Beyond Usability:User-Centered Design Strategies

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Christina Wodtke :: christina@carboniq.com Carbon IQ User Experience Group http://www.carboniq.comtel: 415 824 7090

Introduction to user-centered design

What is it?

NO!

It’s more than usability testing

Introduction to user-centered design

What is it?

•Method to get user reactions and feedback

•Performed throughout the entire product development cycle

•Used to ensure a usable product

•Iterative

Introduction to user-centered design

Test while you buildTest before you build

Test after you think you’re done

Introduction: How does it work?

• Learn who the customer is.

• Create a rough prototype to test with the people who will use

it.

• Revise based on what you learned.

• Build a prototype that is close to the finished thing.

• Test again.

• Make fixes based on what you learned.

• Ship the product. Include a feedback device so you can make

the next version even better.

Introduction: Who does it?

• User Research Company

• Internal User Research Specialist

Introduction: Who does it?

• User Research Company

• Internal User Research Specialist

• Outside Consultant

Introduction: Who does it?

• User Research Company

• Internal User Research Specialist

• Outside Consultant

• You

Introduction: Why do it?

• Know if the product meets user needs before you build it

• Enable you to develop easy-to-use products

• Satisfy customers

• Decrease expenditures on technical support and training

• Advertise ease-of-use successes

• Improve brand perception

• Ultimately increase market share

Introduction: Fighting for it.

EXCUSE ARGUMENT

“We have great designers.” “Designers are not users.”

“We don’t have the budget.” “Use discount methods.”

“We don’t have time.” “Use discount methods.”

“It’s never been done before; so there’s nothing to test.”

“Test prototypes.”

“Users don’t know what they want.” “Observe, don’t ask.”

“Everybody is our market.; that’s too many people to test”

“User-centered techniques help define target market.”

“We’ve done market research.” “Market research is not the same.”

You will have to fight. Prepare your arguments in advance.

Who are the users of the system?

Start by collecting pre-existing information

• Hunt down previous data (marketing demographics,

surveys, past usability tests)

• Hold stakeholder interviews

• Conduct customer service interviews

Next: techniques for user-centered design

Personas

Persona development/user profiling

Personas are:

• Archetypal users

• Conglomerates based on user data

• Built collaboratively by team

• Not the same as talking to actual users

• Useful for keeping users front-of-mind

• Holds down “nifty factor” in favor of user requirements

Persona development/user profiling

How to create:

• Summarize findings, distribute to stakeholders.

• Hold a work session with stakeholders & development team

to brainstorm personas.

• Prioritize and cull lesser personas to develop primary and

supporting personas.

Example personas

Talk to the end user: Questionnaires

What is it?

• Method of getting information about users

• Quantitative, rather than qualitative

• Good for gathering large amounts of facts

• Less reliable when dealing with opinions

People lie, and with very little reason

Talk to the end user: Questionnaires

Two types:

• Factual

» Gender: male or female

» Age:__

• Opinion

» From a scale from 1 to 5 where 1 is easy and 5 is difficult, how

hard was it to use this system?

» Would you buy this product?

Finding the end user

Recruiting • Develop a portrait of the user (a la the persona)• Develop a screener based on this• Recruit typical end users

• Professional recruiter• Do it yourself

• Offer a consideration: cash or a gift• Watch for ringers

• Professional testers• Inarticulate users

Not the end user

• Employees• Designers• Programmers• Market researchers• You

Talk to the end user: Contextual Inquiry

Onsite observation.

Talk to the end user: Contextual Inquiry

What is it?

• Observe users in the environment they use your product

• Watch them use the product

• Understand their behavior by encouraging them to “think out loud”

• Remember to compare what they say and what they do.

Talk to the end user: Contextual Inquiry

Technique: Thinking-out-loud

• Also used in usability testing, participatory design

• Users encouraged to voice their thoughts as they use the

product

• Try an exercise to illustrate

Talk to the end user: Contextual Inquiry

Running a contextual inquiry

• Recruit a number of typical end-users• Visit the location where they would use your product• Ask them to show you how currently do their tasks• Ask them to accomplish those tasks with your product• Analyze your results

Analyzing what you’ve learned.

Mental Models - diagram of the end user’s perception of product

• Study the user

• Map the mental model

• Develop a conceptual model

A simple mental model

A conceptual model

Map the mental model

• Pencil and paper

• Write down how the user thinks

• Sketch it– don’t worry about being pretty

• Adjust by addingbusiness restraints

• Design conceptual model

• Share with developmentteam

Analyzing what you’ve learned

Persona Scenarios – the power of story telling

• Get your personas out

• Tell ideal user experience for one persona

• Adjust for business constraints

• Build for this scenario

Example Persona Scenario

Analyzing what you’ve learned.

Task analysis

• Step by step analysis of user behavior

• Helps define interface/interaction needs

• Flushes out potential opportunities for errors

Analyzing what you’ve learned

Task analysis

• Start with scenario

• Break it up into discreet tasks

• Subdivide into smaller steps

Task analysis

“CHECK OUT” BECOMES

a. Select checkout

b. Sign in/sign up

c. Input shipping address

d. Input billing address

e. Input payment

f. Review order

g. Finalize checkout

Purchasing a purse at nordstroms.com might include the tasks:

1. locate purse

2. add purse to shopping cart

3. check out

Task analysis

“CHECK OUT” BECOMES “INPUT BILLING ADDRESS” BECOMES

a. Select checkout d. Input billing address (prepopulate all fields from c.)

b. Sign in/sign up i. Input first name

c. Input shipping address ii. Input family name

d. Input billing address iii. Input street address

e. Input payment iv. Input street address

f. Review order v. Input state (dropdown of standard abbreviations)

g. Finalize checkout vi. Input country

And so on…

Example Task analysis

Designing for the end user - and with them!

Prototyping

• Simple low-fi mockup

• Often paper or simple html

• Early or not designed

• Quick, easy to revise

Designing with the user

How to: Designing and Preparing a paper prototype test

• Required: paper, pens, tape, scissors and 3 people • Use paper and hand draw prototype

• One person acts as the computer, one as moderator, one

takes notes

• Ask users to accomplish tasks

• Make small changes as needed

Paper prototyping kit available at http://www.infodesign.com.au/usability

Rapid prototyping

• Paper or html

• Very early stage design, or half complete design

• Allow time between tests to make changes

• Note where design gets better or worse

• You should be making fewer changes as the test continues

• The report is partly the final prototype

Participatory Card Sort

• Way to understand user’s mental models and language

• Useful on sites with large amount of content

How to: Running a successful card sort

• 50-75 pieces of content (not categories!)

• Provide as much information as possible while not

overwhelming

• Lay all content out on a large table, shuffled thoroughly

• Provide blanks for category labels

• Encourage thinking-out-loud

• Be helpful, but do not suggest or advise. Play psychiatrist.

• Collate results and look for patterns.

Usability testing—at last

Conclusion

• User-centered design works

• It makes good business sense

• It’s affordable

• It’s satisfying

More reading

• Contextual Design

• Don’t Make Me Think

• Designing Web Usability

• Inmates are Running the Asylum

• Software For Use

All can be found at

http://www.eleganthack.com/reading/

(and more!)

More reading

• Usable Web

http://www.usableweb.com

• Usability Toolbox

http://www.best.com/~jthom/usability/

• Ask Tog

http://www.asktog.com/

• Useit.com – Jakob!

http://www.useit.com