Eating our Own Dog Food:Using UX Methods to Build a UX Business
Lou Rosenfeld, Rosenfeld Media
Design Research Conference
Chicago, Illinois, USA
September 22, 2007
www.rosenfeldmedia.com
Brief bio
Co-author, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web
Publisher and founder, Rosenfeld Media (books forUser Experience practitioners)
Blog: www.louisrosenfeld.comNew book: Search Analytics for Your
Site: Conversations with your customers
Questions for us all
Can we truly improve and innovate …within established industries?…with established media?
I’m trying to find outin publishing, usingUX methods (a work in progress)
What challenges do publishers face?
1. Book designCan book design be improved upon?
2. Choosing proposalsWhich books should we publish?
3. Book contentHow can we ensure quality content?
All of these are design challenges
Book Design:Market research
Focus groups and blog discussions1. What UX books do you (dis)like?
2. What about them do you (dis)like?
Resultslouisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000410.html
www.rosenfeldmedia.com/announcements/2006/02/what_makes_for_a_good_design_b.php
www.rosenfeldmedia.com/announcements/2006/03/more_on_what_makes_for_a_good_1.php
Book Design:User testing
Print and PDF book testing Task analysis
Foundation (e.g., What is this book about?)
Navigation (e.g., refinding) Extension (e.g., grabbing a diagram)
Post-test questionnaire Rating values (e.g. author credibility,
price) Open-ended comments/feedback
The Gold Standard (DMMT)
Interiors
Covers
X √
Obvious lessons
1. Innovation is great, but it’s not for everyone or everything.
2. Real opportunities come from improvements, but they’re easy to miss.
3. Applying UX methods iteratively leads to small but meaningful improvements.
4. Hire an art director!
Choosing proposals:Create and violate boundaries
“Horizontal” series √ Mental models √ Card sorting √ Prototyping √ Internal search analytics • Comics as design tool • Contextual inquiry • Story-telling • …
“Vertical” series • UX for audiences (seniors, children, …) • UX for industries (health care, financial services, …)
The metaphor breaks… √ Web form design • Shopping cart design • …
Image from www.classicistranieri.com
Choosing Topics: UXzeitgeist.com
UXZ Person
UXZ Topic Index
UXZ Book Index
Good help isn’t so hard to find
Editorial BoardLiz DanzicoAndrew DillonSteve KrugMike KuniavskyGinny RedishMarc RettigNathan ShedroffRashmi SinhaKaren Whitehouse
Obvious lessons
1. Create, then violate boundaries.2. Metaphors will only get you so far.
That’s OK.3. Web 2.0 is expensive. Don’t create;
reuse.4. If you do create, don’t get cute:
launch it fast.5. The best authors, topics, and helpers
won’t come to you. But they will talk.
Book content:Dialogues succeed
Proposal development From simple (agile review)… …to traditional (expert review from editorial
board)
Readers engaged via book blog Passive: RSS Active: SEO, comments, surveys…
networks
Revel in infrastructure
Enjoy what the Internet has to offer BaseCamp for authors and editors MovableType, RSS, Flickr, del.icio.us for
authors FeedBurner and Google Analytics for
data analysis (shared with authors)
But infrastructure won’t run your projects
Obvious lessons
1. Trust yourself. You already have UX in your veins. Let things emerge organically.
2. Build in iteration everywhere.
3. Feed and care for your network.
4. There’s no excuse to ignore infrastructure.
5. Making books is still damned hard.
Obvious lessons of the general sort
1. In UX, it’s hard not to be a hypocrite. But that shouldn’t stop you.
2. In UX, research equals marketing.
3. Transparency works in new fields: your customers are also your peers.
4. So does asking for help.
5. Eat your own damned dog food.
Contact me
Louis Rosenfeld, PublisherRosenfeld Media, LLC705 Carroll Street, #2LBrooklyn, NY 11215 USA
+1.718.306.9396 voice+1.734.661.1655 fax