What is user experience?
User experience (UX) is a relatively young field that involves a diverse set of skills and activities. UX tasks have grown in importance as the focus of product design moves away from technical possibilities and towards the usefulness, usability, suitability, and overall product experience that can help attract and retain customers. Come check out the poster near the UX stage to get an overview of what is involved in this increasingly essential discipline.
This session provides an overview of UX methods and concerns for attendees who have little experience with the field. The session will zone in on the topic of user-centered design, and include an overview of the range of methods available in the user-centered designers toolbox. Examples or demonstrations will be presented, including reasons for/against using such methods in an agile environment. By the end of the session participants should be equipped with a clearer understanding of the goals/values inherent in UX work and methods, as well as a knowledge base from which to begin using and learning about user-centered design methods back at work.
I have presented a version of this talk at my own company and got good feedback from both management and developers.
Contents of talk:
Introduction: 15 mins
What is UX?
- clarification of basic terms (UX, UCD, interaction design, interface design, usability, information architecture)
- what is user experience (look and feel, interaction design, information design, usability, product design/vision, performance and reliability, branding)
Why is it necessary?
- complexity of todays users and products
- users/customers often don’t know what they want
- identifying value (value across customers, internal value such as standards, identifying critical paths in user interaction vs. simple prioritization, etc.)
A selection of UCD methods - 55 mins The discussion of each method will include: a description of the goal/purpose of the activity, an example or demonstration, a description of logistic/resource issues (e.g. time/resources needed to complete this activity), and a description of the expected output.
- basic user research: task analysis. Demo: show and describe a task analysis protocol + examples of the types of results and recommendations resulting from a task analysis.
- design drivers: storyboarding/wireframing. Demo: use of a wireframe to explore/communicate a design (how wireframes complement user stories).
- design helpers: user-centered design principles (major principles and resources)
- design evaluation (hi/lo-fi prototying). Major Demo - 20 mins: running a usability study using a paper prototype.
- Summary: iterative design and development + the importance of information dissemination
Wrap-up: 20 mins
Discussion of UCD vs. agile (goals, values, and theory)
- inherent conflicts existing between UCD and agile
- creating flexible/scalable designs (it’s hard!)
- “rapid” methods (can we automate user testing?)
- the value of design strategy and standards
- open questions/issues
Additional questions + sharing experiences
- what problems have you had that you think UX/UCD can solve?
- what other UCD techniques have you used?
- what has worked (or not worked) within the agile context?