Part 1
Know People
5 Ways to Create Revolutionary Experiences
Read the prologue of this series here.
We are now in a digital age, touching more designed experiences than ever before.
Experience Design allows us to craft experiences that solve problems for real people — experiences that will ultimately improve their lives. With this end goal in mind, research becomes a crucial part of the UX process. It allows us to understand the perspectives of the people we are designing for. What pain points are they experiencing? How can we use our creative and strategic skills to design real solutions for those problems?
The image above is commonly used to explain UX. It shows a well-treaded path beside a elegantly crafted sidewalk. What can we infer from this picture?
If the person who designed this sidewalk had spent time researching the people it was designed for, it’s likely she would have noticed that most people cut across the field to save time.
Now consider the images below that depict two sides of the same door. Which side requires you to push? Which side requires you to pull?
Without seeing “Push” or “Pull” written above the handle, we are not able to infer which way to open the door.
Take a look at another set of doors. Which side requires you to push? Which requires you to pull?
These doors don’t require directions in regard to pushing or pulling because their design matches user intuition. Had the first designer conducted research about the people she was designing for, it is likely that the doors would have been designed differently.
In her presentation Design Principles: The Philosophy of UX, Hess displays the image below of the intimate aisle at a grocery store. The photo shows contraceptives sitting beside pregnancy tests on store shelves.
What UX problems do you see in this picture?
If we were to research consumer behaviors (or even consider our own), we would easily realize that most people do not want to think about the possibility of pregnancy when they are ready to get-it-on.
A better UX for intimate products might be to separate the contraceptives from the pregnancy tests and place them outside — something a few convenience have actually done. This allows shoppers to quickly, and discreetly, get the protection they need without having to think about the possible consequences.
As Kara Swisher points out in her Interaction15 talk, we spend most of our time staring down at tiny boxes, our computer and mobile screens. Designed experiences have taken over most of our time. They have become the majority of the human experience.
If we were to add another state of evolution to the image above, it would certainly depict a human fully hunched over a mobile screen.
And, in the age of mobile, we are experiencing disruptive moments on our phones far too often. Have you ever tried to go to webpage on your phone, only to be told that you have to switch devices in order to access that information?
In a world of constant connectivity, nothing is more frustrating than not being able to connect when you want to.
Or not being able to load something when you need it immediately.
And even though you pour tons of time into researching your users and crafting the most amazing life-changing miraculous holistic omni-channel user experience ever… no one can experience it if it doesn’t load.
Designing a great user experience is more important today than ever before.
We are able to design better experiences if we truly understand the people we are designing for. Empathy allows us to to identify problems and create working solutions. If we are actually solving a need for people, we are able to design products, services and experiences that are meaningful. Things that people will love to use. Things that they will tell their friends about.
So, how can we learn more about the people we are creating experiences for?
User Experience professionals have discovered many ways to get to know people on a closer level. These UX methods and tools include user research, interviews, ethnography, personas, user flows, sitemaps, wireframes, prototypes and usability testing, among many other artifacts and techniques.
User Interviews are a great way to get know people in the context of their own home, office or natural environment. Once there, we can establish a real relationship with them by listening to their story.
UX professionals ask questions like:
- How would you describe your experience with this brand through out your lifetime?
- How do you interact with them (in person, online, multiple channels)?
- What about the current design or experience is causing you pain? How can we design a solution that will help you?
User Interviews are a great way to understand the people you are designing for before you start designing.
When researching, we can also feel-out the experience ourselves. Ethnography allows researchers to immerse themselves in the mental state of the person who is experiencing the design. By forcing ourselves to truly understand the context of the user, we are able to empathize with them on a deeper level.
After we have conducted interviews and ethnographic research, we can take insights learned and turn them into personas.
Below are the personas that MailChimp uses — they have them hanging around their office so that employees may be constantly reminded of who they designing for.
Once we have conducted our initial user research and created personas, we use these tools to craft user flows, sitemaps and information architecture that consider the person’s mental mode.
- How do they expect to find this information?
- How would they sort this information into categories?
- Where would they expect to find this feature?
Each detail must have a purpose — the user should be guided through the resulting experience with ease and simplicity.
After we understand the people we are designing for, we can begin to concept solutions. Wireframes are probably the most common UX tool to help us visualize, build and test these concepts.
Wireframes come in all shapes and sizes, from a quick sketch to a fully-functional interactive prototypes. These wireframes validate the chosen concepts with actual users.
With quickly sketched wireframes that take no more than a few hours, we may start testing designs with real people. In a paper prototype test, the UX facilitator acts as the computer, asking people to perform tasks and then placing the next screen once they tap on the paper button.
Instead of waiting for a pixel-perfect mock up or a fully functioning prototype, these wireframes allow major issues to be identified before they cause major roadblocks later in the design and development process.
Similar tests can be run later in the process using clickable wireframes, front-end prototypes and fully developed beta products. In these usability studies, a user will be asked to perform key tasks under the observation of a UX researcher.
Although it may at first be painful to watch someone try to use your design, this is the most impactful way to see what is broken and then fix it — before the product is placed in the hands of more users.
85% of UX problems can be solved early by testing only 5 users. — Nielsen Norman Group
When broken features, dead ends, and usability issues — that would never have been caught without testing — are resolved earlier in the process, money and time can be saved during design and development.
Keeping this insight in mind, let’s turn to the Holistic UX Process. This process is very similar to user-centered design. The most important aspect of both processes is to involve users at each step.
Discover
Conduct research to discover user needs, uncover contextual insights, understand the mental model of the user and identify the problem we are trying to solve.
Evaluate
Use insights gained from user research along with a heuristic review to audit the current experience. Compare with competitors to ensure design, functionality, and content are matching user’s expectations.
Concept
Identify user requirements, create user personas and user flows. Ensure that the users needs are being met by the business goals. Concept opportunities to improve and humanize the experience.
Architect
Create deliverables and process artifacts that communicate the ideal experience. These documents can take many shapes including wireframes, sitemaps, prototypes, experience maps, etc.
Validate
Perform usability tests to validate that the solution accurately solves the problems identified and meets user requirements. Gather user feedback and identify further research or deliverables needed.
Iterate
The Holistic UX process does not have a clear starting or stopping point. Once the experience is built, continue to cycle through the UX process to discover more insights, test features to increase usability, concept new ideas to create more innovative solutions and adapt the experience for context.
Brands are not engaged in true UX unless they are bringing users into the design process. Countless UX experts, including Nielsen Norman Group and Whitney Hess, would agree.
An orchestrated approach across many disciplines and stakeholders must be achieved to create a truly effective user experience. -Nielsen Norman Group
So, who actually owns the experience? Is it the job the of the UX Designer/Architect/Developer to discover, evaluate, concept, architect and validate the entire experience?
No.
Thinking & designing holistically will require teams to blend expertise and skills in new ways. -Jonathan Follett, Designing for Emerging Technologies
Designers create the experience.
Developers build the experience.
Writers craft the experience.
Producers plan the experience.
Strategists frame the experience.
The job of the UX team member is to connect team members with the information they need about the people for whom the experience is crafted for.
It’s that simple.
Everyone owns the experience.
This is Part 1 of the series ‘5 Ways to Create Revolutionary Experiences’.
Check back next week on Struck’s Greater Than collection for Part 2.
Read the prologue here.
