All posts about
User experience

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

UX Designers: Masters of Everything, Definers of Nothing

Added on 17 August 2011 Peter Bogaards
As said, promising new initiative focusing on UX.

“I’m a UX Designer, and with a strong understanding and working knowledge of interaction design, information architecture, information design, industrial design, visual interface design, user assistance design, and user-centered design, I’m able to research, design, and prototype new user experiences. While using a holistic multidisciplinary approach, I rapidly iterate on new ideas from concept to completion. Testing and designing not only the physical dimension of digital products, but using a powerful set of learned methods to design and perfect the emotional one.”

(Mike Stefanko a.k.a. @EssentialUX ~ Essential UX)
courtesy of richardanderson

Requirements-Driven Software Development Must Die

Added on 26 July 2011 Peter Bogaards
Function follows feature follows user.

“The process by which most enterprise software is developed is fatally flawed. There are flaws in any software development process, but in the past 13 years I’ve seen one approach produce more bad software and blow more budgets than any other: requirements-driven software development. Thankfully, I’ve also had the opportunity to see the success of an alternative type of process, a process in which user experience design drives what gets developed. This type of process helps teams deliver good software on time and within their budgets.”

(Fred Beecher a.k.a. @fred_beecher ~ Evantage Consulting)

The UX of Learning

Added on 26 July 2011 Peter Bogaards
Remember the days of computer-based training, courseware and instructional systems design.

“Learning is a complex process with distinct stages, each with corresponding tasks and emotions. Understanding how users learn can help us design experiences that support the user throughout the entire process. So let’s learn a thing or two about learning itself. (…) Far from being monopolized by schools, learning is an essential human activity. Empathizing with and supporting users as they traverse the many stages of learning fosters happier users and a more profitable business.”

(Tyler Tate a.k.a. @tylertate ~ A List Apart)

A Service Design Approach Is Required To Deliver Great Customer Experiences

Added on 26 July 2011 Peter Bogaards
For commercial contexts, that’s true. But there is so much more…

“Internally focussed business tools, processes and systems are often thought about and designed in isolation from the design of the things customers interact with. Or to put this another way, projects that focus on improving the customer experience often don’t fully consider the tools, processes and systems staff use in the delivery of the experience.”

(Iain Barker ~ @Iain_barker ~ Meld Studios)

What is Cross-channel?

Added on 26 July 2011 Peter Bogaards
Or what a lot of reading, days of conversations and writing a book can do to your use of terms.

“Cross-channel is not about technology, or marketing, nor it is limited to media-related experiences: it’s a systemic change in the way we experience reality. The more the physical and the digital become intertwined, the more designing successful cross-channel user experiences becomes crucial.”

(Andrea Resmini)

Transforming User Experience

Added on 22 July 2011 Peter Bogaards
Raising the bar. I might consider to change the goal of ‘compelling user experiences’ into ‘transformative user experiences’.

“Although the initial discussion of transformation focused on the changes planned for the museum, she also discussed the desired transformation that visitors to the museum would experience. She noted that individual transformation was unique to each person and the result of not only the experience offered by the museum, but by each person’s frame of reference, personal interpretation of the information, and their culture and background.”

(Karen Bachmann a.k.a. @karenbachmann ~ Perficient)

The End of Client Services

Added on 21 July 2011 Peter Bogaards
G+ is a great example of the importance of UX in social.

“(…) a new economic paradigm in which the act of producing and consuming are one and the same, and he believes it’s upon us right now. I subscribe to this theory, and I believe its most fascinating expression takes the form of social software, in which there is no consumption unless its users produce, and there is no production unless its users consume. The secret sauce that starts this virtuous cycle is not just technology, but also user experience design.”

(Khoi Vinh ~ Subtraction)

Visual Designers Are Just As Important As UX Designers

Added on 19 July 2011 Peter Bogaards
Always thought perception was an integral part of feeding the experience.

“Conceptually I believe you can break design into tangible and abstract activities. Tangible design typically draws on the artistic skills of the designer and results in some kind of visually pleasing artefact. This is what most people imagine when they think of design and it covers graphic design, typography and visual identity.”

(Andy Budd a.k.a. @andybudd ~ Blogography)

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 experience research and practice: Two different planets?

Added on 18 July 2011 Peter Bogaards
Keynote presentation by longtime reseacher of MUX (‘Mobile UX’). Afterwards, the two planets (research and practice) kept their distance.

“Good user experience is increasingly important for profitable business: once utility and usability are taken for granted, successful companies design for experiences. But how to manage the fuzzy thing called user experience in product development? Can UX research help UX work in practice? This talk discusses the impact of business goals on UX research and the transfer of UX research results into practice.”

(Virpi Roto ~ Chi Sparks 2011 videos)

The Difference (And Relationship) Between Usability And User Experience

Added on 15 July 2011 Peter Bogaards
DTDT: One is a quality of an artifact in use; the other is an emerging phenomenon within the human, at the moment, during the episode, and in the long-term.

“After web site accessibility, ‘user experience’ is probably the phrase that most people tend to confuse usability with. Whilst this topic has been discussed by various experts in the respective fields, I feel the need to write about it for two main reasons. The first reason is that several posts I have encountered emphasize the distinction between these two terms, yet they fail to highlight the relationship that exists between usability and user experience. The second reason is that whilst most of the posts are similar in nature, I have found some minor, albeit very valid points scattered in various posts I have read. Therefore, the objective of this post is to discuss these two terms, whilst highlighting their differences and more importantly the relationship that exists between them in a clear, concise way.”

(Justin Mifsud a.k.a. @justinmifsud ~ Usability Geek)

Business Analysis and User Experience

Added on 13 July 2011 Peter Bogaards
“At UC Berkeley there has been an increasing awareness of the importance of business analysis (BA) and user experience (UX) in the software development lifecycle. In this article, we will discuss the advantages of involving BA and UX practitioners in your development process, when and how to involve them, and the similarities and differences between the two professions.”

(Allison Bloodworth, James Dudek, and Rachel Hollowgrass ~ Modern Analyst)

The User Experience of the BBC News

Added on 11 July 2011 Peter Bogaards
“In a news environment, there is ultimately one asset that the web designer has to enhance and protect. Credibility. News is all about telling a believable version of real life. A brand as well established as the BBC’s naturally goes a long way to distinguish its content from lesser-known, opinion-led publishers. But all brands are vulnerable to erosion if the presentation doesn’t do them justice. The painstaking work that goes into the BBC’s online output – the designer’s understanding of what its content really is, who its readers are, what flavours of content to mix, and the mastery of formal methods of presentation – is all part of the never-ending preparation and re-preparation of an enticing Bento box.”

(Tammy Gur ~ Johnny Holland Magazine)

Let’s Be Frank

Added on 7 July 2011 Peter Bogaards
“Architect, designer, and living legend Ephraim Goldberg, better know as Frank Gehry, is one such individual. His explorations in light, sound, movement, and materials, as well as his innate ability to understand the psychology of human behavior, set him apart in the fields of architecture and design. To Gehry, the physical form of architecture isn’t really about a physical structure at all, but rather the manifestation of all disciplines of art, design, and technology coming together to solve a problem.”

(Christian Saylor ~ UX Magazine)

Search Analytics for Your Site: Conversations With Your Customers

Added on 6 July 2011 Peter Bogaards
“Any organization that has a searchable web site or intranet is sitting on top of hugely valuable and usually under-exploited data: logs that capture what users are searching for, how often each query was searched, and how many results each query retrieved. Search queries are gold: they are real data that show us exactly what users are searching for in their own words. This book shows you how to use search analytics to carry on a conversation with your customers: listen to and understand their needs, and improve your content, navigation and search performance to meet those needs.”

(Louis Rosenfeld a.k.a. @louisrosenfeld ~ Rosenfeld Media)