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User experience

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

User Experience Design Career Development – Part 1

Added on 16 February 2010 Peter Bogaards
“So what we did was to articulate four (well, technically five) levels of consultant. These levels are based on obvious things like skills & experience, but also things like thought leadership activity, strategic acumen, client management, professional recognition, and business development. We defined specific criteria for each of these levels so that consultants can identify where they meet the criteria for their desired level and where they need to put in more effort. Granted, some of the criteria are pretty specific to an agency/consultancy model. But my hope is that those of you who work internally at large corporations, tiny startups, and anywhere in between can still use elements of our UX design career path to help structure your own.” (Fred Beecher) – courtesy of jjursa

I Am Not A User!

Added on 15 February 2010 Peter Bogaards
“Well, first of all let’s get rid off the word user and let’s talk about people. Because user implies something totally internal: I’m a user, I want to use this machine, so let’s use it. This is a utilitarian/task cognitive approach to interaction design, a rather medieval kind of approach. If you talk about people, what they are and what they do in their daily lives, there are so many opportunities to discover… so users will not evolve, they will die out, but people will remain and I would like to talk about their lives and conquests.” (I’m not a user)

The UX Canon: Essential Reading for the User Experience Designer

Added on 12 February 2010 Peter Bogaards
“(…) besides slowly acquiring and reviewing more books, is to begin further classification of books. Until that can happen, this is my UX library. If I don’t own it or haven’t read it, it’s definitely not on this list. At the same time, there are books that I own that aren’t included because I thought they sucked for one reason or another. The third option is that I have it, have read it, liked it, but simply forgot to include it.” (Semantic Foundry)

Better User Experience With Storytelling (Part Two)

Added on 11 February 2010 Peter Bogaards
“In the first part of this series, we explored some of the basic structures and story patterns found in myths and religions. We saw how these patterns continued into modern stories such as The Matrix and Star Wars. We also explored some of the basics of bringing storytelling into the user experience process and some places to get started. Concluding this two-part article, we hear from creative professionals who are leading the way in this relatively new world of combining the craft of storytelling with user experience. We’ll also see how storytelling can be applied to more than just interactive experiences: we find it in everything from packaging to architecture.” (Francisco Inchauste – Smashing Magazine)

Bringing User Centered Design to the Agile Environment

Added on 1 February 2010 Peter Bogaards
“I am not anti-Agile although I’ve been bitten a few times and feel trepidation when I hear someone singing its praises without having much experience with it. Over the last eight years, I’ve seen Agile badly implemented far more often than well (and yes, it can be done well, too). The result of this is mediocre product released in as much time as it would have taken a good team to release great product using a waterfall approach. In this article, I will describe Agile and attempt to illuminate a potential minefield for those who are swept up in the fervor of this development trend and want to jump in headlong. Then I will present how practices within User Centred Design (UCD) can mitigate the inherent risks of Agile and how these may be integrated within Agile development approaches.” (Anthony Colfelt – Boxes and Arrows)

Better User Experience With Storytelling (Part One)

Added on 29 January 2010 Peter Bogaards
“Stories have defined our world. They have been with us since the dawn of communication, from cave walls to the tall tales recounted around fires. They have continued to evolve with their purpose remaining the same; To entertain, to share common experiences, to teach, and to pass on traditions. Today we communicate a bit differently. Our information is fragmented across various mass-media channels and delivered through ever-changing technology. It has become watered down, cloned, and is churned out quickly in 140-character blurbs. We’ve lost that personal touch where we find an emotional connection that makes us care.” (Francisco Inchauste – Smashing Magazine)

Stephen Anderson on Seductive Interactions

Added on 29 January 2010 Peter Bogaards
“How can we design systems that encourage the behaviors we want? One of the bleeding edge ideas we’ll be talking about at the UIE Web App Masters Tour is adding motivation to web applications. How do you encourage user behavior through the design of your web app? It may initially sound a little far-fetched, but there’s an industry that’s been shaping its customer’s behavior since the beginning: the gaming industry.” (UIE Brain Sparks)

The Differences between Usability and User Experience

Added on 25 January 2010 Peter Bogaards
“Usability refers to the ease with which a user can accomplish his or her goals using any tool. (…) Somewhat in contrast, user experience refers to the way a user perceives his or her interaction with a system. User experience design encompasses both interaction design and visual design and seeks to promote an interface that is pleasing to the user.” (RJ Owen – InsideRIA)

UX design in print media: Designing with the user in mind

Added on 20 January 2010 Peter Bogaards
“Due to the increasing popularity of usability design and user experience design articles that focus on the internet and web design, you might not be aware that user experience design has been around a lot longer than the internet has. This article will discuss the effects that user experience design has specifically in print design. It is my firm belief that user experience design is important in any design setting and your future success in the design industry depends on how well you can design an experience.” (Preston D. Lee – Graphic Design Blender)

What have we forgotten about UX?

Added on 19 January 2010 Peter Bogaards
“Maybe I’m not very smart (don’t answer that!). Possibly it’s because I got my Graphic Design degree almost 20 years ago. Or maybe it’s because most of what I’ve learned about UX design is geared toward eLearning, where the overriding goal is to make sure the user has the best possible chance of absorbing whatever content is presented. But I seem to have some concepts about what constitutes good usability that are at odds with what I see demonstrated on websites that are about UX and design or are by people who are using their sites to market their UX design services. Before I get specific about what I’m seeing in these sites, I thought I’d outline what the criteria are for me for good UX.” (Amy Blankenship – InsideRIA)

Embedding User Experience in the Product Development Lifecycle

Added on 18 January 2010 Peter Bogaards
“All UX professionals, not just user assistance developers, face the problem of integrating their work into the product development lifecycle. At lower levels of organizational usability maturity, too often, the contributions of User Experience tend to be reactive. Usability professionals test the usability of a given product, then designers mitigate any shortcomings they find, and user assistance developers merely document what is already there. This column takes a look at the full scope of the product development lifecycle and how UX professionals can add value.” (Mike Hughes – UXmatters)

People don’t remember what was said: People remember how they felt

Added on 15 January 2010 Peter Bogaards
“This mantra has been one of my favourites for a good 7 years now. Working with a range of companies, charities and individuals, and having been in many board rooms, held live events, and developed digital strategy, I can certainly say it’s true. I’m not trying to brag here, but point out through experience I’ve learned that Experience itself is a big a deal. The other people who know how big a deal experience is are restaurant owners. They know that it’s not only the food they serve that people are paying for – it’s everything else that goes with it – and the things that go before and after it.” (Search Engine People Blog)