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User experience

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

Five big UX topics in 2012

Added on 2 January 2013 Peter Bogaards
More UX galore for the near future. Now we have to deliver the real goods.

“For years, UX professionals have vigorously lobbied for a “seat at the table” when it comes to formative decisions about products and product development. Looking back at 2012, trends indicate that this wish is becoming reality. Many leading UX consultants reported that their clients are more open to research and design methods with a UX focus than they have been in the past. This elevated focus on UX ideas and concepts will require informed engagement with several high-level topics that emerged in 2012. This article discusses five of the themes that we expect will have relevance into 2013.”

(Catalyst Group ~ Boxes and Arrows)

Applying the Principles of Stage Magic to the User Experience

Added on 20 December 2012 Peter Bogaards
And then… something magic happens here.

“Stage magicians have been astonishing and delighting their audiences for years. But there is a surprising amount of repeatable principles behind the art of illusion. The bulk of the actual work in a practiced stage act is more about directing the audience’s attention and expectations. Your application can also benefit from the principled application of practices such as direction/misdirection and not letting your users see your secret preparations and many others.”

(Danno Ferrin a.k.a. @shemnon)

The Flaneur Approach to User Experience Design

Added on 19 December 2012 Peter Bogaards
Thinking has always been a critical skill. Not mobile, content or user first, but think first!

“As user experience designers, we must lead our processes and people with meaning, purpose, and intent. We must connect the dots forward from a problem to solution, not the other way around. This can only be done if we become more observant, aware, and empathetic.”

(Sarah Doody a.k.a. @sarahdoody ~ UX magazine)

Some thought on user experience in corporate research

Added on 18 December 2012 Peter Bogaards
The relevance of user experience design in business contexts is mounting rapidly.

“This presentation is divided into two parts. The first part is about setting the stage a bit, and in order to do so I will address the interrelations between some of the changes the telecom industry is facing, and how corporate research and innovation relate to these. In the second part I will illustrate how we at Ericsson Research recon that user experience plays a role in all of this.”

(Cristian Norlin a.k.a. @cristiannorlin ~ Ericsson UX blog)

Trends in User Experience

Added on 17 December 2012 Peter Bogaards
The hunting season for trends of 2013 has been opened.

“(…) As user experience matures, it will become more closely aligned with business strategy—so the same priorities that drive the business will guide UX design. Instead of producing designs and deliverables to meet business requirements, UX professionals will collaborate with business strategists to co-create solutions that successfully engage customers and exceed competitive offerings. This expansion will require some learning on the part of UX professionals, who must gain literacy in the business drivers that cause their companies to succeed or fail in the marketplace.”

(UXmatters)

UX is not UI

Added on 17 December 2012 Peter Bogaards
Food is not gastronomy as well.

“UI design is a huge part of UX. I would say that in a good majority of cases the UX designer does in fact design the interface as well. But UX is not UI. This is where the education of others comes in. Helping people understand just what UX is and the invaluable role it plays is illustrated beautifully with the UX Umbrella.”

(Erik Flowers a.k.a. @Erik_UX) ~ courtesy of thomasmarzano

Fitting Big-Picture UX Into Agile Development

Added on 14 December 2012 Peter Bogaards
Design spikes to protect our design core.

“The rapid pace of UX design in the agile world can lead to shortsighted design decisions. Focusing on addressing the immediate needs of particular user stories within the limits of a sprint can lead to neglect of larger design questions, which can come back to haunt UX designers later.”

(Damon Dimmick a.k.a. @damondimmick ~ Smashing Magazine) ~ courtesy of willemijnprins

The Dark Side of User Experience Design

Added on 13 December 2012 Peter Bogaards
Standing in the mud is the real work. The rest is just words.

“User experience design just stopped to be a niche and became a standard. (…) User Experience Design lies at the crossroads of art and science. It’s a magical mixture of visual art, hard-boiled psychology and numbers. Non of these nobel ingredients can be omitted, as it may put your whole design endeavor at risk. (…) All my experience taught me that conversion optimization is not a weekend-long job – it’s a way of developing your service. That’s the tiresome reality. The true Dark Side.”

(Marcin Treder a.k.a. @marcintreder) ~ courtesy of thomasmarzano

The Evolution, Methods, Processes, and Distinct Value of Service Design

Added on 13 December 2012 Peter Bogaards
From application or site to service. Not really a giant leap.

“The emerging focus on user experience will be the key to companies’ success as we move from an industrial to a service-oriented society. Service Design focuses on the methods and processes of a service from the point of view of the user. The goal is to make sure that when a client or customer interacts with the service, from branding to customer service to any point of contact, there is room to make the service more useful, efficient, and effective.”

(AC4D)

Creating An Adaptive System To Enhance UX

Added on 12 December 2012 Peter Bogaards
Adaptation is the best way to survive.

“The abilities of today’s network information technologies to create rich, immersive personalized experiences to track interactions and aggregate and analyze them in real time, together with the data collected by the sensors we carry in our smart devices, provides us an opportunity like never before to design adaptivity in order to ultimately offer a better user experience that is both unobtrusive and transparent. This article will cover the fundamental concepts for utilizing smart device technologies and sensor data in order to understand context and introduce ‘adaptive thinking’ into the UX professional’s toolset. I will demonstrate the importance of context when designing adaptive experiences, give ideas on how to design adaptive systems, and perhaps inspire designers to consider how smart devices and context aware applications can enhance the user experience with adaptivity.”

(Avi Itzkovitch a.k.a. @xgmedia ~ Smashing Magazine) ~ courtesy of fabiosergio

Building User Experiences: Synchronizing User Experience Design and the Supporting Metadata and Taxonomy Infrastructure

Added on 10 December 2012 Peter Bogaards
Taxonomists focus on content organization. UX designers on content experience.

“Despite their best intentions, user experience designers and taxonomy and metadata developers have often found that their work is not well connected, even though both are highly interrelated. For example, a design might be proposed that needs segmentation of content by user role, but there may not be metadata associated with content that captures the role, resulting in the need for detailed review of content and hand coding to create the experience. Taxonomists might build a taxonomy for roles without knowing which roles the design uses, leading to over- or under-specification of the taxonomy.”

(Carol A. Hert, Gary Carlson, and Bram Wessel ~ ASIS&T Bulletin, December 2012/January 2013)

Five UX Research Pitfalls

Added on 10 December 2012 Peter Bogaards
Be careful not to fall in any of them. Other mistakes still ahead.

“More and more organizations view UX as a key contributor to successful products, connecting teams with end-users and guiding product innovation within the organization. Though it’s fantastic to see this transition happen, there are growing pains associated with becoming a user-driven organization. These are the pitfalls that I see organizations grappling with most often.”

(Elaine Wherry a.k.a. @elainewherry)

4 key ingredients for creating an exceptional patient experience

Added on 7 December 2012 Peter Bogaards
It’s the human touch in a ‘moment-of-truth’ that makes the difference.

“While walking back to the infusion center from the hospital cafeteria, my mom briefly stopped and held the wall-railing to catch her breath. Enter a maintenance man 10 feet away who asked “Would you like a wheelchair?” My mom thanked him but graciously declined and we were on our way once again heading to the elevators. We were both moved by his kind and proactive attention. This man exceeded our expectations and two weeks later we’re still talking about him. With four key ingredients, he transformed an ordinary moment into an extraordinary one for us and delivered an exceptional patient experience.”

(Doug Della Pietra a.k.a. @DougDellaPietra ~ Hospital Impact)

From User Experience To Customer Experience

Added on 6 December 2012 Peter Bogaards
As said before, an awesome wave of change (a.k.a. Alt-J) for UX designers is coming. Just surf on it.

“(…) as we approach the end of 2012, the business discipline of customer experience, or CX, has gone mainstream. It’s got its own professional organization, the CXPA. It’s acknowledged as a key competitive differentiator, even by those who prefer spreadsheets to sticky notes. It’s discussed in boardrooms and in media within the context of corporate earnings.”

(Kerry Bodine a.k.a. @kerrybodine ~ UX Magazine)

Should You Become A UX Generalist Or A UX Specialist?

Added on 21 November 2012 Peter Bogaards
Generalist inside the UX comfort zone (think: coding, visual design or content creation), or outside (think: gastronomy, theatre or architecture).

“If you doubt whether you’re up to the task, you’ll probably discover that you do indeed fall short. I’d encourage you to embrace those moments when you’re outside of your comfort zone.”

(Matthew Magain a.k.a. @mattymcg ~ UX mastery)

Experience Design in the Agency Setting : Architecting cross-channel experiences to drive brand relationships

Added on 19 November 2012 Peter Bogaards
Experience design: user, customer, patient, and student experiences.

“As the user experience field has been maturing, certain unique disciplines have emerged, like user research, usability testing, content strategy, information architecture, and experience design. While different organizations may have UX departments named after any one of these disciplines, this article focuses not on taxonomy or the UX/XD service offering as a whole. Rather, it will examine the distinct “experience design” discipline itself and how this discipline can add value within the agency setting.”

(Tom Schneider ~ UX magazine)

Accessibility is part of UX (it isn’t a swear word)

Added on 17 November 2012 Peter Bogaards
Having access should be a hygiene factor, not a motivator.

“People often go a bit wobbly when accessibility is mentioned. Visions of text only websites, monochrome designs and static content swirl in their heads. Teeth are gritted, excuses are prepared, and battle conditions ensue. The reality is that accessibility is simply a key part of UX. A truly outstanding digital experience is a fusion of accessibility, usability, creativity and technology. The trick is to weave those things together, and to do that successfully there needs to be a cross pollination of skills and expertise. The good news is that accessibility is usability under a magnifying glass. If you’re thinking about great usability, the chances are that you’re already thinking about great accessibility too.”

(Léonie Watson ~ humanising technology blog) ~ courtesy of ericscheid