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

lou@rosenfeldmedia.comwww.rosenfeldmedia.com