why user experience matters 2009

Why User Centered Design and Usability MattersMichael Rawlins, Certified Usability Analyst

September, 2009

about me...Michael Rawlins

- Director of User Experience for a global software firm

- Over 20 years of Fortune 100 company experience

- President, CT Usability Professionals Association

- Adjunct Professor, Manchester Community College

- Certified Usability Analyst (CUA)

- Human Factors International’s CUA of the Month in 2007

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value proposition...Every dollar invested in Usability returns $10 to $100

Realize:

better business requirements

shorter development cycles

non-functional requirements - design *SWOT analysis

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* Strengths Weakness Opportunities Threats

a few definitions...

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usability?• Effectiveness - can users achieve their goal

• Ease of learning - how fast do they learn the interface

• Efficiency of use - how fast users complete tasks

• Memorability - short & long term memory leveraged

• Error prevention - is there forgiveness

• User satisfaction - do users like the application

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mental model?• “Things should work the way we

think they should work...”

• break the user’s mental model - they respond negatively

• techniques to explore the user’s mental model include card sorting and 1:1 usability testing

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user centered design?User-centered design (UCD) is a structured product development methodology that involves users throughout all stages of the development lifecycle, in order to create a web site or application that meets users' needs. This approach considers an organization's business objectives and the user's needs, limitations, and preferences.

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the process...To create a user-centered web site you must think about the needs of your users throughout each step in the development of your site, including:

plan (objectives & requirements)

collect data from user population (observation)

prototype (low-fidelity)

test 1:1 with users (task based usability tests)

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prototyping...

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Low fidelity

Interaction Design Patterns

www.balsamiq.com

www.welie.com

interaction patterns...

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http://quince.infragistics.com/#/ByTask

templates vs. patterns

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http://960.gs/

http://www.welie.com

tools...

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Direct approach - Morae Recorder toto capture your tests

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It’s collaborative...enabling you to work closely with your developers andbusiness stakeholders

usability testing criteriaEstablish usability criteria prior to creating the test questions

• What are you measuring?

• Users will be able to do “x” in less than two minutes

• Users will be able to navigate to “x” in less than two minutes in three clicks

• Users will be able to buy “x” with no errors or customer support assistance

• Eight out of ten users will be able to purchase “x”

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more tools...Indirect approaches

Expert Review (use heuristics - rules of thumb)

Online Surveys (example: SurveyMonkey.com)

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usability point of view

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This can happen

80% of Usability is about navigation

the symptoms...Your site or application doesn’t work when user’s:

are over reliant on sitemaps to navigate

access search as a primary navigation tool

navigate with browser controls (forward & back)

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To solve:

test with real user’s to determine their mental model

the return...

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Increase Productivity

Reduce Support Calls

Reduce Training

Conversion Rate

Reduce Drop-off

Reduce Learning Curve

suggested reading...

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questions...

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thank you...

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michael.rawlins@gmail.comhttp://www.michaelrawlins.com