UX Research - The Most Powerful Tool in Your Kit
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Even a small amount of design research has the power to transform your project and lay a foundation for success. This quick primer will give you the tools and understanding needed to get started today.
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UX Research - The Most Powerful Tool in Your Kit
- 1. UX Research The most powerful tool in your kit? Mary Wharmby UX Design Director, Spring Studio ! @marywharmby www.marywharmby.com Presented to Tradecraft September 30, 2014
- 2. You must UNDERSTAND a problem before you can solve it.
- 3. Who are we designing for? What do they want? What do they love? What do they they hate? Who are they with? When, where, how do they engage? Where are the hand offs? What is the scenario? How can we help?
- 4. How do we know?
- 5. Research.
- 6. Top three goals of research understanding empathy insight
- 7. On that foundation generate opportunities prioritize features inform strategy and tactics
- 8. But it doesn’t have to be really big or expensive
- 9. Research can be as simple as “people watching” Listening Having a meaningful conversation
- 10. Two major purposes Generative Conducted before beginning design. Helps identify user goals, needs, behaviors, attitudes,and mental models. Used to generate ideas for design solutions. Evaluative Conducted once there are designs to test with users. This can be a completed design, wireframes or even concept sketches. Used to determine the success of the design.
- 11. Ideas Generative Prototype Evaluative Insights Opportunities Effectiveness Improvements Usefulness Understanding Usability
- 12. Two broad approaches Qualitative Gain an understanding of underlying reasons and motivations. Provide insights into setting, touch points and relationships. Quantitative Quantify data and generalize results from a sample. Measure the incidence of various views and opinions in a chosen sample.
- 13. Mix and match Qualitative Quantitative Evaluative Generative Interviews Usability Testing Surveys Analytics
- 14. Regardless of purpose or approach, research usually has three phases
- 15. Before, during and after Planning Execution Analysis Strategize Hypothesize Script Prepare Facilitate Observe Listen Collect Group Synthesize Map Understand
- 16. Time budgeting Time for planning and analysis is usually underestimated Loose rule of thumb Planning : Execution : Analysis 1 : 1 : 1 (at least)
- 17. PLANNING
- 18. Start broad ! What problem are you trying to solve?
- 19. Then go narrow ! What specific questions will provide insights?
- 20. What triggered the journey/encounter? What were the expectations? What did he or she think, feel, do at different points in time? What touch points did he or she interact with? What people were involved? What tech (screens, devices, etc.) were involved? How was the experience?
- 21. How can we find out?
- 22. Choose a method Stakeholder/SME Interviews Competitor Reviews Observation Contextual Inquiry Usability Testing Focus Groups Surveys Remote Testing Card Sorting Diary Studies
- 23. But which method when? Focus Groups Interviews Surveys Card Sorting Cognitive Walkthrough Usability Testing User Needs Concept x x x Validation Usability ! x ! x x ! x ! ! x x
- 24. Choose participants Who are you designing for? Choose participants that closely match your target audience. Where can you find them? Its usually best to observe them in the wild. How can you get them to participate? Many people are interested in helping. Or, compensate.
- 25. Formulate a plan Research goal Schedule and budget Problem / hypotheses Recruitment profile/screener (persona hypotheses) Research method Task list Testing environment and/or equipment Facilitator script / discussion guide Evaluation criteria
- 26. Prepare your materials Discussion guide Post-Its or index cards Sharpies Prototype Visual aids Camera Recorder Notetaker/observer
- 27. EXECUTION
- 28. Be ready and nimble The better your research is planned and executed, the more valid and useful the results. Let participants react to your designs and not to the test itself. Pivot when necessary.
- 29. Warm it up Put your participant at ease - make them welcome and relaxed Establish rapport Thank them for participating! Give them their overall objective Give them an idea what to expect Make sure they understand we are NOT testing them Explain that you may not be able to answer questions Ask them to think out-loud as they go through tasks
- 30. Lead and follow Start wide and narrow as you go Ask open questions Articulate a scenario so the user can orient themselves Don’t ask leading questions Keep the wording of tasks simple Don’t give away the answer in the task description Ask what they are thinking and feeling as well as doing Observe what they do (not necessarily what they say)
- 31. React smoothly Answer a question with a question (what do YOU think that button should do?) Be patient! Their are no wrong answers Take criticism with grace At the end answer any questions that came up Thank the participant
- 32. Capture everything Video the interview/encounter Sketchnote the interview Use sticky notes to record observations and ideas Take photos of setting and artifacts
- 33. ANALYSIS
- 34. What does it mean? ! How can you make the information most accessible and actionable to team members, stakeholders and yourself?
- 35. Create tools (design research artifacts) ! Mind maps, personas and journey maps are my top three
- 36. Discover connections with mind maps Start with one story then build out Group ideas and draw connections Look for surprises, trends and opportunities
- 37. References Issues Link to Source/ File & Inline/ URL Description of problem, how to fix and examples Correlated Issues Advice/ Recommend ations Comment History Explanation/ Examples Status (Issue Age) Not Fixed History Fixed (gone) No Attempts Attempt Fail Maps HP Defined Priority Kingdoms PCI OWASP Other Other Other 15 Others High Critical Medium Low First Appearance (new) Which scans has it show in Category (~550)
- 38. Understand users with personas Capture: Attitudes and mindsets Goals Behaviors Opportunities Who is the user? What do they care about? What do they love/hate? How do they interact? How can we help?
- 40. Model context with journey maps Illuminate the complete experience a person may have with your product or service. Visually describe how an experience unfolds over a period of time and through different touch points and channels. Enable deep understanding of the user’s entire experience. Highlight design opportunities.
- 41. Customer STAGES Journey Research & Planning Shopping Booking Post-Booking, Pre-Travel Travel Post Travel EUROPE THINKING EXPERIENCE Enter trips Confirm Wait for paper tickets to arrive Research destinations, routes and products Kayak, compare airfare Google searches Research hotels Talk with friends Enjoyability Relevance of Rail Europe Helpfulness of Rail Europe Paper tickets arrive in mail • I’m excited to go to Europe! • Will I be able to see everything I can? • What if I can’t afford this? • I don’t want to make the wrong choice. • It’s hard to trust Trip Advisor. Everyone is so negative. • Keeping track of all the different products is confusing. • Am I sure this is the trip I want to take? • Website experience is easy and friendly! • Frustrated to not know sooner about which tickets are eTickets and which are paper tickets. Not sure my tickets will arrive in time. • Stressed that I’m about to leave the country and Rail Europe won’t answer the phone. • Frustrated that Rail Europe won’t ship tickets to Europe. • Happy to receive my tickets in the mail! • I am feeling vulnerable to be in an unknown place in the middle of the night. • Stressed that the train won’t arrive on time for my connection. • Meeting people who want to show us around is fun, serendipitous, and special. Follow-up on refunds for booking changes • Excited to share my vacation story with my friends. • A bit annoyed to be dealing with ticket issues when I just got home. View maps Arrange travel Blogs & Travel sites Plan with interactive map Review fares Select pass(es) itinerary Delivery options Payment options Review & confirm Map itinerary (finding pass) Destination pages May call if difficulties occur E-ticket Print at Station Web raileurope.com Live chat for questions Activities, unexpected changes Change plans Check ticket status Print e-tickets at home web/apps Look up timetables Plan/ confirm activities Web Share photos Share experience (reviews) Request refunds Share experience Buy additional tickets Look up time tables Opportunities • What is the easiest way to get around Europe? • Where do I want to go? • How much time should I/we spend in each place for site seeing and activities? • I want to get the best price, but I’m willing to pay a little more for first class. • How much will my whole trip cost me? What are my trade-offs? • Are there other activities I can add to my plan? • Do I have all the tickets, passes and reservations I need in this booking so I don’t pay more shipping? • Rail Europe is not answering the phone. How else can I get my question answered? • Do I have everything I need? • Rail Europe website was easy and friendly, but when an issue came up, I couldn’t get help. • What will I do if my tickets don’t arrive in time? • I just figured we could grab a train but there are not more trains. What can we do now? • Am I on the right train? If not, what next? • I want to make more travel plans. How do I do that? • Trying to return ticket I was not able to sure if I’ll get a refund or not. • People are going to love these photos! • Next time, we will explore routes and availability more carefully. Communicate a clear value proposition. visit Arm Enjoyability customers with information for making decisions. STAGES: Shopping, Booking Enjoyability Improve the paper ticket experience. STAGES: Post-Booking, Travel, Post-Travel Enjoyability Support people in creating their own solutions. STAGES: Global Enjoyability Visualize the trip for planning and booking. STAGES: Planning, Shopping Enjoyability Enable people to plan over time. STAGES: Planning, Shopping Accommodate planning and booking in Europe too. STAGE: Traveling Help people get the help they need. STAGES: Global PLANNING, SHOPPING, BOOKING POST-BOOK, TRAVEL, POST-TRAVEL Relevance of Rail Europe Helpfulness of Rail Europe Relevance of Rail Europe Helpfulness of Rail Europe Relevance of Rail Europe Helpfulness of Rail Europe Relevance of Rail Europe Helpfulness of Rail Europe Relevance of Rail Europe Helpfulness of Rail Europe Mail tickets for refund Get stamp for refund
- 42. OK, BUT THEN WHAT?
- 43. Make use of your artifacts Define and rank opportunities Inform strategy and tactics Share understanding within and across teams
- 44. And keep using them Create living documents that are continuously updated Gut check designs along the way Maintain the overall vision Keep your audience at the center of your thinking
- 45. DON’T FORGET
- 46. You must UNDERSTAND a problem before you can solve it.
- 47. Research can be the MOST POWERFUL TOOL in your kit!
- 48. Methods will vary from project-to-project ! Scope and cost will vary (widely)
- 49. But, some research is always better than none.
- 50. Thank you! Mary Wharmby UX Design Director, Spring Studio ! @marywharmby www.marywharmby.com
- 51. Photo Credits Men talking: https://flic.kr/p/zkGwh Chess: https://flic.kr/p/e62U9Z Lab: https://flic.kr/p/cW3F6C Journey Map: Adaptive Path Road: https://flic.kr/p/4Bo5g Brain: https://flic.kr/p/5kpAF6