A Project Guide to UX Design: For user experience designers in the field or in the making by Russ Unger, Carolyn Chandler
Last week my first post as a guest blogger on the Women in Technology site went up. In Seeing IT Through a Different Lens: User Experience, I write about how being in technology does not mean you have to code, manage projects, be an analyst or know hardware. I’m hoping that this post opens up some eyes about what it means to be a techie. Take a read and let me know what you think in the comments below.
As some of you may or may not know, I have decided to take some time off to recharge and relax. As part of this time off, I decided to take the Circle Line tour yesterday. For those of you that aren’t familiar, the Circle Line is a sightseeing company that runs boat tours in NYC. There are several different tour types and lengths that the company offers, and I chose to go on the 3 hour full island sight seeing cruise. Yes, I went on the 3 hour tour, 3 hour tour (don’t worry I made it back in one piece).
Besides the fact that Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs are full of history and are intriguing to look at and take in, the tour was an awesome experience! One of the things that made the tour so great was the tour announcer. This man knew his NYC history. But not only that, his information set crowd expectations as well as answered questions before they were asked. The announcer knew, probably from both experience and research, what the crowds would want to hear about (for instance showing us where flight 1549 touched down and explaining how it was a successful rescue).
The announcer basically knew his audience, knew the things they would want to know about, knew the questions they would have, and knew how to direct them throughout his experience. This guy was a UX pro if I’ve ever seen one. I would highly recommend the Circle Line for both locals and tourists, and plan on going again one day. Maybe next time I’ll ask the announcer for some great UX tips!!
I’m very excited to announce that I’ll be appearing on the Women in Technology blog from time to time as one of their guest bloggers. WIT is a site that is committed to keeping women informed and knowledgeable about technology in order to fulfill their site goal, which is to increase the number of women in the IT field. My focus for guest blogging will be to inform women about the profession of User Experience and share my experiences being a women in the UX field. Hopefully, knowing more about UX and how it fits into the IT world will help more women feel enabled to build their careers in technology. I’d love to hear ideas for posts from all of you, so if you have them please leave them in the comments.
If this is a topic that you are interested in, be sure to check out the Women in Technology blog as well as follow @womenintech on twitter. Currently, Women in Technology is focused in the UK, but I’m sure that having their site up and running will influence women across the globe.
A big thank you to Michele Marut for surfacing this opportunity to me! Wish me luck on this new writing venture, I can’t wait to get typing 
.
You know the old Eagles song (Take it eassssssssyyyyyyyyy, take it eassssssssssssyyyyy… ok enough singing). That is what I’m about to do for a little while. I’ve just about finished up a wonderful project that I’ve been working on all summer, and while sitting and thinking about what I want to focus on next the only thing that came to mind was: Nothing.
All I want to do is relax, enjoy life, and be inspired to be great. It’s been almost 2 and a half years since I moved to New York from San Antonio, and I don’t think I’ve really ever taken a break since. From working fulltime, to starting my own thing as an indie, I’ve been constantly on the go… and loving it! But the time has come to follow my own advice and find balance.
So, for the next few weeks that is what I’m going to do. A whooooole lot of nothing, or at least nothing that I would normally do. Oh and getting more sleep, that is on the list. I might be writing more, I might be writing less so if you don’t hear from me in awhile don’t fret. I’m also wanting to reflect on and talk about my doing nothing experience when I’m doing something again, so look out for that.
Lastly, I’d love to hear thoughts about things I should do, or places I could go (cheap or free) in NYC and the surrounding areas to find more inspiration and to just enjoy myself so feel free to leave any ideas in the comments. Wish me luck!
In the past I’ve written a couple of posts that tie together the roles of UX Designers and Therapists. You can read How User Experience Designers are like Therapists and Another Way that UX Designers are Like Therapists to see these previous posts. So, imagine my joy when I was watching super UXer Whitney Hess on the Big Web Show and she said “A lot of times, I become more like a therapist.”. Yes! Whitney was right on with my thinking, and I’m sure she’s not the only one. You can check out Whitney’s whole interview here, and be sure to check out minute 25 around second 40 to see what I’m referring to.
Whitney calls herself “like a therapist” in relation to the idea that most of the time we as UX designers are brought on to a project to do something tactical. For example, marketing wants a landing page or product management wants a new microsite. As a great UX Designer you wouldn’t simply just start designing the item that they are seeking, but you would question the needs and wants behind the request and really try to understand what solution makes sense in regards to these needs and wants. In this way of questioning and probing, you are bringing the client/business person along with you through the logic and reasoning. You are then helping to make clear to both of you the real need that they have. After making the need clear, you both can work on the solution. Thus as a UXD you are more of a facilitator of need discovery and solutions as opposed to a solution creator or someone that just gets the work done.
In therapy, a therapist will not often have you come in and talk for 5 minutes then say “you are a high anxiety person, and this is the solution to what ails you”. If they do, you need to find a new therapist. Instead, what a good therapist will do, is talk with you through the twists and turns in your life. They are helping you to see your problem yourself, and then they ensure that it is you who is the first to say out loud what it is that ails you. This is the therapist’s problem & needs discovery part. So, after talking with the therapist and them asking you the right questions, you would be the one to say “you know what maybe I’m just an anxious person.” From there, the therapist will help you to facilitate the solution to your problem. But the important part is that they brought you along with them and by doing so have ingrained in you their thoughts and line of questioning, at least to some extent. When you leave therapy, you should not only have a better understanding of yourself, but a better understanding of internal reflection and the ability to look inward to improve what comes out.
Being a great UXD is no different. By bringing our clients along with us in the problem discovery phase we are helping them to look inside of their business and really understand what their needs are. We are also helping them to be able to do so without having us there. We are leaving a piece of our knowledge with them, thereby improving there business both internally and externally. From there we work with them to facilitate a solution to their need. When the project is finished, the client should have a better understanding of their business and the ability to look inward towards it instead of looking outward only (an example of looking outward for solutions is a business person saying, so and so has a twitter account so should we). By helping our clients and business partners to become more aware of themselves, we are ensuring that the experiences that are created are more user focused… which is what it all comes back to.
I started writing this post about a week ago, and then I stopped because I wasn’t sure if it was a blog post or a journal entry. At the time I didn’t know if it was something that I wanted to share or even something that was in line with my experience theme of this site “Lis’ experiences in User Experience”. I thought that posting it might be a waste of your time.
But on my way home from my basketball game, this post came bouncing back into my head and it was something that I felt that I had to write, only if a few or only one other could relate. So, here goes.
As I started my career in development, as opposed to design, I tend to be a little green with some of the visual/industrial design terms. However, one that I do know is Balance. There are many different definitions of the term and several different types of balance that can be achieved with design. For the basis of this post I’ll use the simple definition: equilibrium. So a very, very rough example of balance in design would be if I have a square on the upper left side of the page, I would have a square on the upper right side. This would put the page view in equilibrium.
Another example of balance is one that happens outside of our field, in one of my most favorite places, the basketball court. One of the underlying themes of 3 on 3 basketball is to try to keep the players on the court balanced when your team has the ball. It’s a balance that is achieved by players moving, almost mathematically, through systems of cuts and picks. By moving quickly, yet keeping the players on the court balanced (one in the middle, one on the right, one on the left) the offense causes the defense to spread out, become tired, and get knocked off base. This gives the offense a much better chance of beating the defense to the hoop.
Over the past several months, actually probably the last year or so, my life has been completely out of balance. I have put so much of myself into the UX field, that it has almost consumed the other parts of me leaving me far from equilibrium. I have tried to keep up with as many posts, events, webinars, etc as possible, and have looked to expand and grow myself so much that I’ve started to lose myself. Even though I have a great amount of passion for what I do and for what it does for others, my UX information consumption level has been on overload too long, and I need to take some steps back in order to reach equilibrium. After all, great ideas, inspiration and even great design can not exist without some sense of balance right? Losing that balance puts everything out of whack.
So then what does this all mean? Basically, it means that I’m going to chill the hell out! But in relation to this post it means that I’m going to begin to balance my UX side with my non-UX side. I’m going to look to activities outside of our field, knowing that they will bring me closer to my center. The idea is once I am back in balance, I’ll be much more prone to open my mind to find creativity and inspiration. It’ll allow me to see the rhythm of life again, which I’ll undoubtably apply and connect to my work. This will enable me to be better at what I do, and will stretch the knoweldge that I already have into other realms of UX that I may not have thought of. Of course, I’ll still be keeping up to date and involved, but it’ll be on the things that I’m interested in learning more about, and I’ll count on my network to help me with the rest if needed. There are just so many other fields out there to learn from in order to be better in this one, and also in order to find self fulfillment in my life.
The irony of it all is how it took one of our design principles for me to begin to look outside of design, but I guess that just shows how our field really is all around us all the time. For me it is time to find more inspiration in the things that I enjoy that are outside of my profession. So, the simple point of this post, is one that some of you may have already realized, and some of you may not. But it is one that I want to share in hopes that it helps others in the way that it has helped me. The point, dear reader, is this: In life, as in design, it’s all about the balance. Find yours and you’ll live better, and probably design better too.
I have been waiting to write this post since May when I attended the Big Design Conference in Dallas (Be sure to check out my post Big Design 10 you stole my heart! for more thoughts on this outstanding conference). The opening keynote at the conference was given by Dr. Susan Weinschenk (The Brain Lady). In her talk, Dr. Weinschenk touched on several ideas regarding psychology and how having knowledge of it helps us to create better experiences. She talked about human memory, human mistakes, peripheral vision, and more. Her examples were crystal clear to me. If we knew more about how the human brain works, how it physically works, then we’ll know how to better design for online experiences. I.E. a user can’t physically remember that many characters, so why design something where they’ll have to OR users are social but are also influenced by constraints… a successful medium might be one where user communication is constrained in some way but is also rewarded (uh 140 characters anyone?).
Her talk hit me hard, and the topic is one that we see popping up all over the UX Community (think Stephen Anderson and his Mental Notes). I couldn’t help but think about a world in which I had a psychologist on my design team. Note, I don’t mean a therapist or a psychiatrist, as much as someone who studies the physical capabilities of the human brain, and can thus inform our designs with that knowledge. Because, put simply, I do not have the mental capacity to be an expert in both psychology and UX, (I’m sure that’s a fact somewhere in the psychology books… someone prove it haha!) and I’m not sure it is my responsibility to learn both. Don’t get me wrong, I think having the background knowledge is key, but having the expertise needed to inform others might be a stretch for my brain. Just as I have a Tech Lead… I think that I should have a Psychology lead… roll with me on this one.
Psychology is the scientific study of human (and animal) mental functions and behaviors. User Experience attempts to influence human behavior. Obviously in order to influence behavior we need to study it. User research helps us a great deal in doing this, but I’m sure that psychology could take us much further. Think about it… what if we had a psychologist on our design team? How much more effective do you think we’d be? Not only designs, but more importantly product strategies could be much better informed. Do you think something like “viral marketing” would exist if we didn’t know that people are social? How can we take this behavioral knowledge and use it to design better experiences?
I think that psychology needs to be at our base, and that we are really far behind in this aspect. For instance, as UXers we tend to look more to the technological progress of the world around us in order to stay up to date in our profession (i.e. “ooooo the iPad is really cool and fun. We should design a new app for it” vs. “Here is the crux of human communication and entertainment. How/what can we design to fill the gap?”). Technology is either based off past behaviors or guesses at future behaviors (really well informed guesses but guesses nonetheless). Psychology knows the physical limits of mental function and brain behavior. It can inform technology and decrease the guessing game needed. Thereby, eliminating a great deal of failed designs from our midst and letting us focus on the experience of using the technology vs building something new that may never work with users.
Obviously this is not a new thought, and it is one that is being echoed throughout the UX mountains, but it is, nonetheless, an important thought. What do you think are the crossing points of UX and psychology? Why do you think we dismiss psychology much more easily that we should as UX designers? Do you think that there is a way that psychology can progress our profession?
In my latest post on New York Entrepreneur Week, I address the issue of what entrepreneurs and small business owners are paying for when they hire a UX Designer. Read the full post here, then let me know what you think!
Back in April, I put out a piece that described my initial feelings about The Importance of Being a Better Writer. Coincidentally, around the same time, Liz Danzico was being interviewed on the popular podcast, The Pipeline, where she also talked more about writing (it really was a coincidence! I had no idea that this podcast came out until a couple of weeks later when I finally found the time to listen). Be sure to check out the podcast here. As you may or may not know, Liz is a woman with an array of different talents. One of which is her ability to write not only interesting and enjoyable pieces, but also pieces that are very clear and concise. At one point during the podcast, I couldn’t help but notice that what Liz was saying about writing not only helped to support my previous post, but has also allowed me to expand my thinking around the topic.
So what is it that she touched on that I wanted to share with you? Dan Benjamin (the podcast host) asked Liz how important being a good writer was in the space of blogging. She went on to talk about several points. One of which was the idea of being very clear and having a clear narrative throughout your blog. Essentially she was promoting and explaining clarity in writing. She touched on this in relation to being able to make points (by using very clear language).
Now I realize that this question was in the context of blogging. But it was apparent to me that this also had a huge tie to being a user experience designer. Being able to clearly make a point, to clearly get your point of view across is essential to our work. Of course, this is essential to our user interfaces. We need to design experiences and frameworks and content that clearly explains to our user what is happening. A great experience will bring users through a narrative, almost like a story, that has a setup, middle and ending, which in turn helps to provide an intuitive and enjoyable experience.
However, the ability to clearly express your point of view is also helpful with our business partners, technology partners and other design colleagues. It goes without saying that clearly being able to state your point of view is one of the most important things when talking process, design, scope, etc. Working to become a better writer is one way to help you find clarity in writing, speaking and designing, which then helps you to become better at influencing decisions and process from a UX perspective.
The last thing that stood out to me, was when Liz talked about the ability to have one clear message that your blog or blog post wants to get across to the audience. She mentioned that being able to do so, would help you to make your point in a clear and concise way, and practicing creating these points in short twitter like stints will help to improve your writings skills. So, I created a message (in 140 characters) that I wanted to get across in the post. It is simply: Being a clear communicator is vital to being a better UXD. Writing is 1 form of communication. Thus, being a clear writer leads to great UXD.
Would love to hear your thoughts/comments on this one guys!
A few months ago I got an im from my old colleague and good friend, Joe Dyer. He asked me if I was going to go see him speak at the 2nd Annual Big Design conference in Dallas. My response? “I love ya Joe, but why would I go all the way to Dallas to attend a conference I’ve never heard of?” “Because”, he said, “it’s $100 for the full two days.” That made it a horse of a different color.
So I preceded to consider my friend’s idea, and eventually realized there was no reason for me skip Big D, especially considering the cost. I booked my trip, but remained skeptical. I mean even though there were some big names, I just couldn’t see how a conference with such low cost could be interesting and informative. Boy was I wrong!
When I arrived at SMU the first day of the conference I was seriously impressed with the setup. It was just right. Plenty of free coffee, food and swag to boot. The best part? The conference attend list was small and intimate. People were networking but it wasn’t as forced. The speakers were found amongst the crowd and it was not unusual to see them around just being a part of things. Everyone was the same, and it felt awesome.
Then came the events themselves. The first day started with a keynote by Susan Weinschenk on Psychology of Online Behavior. Then, the talks were split by Social Media, Code Development and Workshops. You could go to any track at any time. Oh and who could forget the free t-shirt you got when you answered a question?! Nathan Shedroff rounded out the day with another awesome keynote. Day 2 kicked off with a talk by Chris Bernard who spoke about John Hughes and the inspiration he provides us. Then they day split into Design, Strategy and more Workshops. Jared Spool closed out the conference with his talk on the anatomy of design decisions. And that was it: two jam packed days, no more no less. They scheduled it perfectly, I was burnt out but not completely dead. Basically there was content for all and it was very well put together. The speakers were great, and were talking about things that I don’t think I would’ve heard at other events. I’ll definitely be writing more about these in the coming weeks, but this post is dedicated to my love for Big D 10.
So I’ll end with this. Big D, I didn’t have faith, however seeing is believing. Please forgive me for my wrongs. I’ll be sure to visit you each and every year, if you’ll have me, so that I can be endowed with even more knowledge to enhance my career. You too, dear reader, should considering attending this event in the future. It was totally worth every penny, yes, all 10,000 of them.
See you next year Dallas. Can’t wait to see what 2011 holds for Big D!