How To Offer Kick Ass User Experience Services

If you want to broaden the type of work you do, increase the amount you can charge, be more respected by clients and generate repeat business, then you should offer user experience services. This course will teach you how.

1. BOAGWORKS HOW TO OFFER KICK ASS USER EXPERIENCE SERVICES
2. BOAGWORKS OUR AGENDA 1. What is UX? 2. Selling UX 3. How to approach UX projects
3. BOAGWORKS Not everything we cover will fit Threefold Systems. ADAPT TO FIT
4. BOAGWORKS Interrupt, ask questions, go off on tangents and don’t wait for breaks. MY APPROACH TO WORKSHOPS
5. BOAGWORKS This is an introduction to a very large discipline. Today is about pointing you in the right direction for further investigation. FAR FROM COMPREHENSIVE
6. BOAGWORKS WHAT IS UX? Can you design a user experience?
7. BOAGWORKS STARTING WITH THE UI People use UX and UI interchangeably. People are wrong!
8. BOAGWORKS Sample text.
9. BOAGWORKS THE USER HIERARCHY OF NEEDS Inspired by Maslow hierarchy of needs.
10. BOAGWORKS Sample text.
11. BOAGWORKS Will it work on my device and my network? Can I physically use it? 1. Accessible
12. BOAGWORKS Does it tell me what I need to know? 2. Relevant
13. BOAGWORKS Can I find the information I need easily? 3. Usable
14. BOAGWORKS Does it help me with my specific needs? 4. Personal
15. BOAGWORKS Does it make me want to take action? 5. Persuasive
16. BOAGWORKS See also: When it comes to your website, get your priorities straight.
17. BOAGWORKS Written by Joshua Porter PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN
18. BOAGWORKS Clarity is the first and most important job of any interface. To be effective using an interface you've designed, people must be able to recognise what it is, care about why they would use it, understand what the interface is helping them interact with, predict what will happen when they use it, and then successfully interact with it. While there is room for mystery and delayed gratification in interfaces, there is no room for confusion. Clarity inspires confidence and leads to further use. One hundred clear screens is preferable to a single cluttered one. Clarity Is The Job Of Any Interface
19. BOAGWORKS Interfaces exist to enable interaction between humans and our world. They can help clarify, illuminate, enable, show relationships, bring us together, pull us apart, manage our expectations, and give us access to services. The act of designing interfaces is not Art. Interfaces are not monuments unto themselves. Interfaces do a job and their effectiveness can be measured. They are not just utilitarian, however. The best interfaces can inspire, evoke, mystify, and intensify our relationship with the world. Interfaces Exist For Interaction
20. BOAGWORKS We live in a world of interruption. It's hard to read in peace anymore without something trying to distract us and direct our attention elsewhere. Attention is precious. Don't litter the side of your applications with distractible material…remember why the screen exists in the first place. If someone is reading let them finish reading before showing that advertisement (if you must). Honour attention and not only will your readers be happier, your results will be better. When use is the primary goal, attention becomes the prerequisite. Conserve it at all costs. Conserve Attention At All Costs
21. BOAGWORKS Humans are most comfortable when they feel in control of themselves and their environment. Thoughtless software takes away that comfort by forcing people into unplanned interactions, confusing pathways, and surprising outcomes. Keep users in control by regularly surfacing system status, by describing causation (if you do this that will happen) and by giving insight into what to expect at every turn. Don't worry about stating the obvious…the obvious almost never is. Keep Users In Control
22. BOAGWORKS The best interface is none at all, when we are able to directly manipulate the physical objects in our world. Since this is not always possible, and objects are increasingly informational, we create interfaces to help us interact with them. It is easy to add more layers than necessary to an interface, creating overly-wrought buttons, chrome, graphics, options, preferences, windows, attachments, and other cruft so that we end up manipulating UI elements instead of what's important. The Best Interface Is None At All
23. BOAGWORKS Very few interactions are meant to be the last, so thoughtfully design a next step for each interaction a person has with your interface. Anticipate what the next interaction should be and design to support it. Just as we like in human conversation, provide an opening for further interaction. Don't leave a person hanging because they've done what you want them to do…give them a natural next step that helps them further achieve their goals. Provide A Natural Next Step
24. BOAGWORKS Every screen we design should support a single action of real value to the person using it. This makes it easier to learn, easier to use, and easier to add to or build on when necessary. Screens that support two or more primary actions become confusing quickly. Like a written article should have a single, strong thesis, every screen we design should support a single, strong action that is its raison d'etre. One Primary Action Per Screen
25. BOAGWORKS Screens with a single primary action can have multiple secondary actions but they need to be kept secondary! The reason why your article exists isn't so that people can share it on Twitter…it exists for people to read and understand it. Keep secondary actions secondary by making them lighter weight visually or shown after the primary action has been achieved. Keep Secondary Actions Secondary
26. BOAGWORKS Humans are most comfortable with things that behave the way we expect. Other people, animals, objects, software. When someone or something behaves consistently with our expectations we feel like we have a good relationship with it. To that end designed elements should look like how they behave. Form follows function. In practice this means that someone should be able to predict how an interface element will behave merely by looking at it. If it looks like a button it should act like a button. Don't get cute with the basics of interaction…keep your creativity for higher order concerns. Appearance Follows Behaviour
27. BOAGWORKS Following on the previous principle, screen elements should not appear consistent with each other unless they behave consistently with each other. Elements that behave the same should look the same. But it is just as important for unlike elements to appear unlike (be inconsistent) as it is for like elements to appear consistent. In an effort to be consistent novice designers often obscure important differences by using the same visual treatment (often to re-use code) when different visual treatment is appropriate. Consistency Matters
28. BOAGWORKS A strong visual hierarchy is achieved when there is a clear viewing order to the visual elements on a screen. That is, when users view the same items in the same order every time. Weak visual hierarchies give little clue about where to rest one's gaze and end up feeling cluttered and confusing. In environments of great change it is hard to maintain a strong visual hierarchy because visual weight is relative: when everything is bold, nothing is bold. Strong Hierarchies Work Best
29. BOAGWORKS As John Maeda says in his book Simplicity, smart organisation of screen elements can make the many appear as the few. This helps people understand your interface easier and more quickly, as you've illustrated the inherent relationships of content in your design. Group together like elements, show natural relationships by placement and orientation. By smartly organising your content you make it less of a cognitive load on the user…who doesn't have to think about how elements are related because you've done it for them. Reduces Cognitive Load
30. BOAGWORKS Show only what is necessary on each screen. If people are making a choice, show enough information to allow them the choice, then dive into details on a subsequent screen. Avoid the tendency to over- explain or show everything all at once. When possible, defer decisions to subsequent screens by progressively disclosing information as necessary. This will keep your interactions more clear. Progressive Disclosure
31. BOAGWORKS In ideal interfaces, help is not necessary because the interface is learnable and usable. The step below this, reality, is one in which help is inline and contextual, available only when and where it is needed, hidden from view at all other times. Asking people to go to help and find an answer to their question puts the onus on them to know what they need. Instead build in help where it is needed…just make sure that it is out of the way of people who already know how to use your interface. Help People Inline
32. BOAGWORKS The first time experience with an interface is crucial, yet often overlooked by designers. In order to best help our users get up to speed with our designs, it is best to design for the zero state, the state in which nothing has yet occurred. This state shouldn't be a blank canvas…it should provide direction and guidance for getting up to speed. Much of the friction of interaction is in that initial context… once people understand the rules they have a much higher likelihood of success. Never Leave A Blank Canvas
33. BOAGWORKS See also: Principles of User Interface Design.
34. BOAGWORKS The user experience extends beyond design elements. BEYOND THE INTERFACE
35. BOAGWORKS Copy is a key component of shaping the experience. THE COPY
36. BOAGWORKS Make It Scannable
37. BOAGWORKS It aids scanability, helps those with cognitive impairments and non-native speakers. Keep The Reading Level Low
38. BOAGWORKS Balance Cleverness With Clarity Sample text.
39. BOAGWORKS Avoid jargon or acronyms and speak like a human. Employ Your Users Language
40. BOAGWORKS Either where the user is in the journey or how they landed on the page. Don’t Presume Context
41. BOAGWORKS Be as concise as possible without compromising the message. Omit Needless Words
42. BOAGWORKS THE TECHNOLOGY Developers probably have a bigger impact on the user experience than designers.
43. BOAGWORKS Error Handling Incomprehensible and passive aggressive.
44. BOAGWORKS Validation Do the extra work to save the user time. Don’t make users format form fields in a specific way.
45. BOAGWORKS Security Explore alternative approaches to passwords. Slack does a great job with magic passwords. Educate, don’t enforce.
46. BOAGWORKS Accessibility Think device, network and older browsers.
47. BOAGWORKS Spam See also: My definitive guide to why CAPTCHA sucks.
48. BOAGWORKS Performance See also: Why performance is the best way to improve the user experience.
49. BOAGWORKS BEYOND THE SCREEN The user experience does not stop at the edge of the screen.
50. BOAGWORKS 1. CONSIDER ALL TOUCHPOINTS The user interacts with an organisation across many touchpoints. These touchpoints need to be considered as a whole.
51. BOAGWORKS Social Monitoring, Customer Support and Relevance.
52. BOAGWORKS Apps Is an app the right choice and how will they support it long term? See also: Mobile app vs mobile website design. Your four options.
53. BOAGWORKS Live Chat Hide it when there is no operator. Over reliance on canned responses.
54. BOAGWORKS Email Order confirmation, updates, newsletters, delivery notifications, customer support…
55. BOAGWORKS Service Platforms Those systems users have to use once they are a customer.
56. BOAGWORKS Chatbots See also: What is a chatbot and should you care? All you need to know.
57. BOAGWORKS Sensors See also: The best interface is no interface.
58. BOAGWORKS Don’t Forget Offline! Stores, offices, print, advertising…
59. BOAGWORKS 2. THINK POLICIES & STRUCTURES User experience professionals also consider how companies work.
60. BOAGWORKS Departmental Silos The user experience spans departments. Users are often lost between departments.
61. BOAGWORKS Financing See also: A spreadsheet could be breaking your digital strategy
62. BOAGWORKS Monitoring Analytics analysis, split testing, social media monitoring.
63. BOAGWORKS Compliance And Legal Compliance isn't as black and white as they tell you.
64. BOAGWORKS Guiding Principles See also: What are your design principles?
65. BOAGWORKS Service Manuals See also: The Digital Service Manual. Beyond Strategy.
66. BOAGWORKS 3. CREATE CULTURAL CHANGE To truly provide an outstanding user experience the entire company will need to think differently.
67. BOAGWORKS User Exposure Putting stakeholders in front of users is the best way to encourage a change in thinking.
68. BOAGWORKS Training Programs In person and self-learning.
69. BOAGWORKS Internal Comms Strategy
70. BOAGWORKS TAKE A BREAK
71. BOAGWORKS SELLING USER EXPERIENCE How to make money from building better experiences.
72. BOAGWORKS NEW OFFERINGS Introducing user experience services* opens up many new revenue streams. *Services we will explore in more depth this afternoon.
73. BOAGWORKS DISCOVERY Understanding customers behaviour is something every company needs to focus on, which opens up a lot of opportunities to sell research services.
74. BOAGWORKS User Experience Reviews Like site reviews, but encompassing the broader user experience.
75. BOAGWORKS User Research In field studies, user surveys, user interviews.
76. BOAGWORKS Top Task Analysis See also: Focusing on top tasks.
77. BOAGWORKS Customer Mapping Customer journey mapping and empathy mapping.
78. BOAGWORKS Competitive Review Heuristic Reviews
79. BOAGWORKS STRATEGY Discovery will uncover weaknesses in the experience of users. That provides an opportunity to sell consultancy on how to solve correct these problems.
80. BOAGWORKS User Experience Roadmap A roadmap for fixing user experience problems including processes, resources, policies and approaches.
81. BOAGWORKS User Experience Prototyping Prototypes can be a great revenue generator as a replacement to functional specifications. Prototyping projects should also include usability testing to validate the approach.
82. BOAGWORKS CHANGE PROGRAMS Creating a great user experience involves organisational change. Helping organisations achieving that can be very lucrative.
83. BOAGWORKS Writing Service Manuals Although writing a service manual isn’t hard, most organisations lack the time and confidence.
84. BOAGWORKS Providing In-House Training Running workshops such as this one on everything from writing for the web to carrying out user research.
85. BOAGWORKS Creating Self Learning Training There are many cost benefits to allowing employees to learn at their own pace. Producing self learning training material can become a large project.
86. BOAGWORKS CONTINUAL ITERATION Organisations should be continually optimising the user experience. This opens up ongoing revenue streams.
87. BOAGWORKS Split Testing Running ongoing programs of multi-variance testing can be extremely lucrative.
88. BOAGWORKS Analytics Reporting To continually improve the user experience organisations need to understand how well the current experience is performing. That is why regular reporting is so crucial.
89. BOAGWORKS Usability Testing From in-field testing to lab based, running usability test sessions is a valuable service you can offer.
90. BOAGWORKS USER ENGAGEMENT There is an opportunity to help clients support their users.
91. BOAGWORKS Social Media Management It would be possible to take on the management of social media or at least help them with the tools and skills to manage it effectively themselves.
92. BOAGWORKS Feedback Analysis Clients should be continually soliciting feedback from users. But that feedback needs to be analysed and acted upon, which is where you can help.
93. BOAGWORKS THE CASE FOR UX How to convince clients to care about the user experience.
94. BOAGWORKS I’ve been pitching our services for 23 years and I’ve never once successfully convinced an executive of anything. JARED SPOOL
95. BOAGWORKS You can find out what your executives are already convinced of. If they are any good at what they do, they likely have something they want to improve. It’s likely to be related to improving revenues, reducing costs, increasing the number of new customers, increasing the sales from existing customers, or increasing shareholder value. Good UX can help with each of those things. JARED SPOOL
96. BOAGWORKS Client Motivators What do your clients care about?
97. BOAGWORKS OPPORTUNITIES & THREATS For those hungry executives focus on the opportunities. For those risk adverse executives focus on threats.
98. BOAGWORKS Opportunities FINANCIAL BENEFITS 1. Lower support cost. 2. Lower cost of sale. 3. Lower marketing cost. 4. Lower development costs. PRODUCT BENEFITS 1. Product innovation. 2. Improved quality. SALES BENEFITS 1. Improved conversion. 2. Higher order value. MARKETING BENEFITS 1. Improved word of mouth. 2. Better brand image. 3. Higher loyalty. 4. Differentiate. 5. Brand recognition.
99. BOAGWORKS
100. BOAGWORKS Competing With Tescos
101. BOAGWORKS Threats FINANCIAL THREATS 1. Higher support cost. 2. Higher cost of sale. 3. Higher marketing cost. 4. Higher development costs PRODUCT THREATS 1. Higher cost of delivery. 2. Slower to market. 3. Higher chance of failure. 4. Vulnerable to disruption SALES THREATS 1. Lower conversion. 2. More returns. 3. Higher turnover. 4. Less repeat purchases. MARKETING THREATS 1. Damaging reviews. 2. Negative brand image. 3. Potential PR issues.
102. BOAGWORKS 89% of retail customers have said they will (or have) stopped doing business with a company after a single poor customer experience. CUSTOMER THINK
103. BOAGWORKS EXAMPLES OF UX DISRUPTION Share case studies of sectors that have been suddenly disrupted through superior user experiences.
104. BOAGWORKS Taxi Sector Uber is challenging taxi services in city after city by offering a superior customer experience.
105. BOAGWORKS Media iTunes has supplanted high street retail. Netflix has replaced Blockbusters and Spotify is challenging radio broadcasting.
106. BOAGWORKS Finance The financial sector is being disrupted at all levels from banking to accountancy services.
107. BOAGWORKS Customer Management Salesforce has disrupted the larger enterprise level CRM offerings that required large installation projects and ongoing support contracts.
108. BOAGWORKS Travel Self service has transformed booking a holiday, decimating the high street travel agent.
109. BOAGWORKS EXAMPLES OF UX SUCCESS Referencing success stories makes investing in user experience feel safe.
110. BOAGWORKS STRUCTURING PROJECTS How you run your user experience projects will both help deliver effective results and increase the chance of you winning the work.
111. BOAGWORKS Start Small, Reduce Risk When investing in UX is a new concept, clients will be resistant. Reduce the risk in their minds by undertaking a small research or proof of concept project.
112. BOAGWORKS RUN A SERIES OF SMALLER PROJECTS Each project should have its own deliverables. Gives the client to ‘try out’ working with you.
113. BOAGWORKS Start With A Discovery Phase THE DELIVERABLES: Clear business goals, calls to action and KPIs. Customer Journey Maps. Empathy Maps. Top Task Analysis. Competitive review.
114. BOAGWORKS Alpha Prototyping The prototype becomes a functional specification. A specification clients could use to go out to tender if they so wished.
115. BOAGWORKS Beta Build This would be the traditional site build process, but including a beta stage where the site is added to a sub domain and preference is tracked.
116. BOAGWORKS Iteration Retainer Once the site is live it will need ongoing monitoring and iteration. A retainer could be put in place for you to actively manage ongoing development.
117. BOAGWORKS LUNCH!
118. BOAGWORKS HOW TO APPROACH UX PROJECTS 1. The UX process 2. How to do research 3. How to prototype 4. How to manage stakeholders
119. BOAGWORKS THE UX PROCESS The workflow for a typical UX project.
120. BOAGWORKS 1. RESEARCH Start with a discovery phase as a separate chargeable project.
121. BOAGWORKS Set Objectives What does the business want to achieve from this project? Which objectives are most important?
122. BOAGWORKS Prioritise Audiences Who are the audiences and which ones matter the most? “Design for somebody, alienate nobody.”
123. BOAGWORKS Research Audiences What do you need to know about audiences? Their goal. Their pain points. Their questions and tasks. Their feelings. What influences them?
124. BOAGWORKS Understand Context It is important to understand the context of the project. If there is an existing offering, where is it falling short? What constraints are there on the project?
125. BOAGWORKS Understand The Business It is also important to look at the business as a whole and how the project fits in.
126. BOAGWORKS Review The Competition Sometimes it is a good idea to review the competition as well. What are they doing well? Where are they falling short? You can even do usability testing on the competitions websites.
127. BOAGWORKS 2. STRATEGY Often a client doesn’t just need a specific project delivering. They need an overall UX strategy. But what goes into a strategy?
128. BOAGWORKS The Case For Change Why the organisation needs to do things differently. This typically focuses on opportunities or threats.
129. BOAGWORKS What Needs To Change Where is the company currently failing its customers?
130. BOAGWORKS How To Change What does a better experience look like and how does the business get to that point?
131. BOAGWORKS What Is Needed For Change In order to achieve the vision for a better user experience, what people and resources do the company need to put in place.
132. BOAGWORKS Where To Start Often management can be overwhelmed by a big program of work. The strategy should, therefore, focus on some tangible and easy steps with which they can start.
133. BOAGWORKS 3. ALPHA Making the vision tangible and validating the approach.
138. BOAGWORKS 4. BETA TO LIVE Turning the prototype into a site that operates at scale.
141. BOAGWORKS Launching A Public Beta Launching a beta is a great way of getting to market early and gaining valuable data on user behaviour.
142. BOAGWORKS When To Go Live When the new site is better than the existing site for the majority of users.
143. BOAGWORKS See also: How to adopt an iterative approach to UI design.
144. BOAGWORKS HOW TO DO RESEARCH
145. BOAGWORKS HOW TO DIG INTO DATA
146. BOAGWORKS Beware Vanity Metrics Page views, user sessions, dwell time and bounce rates say little about users.
147. BOAGWORKS Start With A Question If you just look at analytics without a clear question in your mind you will get distracted by irrelevant data.
148. BOAGWORKS Fullstory
149. BOAGWORKS Look At Search What search terms users enter gives a real insight into what they are looking for.
150. BOAGWORKS See also: Are you getting the basics of analytics right?.
151. BOAGWORKS HOW TO RUN USER SURVEYS User surveys are a great way of understanding user behaviour, but they are also easy to get wrong.
152. BOAGWORKS Keep It Focused Keep surveys short and focused on gaining insights in one specific area.
153. BOAGWORKS Pick Your Moment Don’t ask users to complete a survey until you suspect they have completed their own goal.
154. BOAGWORKS Start Easy The first few questions should be as simple as possible.
155. BOAGWORKS Avoid Non Committal Answers For example, don’t have 1-5 ratings as it allows people to select three.
156. BOAGWORKS Watch Your Language The way questions are worded can make a substantial difference in results. For example using the word ‘should’ instead of ‘could’ has been known to alter results by up to 20%.
157. BOAGWORKS See also: Creating a better survey.
158. BOAGWORKS HOW TO DO A TOP TASK ANALYSIS Understanding what users want to do.
159. BOAGWORKS 1. Gather A List Of Potential Tasks Sources of potential tasks include: - Customer facing staff. - Customer surveys. - Site behaviour analysis. - Search analysis. - Social Media.
160. BOAGWORKS 2. Create A Shortlist Create a shortlist of less than 100 tasks/questions, by removing duplicates, jargon, overlap etc.
161. BOAGWORKS 3. Get Customers Voting Ask users to rank their top five tasks in order.
162. BOAGWORKS 4. Analyse Your Results
163. BOAGWORKS See also: Focusing on Top Tasks.
164. BOAGWORKS HOW TO CREATE EMPATHY MAPS
165. BOAGWORKS What Is An Empathy Map? An empathy map is like a persona but more focused on tasks than demographics.
167. BOAGWORKS
168. BOAGWORKS See also: Adapting empathy maps for UX design.
169. BOAGWORKS HOW TO RUN A CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAPPING WORKSHOP
170. BOAGWORKS What Is A Customer Journey Map? A customer journey map shows the customers experience over time. It tracks their feelings, questions, tasks and frustrations.
172. BOAGWORKS Who Should Attend? A mixture of customer facing staff and management.
173. BOAGWORKS Running The Workshop 1. Decide on the stages. 2. Work on the first stage as a group. 3. Divide into teams for further stages. 4. Carry out peer review.
175. BOAGWORKS See also: How to run a customer journey mapping workshop.
176. BOAGWORKS HOW TO CREATE A COMPETITIVE REVIEW
177. BOAGWORKS Selecting Your Assessment Criteria e.g. accessibility, relevancy, usability, persuasiveness
178. BOAGWORKS Identify Individual Scoring Metrics e.g. Accessible might include: search engine placement, site performance, browser support, WAI compliance, cross device support…
180. BOAGWORKS TAKE A BREAK
181. BOAGWORKS HOW TO PROTOTYPE Prototyping is the backbone of user experience design because it allows for the exploration and validation of ideas.
182. BOAGWORKS AUDIENCES AND OBJECTIVES How to decide upon and prioritise important project drivers. “Does it meet user and organisational needs?”
183. BOAGWORKS Idea Generation Through competitive brainstorming and segmentation.
184. BOAGWORKS Narrowing Remove duplicates and group.
185. BOAGWORKS Prioritise Through spot voting.
186. BOAGWORKS ESTABLISHING IA How to create a user centric information architecture.
187. BOAGWORKS 1. Top Task Analysis
188. BOAGWORKS 2. Card Sorting OPEN CARD SORTING Participants are asked to organise topics from content within your website into groups that make sense to them and then name each group they created in a way that they feel accurately describes the content. Use an open card sort to learn how users group content and the terms or labels they give each category. CLOSED CARD SORTING Participants are asked to sort topics from content within your website into pre- defined categories. A closed card sort works best when you are working with a pre- defined set of categories, and you want to learn how users sort content items into each category.
189. BOAGWORKS 3. Testing Your Site Structure Can the user find the right page? How long did it take to complete the task? Did the user start by selecting the right option?
190. BOAGWORKS ESTABLISHING DESIGN DIRECTION
191. BOAGWORKS “If Your Site Was A Famous Person” Getting stakeholders to consider which favour person they would like their service to be like is a great way of establishing design direction.
192. BOAGWORKS Design A Book Jacket Designing a book helps stakeholders identify key messages and prioritise them.
194. BOAGWORKS Collaborative Moodboarding 1. Colour - Adobe Color. 2. Imagery - Google Images. 3. Fonts - Google Fonts. 4. Styling - Web Design Inspiration.
195. BOAGWORKS TESTING DESIGN Testing design involves testing 30+ users from a demographically accurate group to provide statistically significant results.
197. BOAGWORKS ESTABLISHING VISUAL HIERARCHY Structuring key pages and avoiding information overload.
198. BOAGWORKS The User Attention Point Exercise See also: Getting agreement for your homepage.
199. BOAGWORKS You Have 17 Points
200. BOAGWORKS 6 Up Exercise Produce six versions of a single page.
201. BOAGWORKS Testing Visual Hierarchy Can the user find the right page? How long did it take to complete the task? Did the user start by selecting the right option?
202. BOAGWORKS Consider Using Flash Testing The idea of a flash test is simply to judge the weighting and emphasis of the design. Are the right elements highlighted? Will the user be distracted by something of minor importance? Will they notice a key piece of content? This is achieved by showing the user the design for a few seconds and then removing it from sight. You then ask the user to recall as many items as they can and note both, which items were spot as well as the order in which they are recalled. Screen elements that had the most impact on the user are always mentioned first.
203. BOAGWORKS TIPS FOR TESTING See also: How to Build Usability Testing Into Everything You Do
204. BOAGWORKS Don’t Fret Demographics People aren’t that different.
205. BOAGWORKS Don’t Worry About Numbers You only need to test five or six people, but test often.
208. BOAGWORKS See also: Rocket Surgery Made Easy.
209. BOAGWORKS Forget The Test Lab All you need is a laptop and lookback.io.
210. BOAGWORKS Make Your Users Comfortable -You aren’t testing them. -You weren’t involved in the project. -Start them off easy. -Encourage them to speak out loud.
211. BOAGWORKS See also: What goes into a user testing script.
212. BOAGWORKS HOW TO MANAGE STAKEHOLDERS Or dealing with the hidden clients.
213. BOAGWORKS WHY ENGAGEMENT MATTERS Actively engage stakeholders in a project. Don’t insist all feedback passes through your point of contact.
214. BOAGWORKS Better Educated Stakeholders who are engaged are educated. Stakeholders who are educated understand the decisions made.
215. BOAGWORKS Feeling Of Being Consulted Stakeholders who are consulted feel listened to. This makes them less likely to reject ideas and cause trouble.
216. BOAGWORKS Greater Sense Of Ownership If stakeholders feel that they have contributed to a project they are more likely to defend it to others.
217. BOAGWORKS Faster Implementation Stakeholder engagement can save hours in wasted debate and endless discussion.
218. BOAGWORKS Improved Long Term Prospects The more people who are bought into a digital service and understand the importance of user needs, the better chance a user centric culture will take root.
219. BOAGWORKS HOW TO RUN STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEWS Stakeholder interviews are a great way of understanding the business and giving stakeholders a voice.
220. BOAGWORKS Make It One On One One-to-one meetings prevent dominant individuals monopolising the conversation.
221. BOAGWORKS Keep Things Anonymous The turning point in many interviews is when the interviewee gets up and closes the office door and lowers their voice.
222. BOAGWORKS Give Them A Voice Give them ample opportunity to express their opinion and be heard. Listen intently, take lots of notes and never disagree.
223. BOAGWORKS Ask The Right Questions ABOUT USERS Talk to the stakeholder about their experience of interacting with users. What does the user want to know etc. ABOUT THE BUSINESS Understanding what the company is trying to achieve will help you find the best way of presenting user experience. ABOUT THE PERSON Focus on the person’s role, responsibilities and goals. This will help you identify ways that a better user experience could help them.
224. BOAGWORKS HOW TO ENCOURAGE ENGAGEMENT You can only do so many stakeholder interviews. How then do you get the rest of the company to care about the user?
225. BOAGWORKS Many Techniques Available
226. BOAGWORKS A Kick Off Day With talks, workshops and break out groups.
227. BOAGWORKS Invite everybody to engage with the process by signing up. Company Wide Email
228. BOAGWORKS Updates on progress and requests for feedback. Also education on best practice. Send Regular Email Updates
229. BOAGWORKS HOW TO RUN AN OPEN ALPHA PHASE Or why you shouldn’t work behind closed doors.
230. BOAGWORKS Transparent Work In Progress Any member of staff can see prototypes and betas as they are being built. They have a mechanism by which to flag issues.
231. BOAGWORKS Explain What You Show
232. BOAGWORKS Open Door Policy Especially around usability testing.
233. BOAGWORKS HOW TO GATHER FEEDBACK How to avoid “I don’t like the colour” feedback.
234. BOAGWORKS Ask Specific Questions We would like your feedback on whether…
235. BOAGWORKS Ask Leading Questions Do you feel the design meets the needs of our primary users as agreed upon here?
236. Search livescience.com 5057 pm Digital Transformation Update: Issue 2 Our last email about digital transformation gained a lot of feedback. A lot of you have questions about the process. In this email we seek to answer some of the most common questions we have received. Doris Cook Digital Transformation Update: Issue 1 As you all know we are currently undertaking a digital transformation process. As part of this initiative we need your involvement. That is why we want to keep you up to date with progress. yesterday bohemian.curated.co 08.04.15 Whatʼs Up With Sketchʼs Scissors Tool? Have you asked yourself that question? Well designer Peter Nowell provides us with an in-depth overview of one of Sketchʼs most useful - and probably least… nytimes.com 08.02.15 Texas ID Law Violated Voting Rights Act, Panel Says The court ruling centers on a state requirement that would-be voters produce some specific forms of government-issued photo identification. Kobe Bryant 07.24.15 Kobe convinced Lakers will make playoffs Search We need your feedback To: John Smith john.smith@acme.com Hi John. When you have a few minutes spare could you please check out the prototype of our new website. You can view it here. We would really appreciate your feedback. In particular we would like to know…. 1. Do you feel the site meets the needs of users? 2. Do you believe the site fulfills the company objectives we discussed? 3. Do you feel the design is inline with our brand guidelines? If you have concerns in any of these areas, please can you provide us with as much detail as you can about where you feel it is failing. Thanks. Paul Inbox 14 2 99+ Drafts Sent Trash Tags Red Green Orange Add your own + Paul Boag paul@boagworld.com Compose message
238. BOAGWORKS WRAPPING UP
239. BOAGWORKS Amazing Opportunity LONG TERM REVENUE Creating a truly great user experience means evolving a digital service over time and that means ongoing repeat business for you. BROADER INFLUENCE Instead of being viewed as implementors of other people’s ideas, UX opens the opportunity to start shaping organisational direction. HIGHER VALUE As you start offering UX strategy you are moving into business consultancy where you can charge much higher rates. NEW SERVICES UX offers the ability to start offering considerably more services from strategy to training.