-action buttons; these things are expected, and don’t improve UX. So as mobile use continues to grow in popularity and capability, how can we better appeal to a mobile audience?”

(Laura Hampton ~ UX Magazine)

The UX of User Stories: Part 2

Added on 25 July 2011 Peter Bogaards
A lot of things stories can do. Make sure they do.

“Within the everyday chaos of an average design project, part of what makes stories so valuable is their nimbleness and flexibility. They can easily be ordered, re-ordered, and grouped in any number of ways depending on your current need, such as by category, priority, complexity, sprint, or whatever, and you can do this in a highly ad-hoc manner. Team members can use the same card for everything from affinity diagrams to product road maps to scrum boards and on and on. But this level of flexibility also has drawbacks.”

(Anders Ramsey a.k.a. @andersramsay)

The UX of User Stories, Part 1

Added on 18 July 2011 Peter Bogaards
Reminds me of scenario-based design of John Carroll.

“If you are a UX designer who wants to quickly get up to speed with integrating Agile and UX, there are few better places to start than with User Stories. They are both a quintessential embodiment of Agile thinking (i.e. if you understand User Stories, you understand Agile thinking) and a potential power tool for a UX designer on an Agile team. But like any tool, they can be both highly useful and help your team be highly effective, or, if you have no idea how stories work, cause some serious damage, especially to the UX dimension of your product. So, if you’re using User Stories or thinking about adopting them as a tool, here are ten tips to help UX designers understand User Stories (we’ll just call them Stories from hereon) and wield them to both yours and the team’s benefit.”

(Anders Ramsey a.k.a. @andersramsay)

User-Centered Design: A Reality Check

Added on 18 July 2011 Peter Bogaards
Definitely one of the highlights of the Chi Sparks 2011 conference.

“In the past years scores of methods for user-centered design have been developed – and validated. But do they really work? In reality that is. In practice user-centered product development is hectic and messy, at best. This presentation discusses barriers and enablers for usability in the development practice of electronic consumer products, identified through three case studies across 10 product development groups.”

(Jasper van Kuijk a.k.a. @jaspervankuijk ~ Chi Sparks 2011 videos)

Showcase of Impressive Design Process Explanations

Added on 29 June 2011 Peter Bogaards
“A common feature amongst the top design portfolio and agency websites is a visually presented explanation of their design process. This simple idea of describing how a potential client’s project will be handled from start to finish is a great way of securing projects and giving the customer an insight into what their working relationship with the designer(s) will be like. This showcase rounds up a bunch of impressive examples of how various designers have explained their design process with the aid of clever graphical elements.”

(Chris Spooner a.k.a. @chrisspooner ~ Line25)

Better together: The practice of successful creative collaboration

Added on 27 April 2011 Peter Bogaards
“Savant. Rockstar. Gifted genius. Many of the ways we talk about creative work only capture the brilliance of a single individual. But creativity also thrives on diversity, tension, sharing, and collaboration. Two (or more) creative people can leverage these benefits if they play well together. Cooper’s pair-design practice matured over more than a decade, and continues to evolve as we grow, form new pairs, and learn from each other every day. While no magic formula exists, all of our most successful partnerships to date share remarkably similar characteristics.” (Stefan Klocek ~ Cooper Journal)

Anatomy of a Design Decision

Added on 24 March 2011 Peter Bogaards
“The best designs come from not one, but hundreds of well-made decisions. The worst designs arise out of hundreds of poorly-made decisions. All that stands between you and a great design is the quality of your decisions. Where do they come from? For the last five years, we’ve been studying how designers make their decisions. When do they use outside information, such as research about their users? When do they go with their gut instinct? When do the designers look to past decisions and the lessons they’ve learned? What we found will surprise you. In this presentation, Jared will take you on an entertaining deep dive into the gut instinct of the best designers (without looking at all the gooey parts). You’ll learn five styles of decision making, from Self Design to Experience-focused Design, and which style produces quality results. Prepare to learn how to be a better designer, as Jared shares the secrets of the best and worst.” (Jared Spool ~ UIE)