All posts about
User experience

User experience is about how a person feels about using a product, system or service. (source: Wikipedia)

Why investment in Design is the only way to ‘Win’ in education

Added on 17 September 2014 Peter Bogaards

It used to be called educational technology or instructional design, but design for learning experiences might now be a better label.

“Design describes the quality of an experience as it relates to aesthetics, emotions, pleasure, usability, and cognition. We typically think of design as a forgivable attribute, and we overlook products or services that are hard to use, confusing, demanding, degrading, and downright ugly as long as that payoff is still delivered. The payoff of rapid air travel is so great that we’ll forgive uncomfortable (and potentially physically dangerous) seats, loud noise, an unpredictable cabin climate, long lines, poor service, and so-on. These are design attributes. We can design better experiential qualities for air travel, fixing the seats, the line, and the service, but why would a company bother with the expense if consumers are singly motivated by the payoff?”

(Jon Kolko a.k.a. @jkolko ~ UX Magazine)

UX for healthcare: What you need to know before you start

Added on 17 September 2014 Peter Bogaards

Patient, customer, user, employee, student, citizen. All human actors in specific contexts with their (digital) experiences.

“Healthcare is a new hot topic in software development, which means that user experience designers are getting more requests for designing and conducting research for medical applications. Working on something that will help patients manage a chronic disease, administer the correct dose of medication, or communicate more effectively with their healthcare provider can be very rewarding. However, there are many unique issues to be aware of before starting the design and development of a medical application or device.”

(Amy Willis ~ User Experience Magazine 14.3)

UX maturity model: From usable to delightful

Added on 17 September 2014 Peter Bogaards

I don’t think most organizations have two decades to reach the highest level. As Jakob once suggested.

“The output of a UXMM assessment is a numeric score between 0 and 100. Higher scores indicate greater UX quality of the product. A minimum required benchmark score is also generated based on the context of the application. The actual score is compared with the benchmark score to determine if the application passes or fails that assessment level. The benchmark score is calculated through a benchmarking exercise based on a predefined questionnaire to be filled for the application that is being assessed.”

(Prachi Sakhardande a.k.a. @sugarprachi and Rajiv Thanawala ~ User Experience Magazine 14.3)

Defining user experience strategy

Added on 5 September 2014 Peter Bogaards

Different ways to define UX strategy with canvas or blueprint. A new #DTDT is born. We had a ‘There is no such thing as…’ before.

“UX strategy isn’t the blueprint, canvas, or definition you use. UX strategy is about the conversations you have and the alignment you achieve. As you start hacking your own approach to UX strategy, it’s good to remember two key elements: change and context.”

(Austin Govella a.k.a. @austingovella ~ AGUX)

How to create great UX documents

Added on 3 September 2014 Peter Bogaards

‘Document’ is so much better than ‘deliverable’ as a label. UX documents are information objects and need to be designed as such: comprehensive, attractive and understandable.

“Like all good usability professionals I’m sure that you’ve previously carried out usability testing on a design, or perhaps watched usability testing sessions taking place. But have you ever usability tested a document? Why not? In the same way that usability testing will give an indication of how usable and appropriate a design is, it can also do the same for a document.”

(Neil Turner a.k.a. @neilturnerux ~ UX for the masses)

Breaking up with the user in user experience strategy?

Added on 3 September 2014 Peter Bogaards

And all this because business has discovered experience as a significant and distinctive feature. Next, they’ll have to discover design.

“(…) many of the people attending CX conferences and subscribing to CX publications aren’t necessarily practitioners, but businesspeople whose organizations have, in some way, given them experience-related responsibilities and who must purchase consulting services to fulfill them. If we badge ourselves as strategists of any stripe in the field of experience, these are the people we need to be talking to.”

(Ronnie Battista ~ UXmatters)

Service Design: Pushing us beyond the familiar

Added on 27 August 2014 Peter Bogaards

You’ve been living under a rock if you haven’t notice the growth of the service design community. Or you’re not doing anything related to experience design.

“Service design is an extension of digital UX design. Most of today’s user experience work is done on some sort of digital device. It involves an application or web site. Solutions involve moving bits around on a display. (…) As UX professionals, we need the skills and techniques of service design in our toolkit. Acquiring them will push us beyond what’s familiar to us. And that’s a good thing.”

(Jared Spool a.k.a. @jmspool)

The difference between UX and UI design: A layman’s guide

Added on 25 August 2014 Peter Bogaards

No knowledge required to really understand the delta?

“We’ve all overheard conversations, walking down hip streets of the world’s tech capitals, discussions about the great UX of a product, or the poor UI of a website. Is it a secret language you will never be privy to? Are these people just using slang to look cool?Well, ok probably yes to the latter, but a determinate NO to the rest. Read on to learn what these terms mean, which jobs are better paid, and how to become a UX or UI designer.”

(Emil Lamprecht a.k.a. @EmilLamprecht ~ Career Foundry)

UX in an Agile process

Added on 22 August 2014 Peter Bogaards

Examples are great, but in the end we need more abstraction from all of them.

“Originally, the field of usability and interaction design was slow, cumbersome and costly. These were some of the reasons that it was not adopted very fast among practitioners. However, recent years a lot of the methods and techniques have been adapted to better fit the fast moving development processes that are predominant in software companies today. But what do you do when you can’t include users because of NDAs? How do you handle the fierce security demands, that are part of your project? Does your customer really know their users, or do they only think they do? And when you have a deadline, how do you avoid UI slowing your progress? This talk is a case story of how UX was included in the agile development process that resulted in the first Danish mobile bank app: Danske Banks mobile banking app. “

(Janne Jul Jensen a.k.a. @jjjtrifork ~ GOTO Conference 2014)

The next UX revolution: Transforming stodgy enterprise applications into engaging experiences

Added on 21 August 2014 Peter Bogaards

Zeitgeist: IBM and Apple showed the way.

“Businesses are starting to realize the potential of good UX. With a substantial percentage of the workforce retiring in the next three to five years, organizations need software for a new wave of workers—business software that works like the apps they use at home. Our customers who have already adopted Infor’s new UX are seeing lower turnover rates, less training time, and more satisfaction among their workers. They tell us they’re hungry for more. And we’re getting ready to deliver.”

(Marc Scibelli ~ UX Magazine)

Brand experience: There’s no app for that

Added on 21 August 2014 Peter Bogaards

Challenging the UX way of thinking from a marketing and branding perspective.

“In his opening keynote Thomas Marzano challenges the HCI community to think about Brand Experience instead of User Experience. Tapping from his experience with the new Philips Brand, he will demonstrate us how a company should approach its brand in a holistic way and thus create a better and deeper felt brand differentiation. Thomas firmly believes that putting people at the centre of imagination is the only sustainable way of creating meaningful experiences.”

(Thomas Marzano a.k.a. @ThomasMarzano ~ Chi Sparks 2014 videos)

UX strategy blueprint

Added on 13 August 2014 Peter Bogaards

First level of abstraction: a blueprint. Kind of a template.

“Once all of the elements have been agreed on, consolidate the strategy. A good, succinct strategy should only be about two pages long. Give it multiple forms to illustrate your intent to different audiences. Create a presentation, document and a graphic, as needed. Share the strategy as often as possible. It’s hard to over communicate: print it out, hang it up, start every meeting with your strategy slide, use it as dummy text in wireframes instead of lorum ipsum. Reiterate. Developing strategy is a craft, one that involves exploration and choice but also systematic thinking. The UX Strategy Blueprint helps you see all the moving parts in a single overview. In doing so, it simplifies strategy, making an abstract concept more tangible for all involved.”

(James Kalbach a.k.a. @jimkalbach ~ Experiencing Information)

What is the relationship between HCI research and UX practice?

Added on 12 August 2014 Peter Bogaards

HCI evolved into UX, but is still in need of theory (a.k.a. ideas), research, and design.

“It is perhaps through effectively communicating the outcomes of academic HCI’s explorations of future interactive technologies that academia can offer the greatest value to UX professionals working in industry. Many UX professionals do not have the luxury of time that would enable them to look beyond immediate requirements. But doing research with a broader focus is common in academia.”

(Stuart Reeves ~ UX matters)

Breaking web design conventions is breaking the user experience

Added on 21 July 2014 Peter Bogaards

De facto standards are still standards, if you like it or not.

“(…) the reality is that too often, resources are spent on making the site look great or creating an innovative widget, and usability is neglected until the very end of development (if it’s even ever looked at). Ideally, you’ll be doing testing throughout the project, be it testing your information architecture, creating and testing wireframes and paper prototypes, and conducting usability tests with real users on all the devices that you’re targeting with your design, all with enough time before the launch so that you can iterate your designs and test them again.”

(Katie Sherwin a.k.a. @kwsherwin ~ Nielsen Norman Group)

Enabling a career shift from User Experience to Service Design

Added on 24 June 2014 Peter Bogaards

People following the evolution of the practice and discipline.

“To shift from doing digital UX design to doing service design, you need to be unremorsefully analytical and inquisitive. Questioning the value and the context of what you’re doing represents a great first step toward broadening the scope of your work.”

(Laura Keller a.k.a. @ServiceDesignLK ~ UX matters)

How do we solve the enterprise UX skills gap?

Added on 17 June 2014 Peter Bogaards

The enterprise finally gets the UX fever. Designers at the cutting enterprise edge.

“As CIOs grapple with the UX imperative sparked by business users and consumer apps, skills gaps will cause migraines. Catering to scarce UX rock stars will be less effective than forming balanced teams. Fortunately, some designers have already dealt with UX rethinks on mobile app creation – they’ll be an asset. Then there is the whole matter of Web UX versus overall customer experience, leading us to the enormous challenge of a great customer experience across channels.”

(Jon Reed a.k.a. @jonERP ~ Diginomica)

What makes wearables valuable?

Added on 13 June 2014 Peter Bogaards

After mobile and tablet design, now it’s the design field of the wearable. The UX of it that is.

“But ultimately, I think wearables that try to replace the smartphone by shrinking it to fit on your wrist (or other body part) will struggle while those that complement our current set of devices and focus on the things they can do well will thrive. For me that means meaningful data collection, effortless authentication, contextual notifications, and faster access to. I guess we’ll have to find out as the next batch of wearable technology arrives on our wrists and beyond.”

(Luke Wroblewski a.k.a. @LukeW)

Marrying UCD with the Agile software development process: Seven tips for success

Added on 6 June 2014 Peter Bogaards

This theme will be vivid as long as the connection between design and engineering isn’t clear for many.

“(…) the move to Agile has left many product owners, development teams, and user experience professionals scratching their heads over the best way to incorporate user-centered design into the process while balancing the demands of an aggressive development schedule.”

(Wendy Littman ~ UsabilityGeek)

Choosing the right metrics for user experience

Added on 3 June 2014 Peter Bogaards

To measure is to know, we think. But we don’t know.

“Metrics are the signals that show whether your UX strategy is working. Using metrics is key to tracking changes over time, benchmarking against iterations of your own site or application or those of competitors, and setting targets. Although most organizations are tracking metrics like conversion rate or engagement time, often they do not tie these metrics back to design decisions. The reason? Their metrics are too high level. A change in your conversion rate could relate to a design change, a promotion, or something that a competitor has done. Time on site could mean anything. UX strategists need to take charge of the metrics for online experiences. First, we’ll look at the current state of metrics in most organizations and some of the problems in defining metrics for user experience. Then, we’ll focus on three key types of metrics for user experience, how to track them, and how to integrate them into an organization’s measurement framework.”

(Pamela Pavliscak a.k.a. @paminthelab ~ UXmatters.com)