why user experience matters 2009
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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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