introduction to user experience research (techuk designing digital health seminar)
DESCRIPTION
Charts delivered to TechUK's January 2014 Designing Digital Health conference. The charts are intended to provide an introduction to the user centred design process and are aimed at non specialists, The initial set of charts are the presentation charts and the second set of charts are the explanations which were left behind for the delegatesTRANSCRIPT
User centred design: what, why and how?
Jeremy Swinfen Green MA MBA CMC FIC
Managing Partner, Mosoco Ltd
User centred design
USEROWNER
USERS
USERS
Why is UCD important?
Is it useful?
Is it easy to use?
Do I want to use it?
UCD is not…
XJust “usability testing”
A “tick-box” processOnly about users
Only about “wants”
The UCD process*
*Very simplified!
Discover
Design
Develop
Deploy
Making something useful
Making something usable
• Ask an outsider to apply common sense
Accessibility
Accessible design is GOOD design
Making something desirable
Why do people do that?
Perfectly rational people…
How to make something undesirable
Making something persuasive
Imagery: red and yellow
Language: cheep cheep cheep!
Conclusions
• Utility, usability and desirability
• Test and iterate
User centred design: what, why and how?
Jeremy Swinfen Green MA MBA CMC FIC
Managing Partner, Mosoco Ltd
User centred design
• Putting the “user” (or customer) and their requirements at the centre of development– “User” can imply “digital” but we need to be multi-channel in our
approach– The customer is central to what we do. But we don’t always provide
everything the customer wants. For instance, any business will want to make money from a consumer but spending money isn’t necessarily what consumers want to do. However, putting the consumer at the centre of the process makes it easier for us to persuade the consumer to spend money
• For healthcare we also need to add society’s requirements– Just as in business we need to add business requirements – Adding society’s requirements doesn’t mean the customer can’t be at
the centre of design
Why is User Centred Design important?
• The customer will ask three questions:• Is it useful to me?
– UCD ensures utility by aligning customer needs and organisational goals
• Can I use it easily?– UCD enables usability by examining the details of how
systems work for customers• Do I want to use it?
– UCD builds-in desirability by following customer drivers and decision processes
What UCD is not
• It is not just “usability testing” and “accessibility”– Utility and persuasiveness are just as important
• It is not a one-off, “tick-box” process– Undertake it throughout the design & build process– Iterate: learn from mistakes and constantly optimise
• It is not a process that only requires us to talk to consumers• They don’t always (rarely) know what they want
– We need to talk to business stakeholders and other experts as well • It’s not just about pleasing customers
– Giving people what they want won’t always deliver organisational success. Think about the way supermarkets put commonly bought things like milk at the back of the shop and change their layouts every so often – so people have to explore (and buy more things on the way)
What does the process look like?*
• Discover– Business goals, consumer motivation, task analysis
• Design– Test high level concepts and prototypes; create detailed
specifications• Develop
– Test wire-frames, flat screens and interactive assets with users or against best practice
• Deploy– Collect feedback; undertake A/B testing; iterate design
*Very simplified!
How to make something useful
• Use research to uncover customer goals– Build a hypothesis based on observation of the world including
ethnography and focus groups– Test the hypothesis using attitudinal surveys– Validate the hypothesis with prototype testing
• Ultimately you can never “know” anything from research– Don’t believe anyone who tells you that research gives you the truth
• Quantitative research just shows you how people answered the question you posed: they may interpret your words differently from how you interpret them or they may simply want to please you with their answers
• Qualitative research just shows you how a handful of people think (or are willing to admit, or think they think…) on a particular day in a particular set of circumstances
• Use research for illumination rather than support
How to make something usable
• It is much easier to make things usable– You only need a handful of people to uncover the major
usability issues– Techniques include lab-based user tests, card sorting, and
benchmarking• “Expert reviews” will often suffice
– Most good design is a matter of applied common sense – There is a massive amount of design best practice
available to be applied
Accessibility
• Accessibility testing is harder to test without involving users
• Needs to test for use by the blind but also:– Low vision– Loss of motor control – Low confidence– Memory loss – Hearing loss (video) – Low reading age– Dyslexia
• Accessible design is generally GOOD design for everyone
How to make something desirable
• People are more likely to do things if…– other people do it as well (“social proof”)– you tell them to– you make them feel good about themselves– they worry they might not be able to do it later– they get something FREE in return– they have already agreed to do it, or have started to do it
in a small way– they only have to do (or understand) one thing
People are not always rational
• Perfectly “rational” people…– don’t want to lose things (even if they don’t really need
them)– avoid a small downside now in favour of a larger downside
later – give undue weight to low probability events– avoid decisions and prefer the default option– judge the importance of something based on the things
that are near it– give preference to the first (and last) things they see
How to make something undesirable
• If you want to put people off, use…– spelling mistakes and grammatical errors– an inappropriate tone of voice– A muddled design with a lack of visual hierarchy (very
cultural!)– inconsistent layouts, wording etc– old, undated, or out of date content– broken links and other functionality that doesn’t work (e.g.
videos on a mobile device)
How to make something persuasive
• Imagery– Pictures reduce the “difficulty” of communication– Images of positive and happy people sell– Arrows & gaze-direction influence where people look
• Language– Headlines are important, and so is the first sentence– Use simple and easy to understand copy– Key words should stand out– Sell benefits not “features” (emotion sells, not reason)– Long copy works – well written and laid out using lots of
white space, bullets etc– Tell people what to do next: include “calls to action”
Conclusions
• User centred design is underpinned by 3 principles: utility, usability and desirability– It may be hard to match consumer utility (“wants” not
“needs”) with societal utility– Usability is relatively easy to address with testing or
reviews – With techniques from marketing, it is very possible to
manipulate desirability (i.e. persuade people)• Design is complex and hard to get right first time
round, which is why UCD is iterative
