User Interface Engineering

“We tried creating personas and it was hard. It took us months and they never got traction. Eventually we abandoned the project.”

I’ve heard this dozens of times from design team managers. They all embarked on these big persona projects, often with energy and excitement, only to find that energy dissipate and the project lose its momentum. Personas that don’t help make design decisions are a waste.

However, it doesn’t have to be that way. These projects fail because of a perspective problem. The design teams think of making personas as a project in itself. I’ve come to the conclusion that thinking this way will lead to failure.

The alternative to having personas be a project is to make them just a step inside of every project. Instead of making them once and trying to use them everywhere, we come up with a low cost way to insert them into each project as they are needed.

We can divide well-done design projects into a discovery phase (where we explore the boundaries of the problem we’re trying to solve), an exploration phase (where we toy with different possible solutions), and a refinement phase (where we choose a direction and fill out the details). (Not everyone does design projects well, but the folks who do end up following these three phases. The ones who don’t, well, they skip one or more of these stages then regret it later. Or maybe they are unconsciously incompetent.)

Part of the activities in the discovery phase are to gather information about the users of the design and what they’ll need. We can do that with fancy-ass research or we can do it by just collecting all our thoughts about what we already know. The more specific we can get each question, the easier they are to answer.

For example, if we were building the part of a clothing e-commerce site that showed the product previews, we’d want to know how people used previews in their shopping. We can make guesses or ask our peers. Or we can go into the field and study shopping online or in stores.

Now, we can group what we’ve learned about our users into behavioral categories. We might group people who love to match different pieces in one pile, while we group people who prefer to see pre-designed outfits in a different pile. We might group the folks who are matching colors to things they already own in a different pile from people who don’t trust the colors they see and will use the free 90-day return period to ship back products they don’t like.

These different groups become the persona clusters. And the things people did in those groups become our scenarios. If we’ve done a good job of collecting our data and knowledge about the users, it should be quick to create these personas around this specific functionality. Less than a day, in fact.

And there we have it: Detailed personas about using previews. There’s probably a ton of design decisions these personas can now help us answer. (And where they can’t, well, that points out for a little more research.)

At the end of the project, when our preview module is out there and being used, well, the personas aren’t that useful anymore. But because only spent a day on them, we don’t need to “protect our investment.” We just toss them out and create new ones for the next project.

There you have it: cheap and easy disposable personas.

Join us on June 20, when Adam Connor presents Design Studio: Building Design Consensus Early in Your Process.

Design reviews can result in conflicting lists of stakeholder feedback and out-of-scope ideas about what the design should be. Bruised egos, longer timelines, and higher budgets are often par for the course.

Adam Connor builds design consensus naturally by running a Studio, which structures team brainstorming early in the process, then uses sketching, presentation, and critique activities to get everyone moving toward a shared vision. Before long, you’ll be running faster among a team of happy people — and you’ll all be building better products, too.

You’ll Learn to:

• Solve problems as a team
• Generate ideas during a Studio
• Build consensus around a shared idea
• Use critique at the “right” times

Special Offer – Register by May 31 and immediately get access to Adam’s first seminar, Discussing Design: The Art of Critique.

So here’s the thing: Innovation isn’t a bad word. Overused? Perhaps. But not bad.

How do I know this? Because cheese in bread, cookie dough in ice cream, and Genius Bars inside Apple stores are AMAZING.

These are just a few examples of innovation that create great user experiences. They’re creative ways of putting existing things together in new ways that add real value to users’ lives.

So that’s what our fabulous lineup of presenters will be focusing on at UI18. They’ll tackle innovation in UX design from a variety of angles.

Scott Berkun will talk about what it takes to enable innovation in the first place — from thinking creatively to managing projects, egos, and business risks. You’ll hear how to lay a foundation for developing seriously great ideas and persuading teams and management to get onboard.

Get to know your users with Christine Perfetti. Her 90-day user-research plan is perfect for organizations hungry to find opportunities to innovate. You’ll learn to recruit participants, design tasks for them, organize field studies, present the data in terms stakeholders will love.

With Kevin Hoffman, you’ll find out how to structure meetings so the creative minds on your team can rally behind powerful, innovative ideas. He’ll show you a bunch of frameworks to encourage ideas from everyone and weigh business risks before jumping to design.

Adam Connor and Aaron Irizarry will focus on building consensus around innovative design ideas through sketching, studios, and critiques. If you’ve ever experienced a “swoop and poop” of a stakeholder steamrolling ideas late in the game, then get in this workshop ASAP.

Jeff Gothelf is the leading voice behind Lean UX, a methodology to break ideas into bite-sized chunks that can be prototyped and tested super fast. See how to re-invigorate your design team and get to innovations faster, all by taking a scientific approach to design that minimizes risk.

Kim Goodwin will get your team on the innovation train, too. You’ll see how to map your user’s journey, then sketch with project managers to collaboratively define requirements. She’ll also talk about “minding the gap” in the UX across devices and within your organizational silos.

Dig deep into design details with Dan Saffer. He’ll show tons of examples of micro-interactions that delight users in unexpected, innovative ways. You’ll experiment with different types of triggers and feedback loops, then set realistic rules for your experiences to follow.

If you’re ever needed to design a data visualization or infographic, then Stephen Anderson’s workshop is up your alley. He’ll show you how innovative data interpretation can be; when you help users understand your story in new ways, they repay you in action and engagement.

Each of these fabulous presenters knows how to add real value to their users’ lives. And with their help, you’ll see which tools and processes you can use to make innovation happen.

With so many ways to measure our impact, why spend any more time trying to invent a better mousetrap?

Don’t just invent a better mousetrap. Come to UI18.

In this week’s UIEtips, Margot Bloomstein discusses the strategies content producers should take to optimize their writing.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

But with the opportunities of publishing come immense challenges. Don’t just write; write well. Don’t just blog once; maintain a schedule. Don’t just launch an app; ensure your content is appropriate for the many contexts and devices through which it may appear. And goodness, don’t just curate content by choosing keywords and automating aggregation; hone your perspective on the topic and continually revisit your collection to maintain its relevance.

Read the article: How Content Strategy Can Help.

How do you prioritize the content you create for your web site and blog? Let us know below.

What happens when we slow our pace, enjoy the ride, or look around while waiting in line? Well, if there’s content to engage us, our experiences will be richer and more memorable—and our typical frustrations from “waiting” are more likely to vanish, too.

That’s the power of good content that guides us, helps us focus, and encourages us to explore: it helps us make better choices and have more positive memories of an experience.

Margot Bloomstein knows which companies use content to control and focus users’ attention. In Controlling the Pace of UX with Content Strategy, she’ll tell you how those brands structure conversations to help their target audiences make decisions. With Margot as your guide, you’ll start identifying the content hurdles that are preventing your users from feeling satisfied.

You’ll learn:

• Determine if “slow content” is right for your company
• Balance your brand voice with your users’ needs
• Map interesting paths that encourage your users to learn
• Help your users make decisions more confidently

If you know your company can do a better job of communicating with and engaging its users, then don’t miss this seminar.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:15 — 8.0MB)

[ Transcript Available ]

Here at UIE we’ve amassed quite a library, and we’re adding to it all the time. One of the more recent additions is Margot Bloomstein’s book Content Strategy at Work. Margot is a fixture at conferences like Confab and the IA Summit. She’s also a veteran of our Virtual Seminar program having presented Combining Curation with Your Content Strategy and returning May 30 with Controlling the Pace of UX with Content Strategy.

The subtitle of Margot’s book is “Real-World Stories to Strengthen Every Interactive Project” and in keeping with that idea, it is chock full of case studies and practical examples. Adam Churchill catches up with Margot to discuss her book in this podcast.

Recorded: May, 2013
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What if you could ask one question during an interview that would tell you everything you need to know about the candidate you’re thinking of hiring?

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a big fan of Lou Adler’s Hire with Your Head recruiting strategy. A big component of how Lou approaches hiring is the interview conversation. While Lou isn’t thinking of hiring designers specifically, it turns out his approach is perfect for the folks who will thrive in your environment and produce great work.

The question is a simple one: “What’s the project you worked on that you’re most proud of?” Now, this isn’t the only question you ask during the interview, just the first one.

Once the candidate tells you their project, you ask them to explain what it was they were trying to do. Then you ask them how the project started.

You can then ask them who else was involved. Design is a team sport and I love having candidates draw org charts of their projects. Then I ask them to tell me who else was involved and what everyone’s contribution was. It helps identify how much of a team player the candidate is and how they dealt with whatever people issues arose.

Anything you want to know about their skills, talents, and contributions can come from that first initial question. Because it’s starting with something they are proud of, I’ve found candidates are more open and honest about what they did.

It also becomes easy to see where a candidate has depth and where they are only skimming on the important qualities. A great candidate can dive into details of their best accomplishment and show what it was all about. Someone who wants to say “I was involved” when they really weren’t starts to stumble and pause when you get to the followup questions.

This one question gets to the core of behavioral interviews, where you look at the past behavior of the candidate to best predict how they’ll work out on your team. Because designers repeat the work habits they learn throughout their career, understanding the details how they’ve worked in the past can tell you a ton about how they’ll work with you.

Truly innovative designs anticipate users’ needs and add value in unexpected ways. They require strategic creativity more than invention — as you’ll learn when you join us in Boston from Oct. 21–23 for the User Interface 18 Conference.

This year’s speaker line-up will make you look at UX like you’ve never had before.

Kevin Hoffman – Leading Super Productive Productive Meetings

Stephen Anderson – Helping Users Understand Your Data

Kim Goodwin – Using Scenarios to Design Intuitive Experiences

Scott Berkun – Innovating on a Deadline

Adam Connor and Aaron Irizarry – Building Consensus in Critiques and Design Studios

Dan Saffer – Designing Micro-Interactions

Jeff Gothelf – Escaping Product Requirement Hell Using Lean UX

Christine Perfetti – Jumpstart Your UX Research Program

Get a Jump on Registration

We only have 125 spots at the $1,389 price. Last year those discounted seats went fast and the conference did sell out.

When you sign-up for the UI18 list, you’ll get first crack at registering for the conference. On Wednesday morning, May 15 you’ll receive a special email with a link that allows you to register. Everyone else will have to wait until Thursday afternoon, May 16.

Get your approvals now and get ready to register.

Explore the Conference at UICONF.com

In this week’s UIEtips, Stephen P. Anderson discusses micro-moments in design.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Good interaction design is about attending to every moment that passes between a person and the device (or system, or service) with which he or she is interacting. These moments can be explicit, as with gestures, taps, a button-click, or the completion of a form field. Or, these moments may be more elusive, such as a pause while you try and understand what is being asked of you or how to answer. It’s these internal conversations that users have at any given moment that often get overlooked.

Read the article: UX Design, Role-playing & Micromoments.

What micro-moments have your experiences that added to — or diminished — your experience with a design? Lets us know below.

In the desire to expand your prototyping toolkit, you need to regularly try out new tools and techniques. Your goal is to have, at your disposal, as many different prototyping tools as possible. Maybe you want to learn a new software tool? Maybe you’re interested in practicing your whiteboard sketching skills or play with paper prototypes?

Even though you might be tempted to use a new tool to work on a new design, I think that’s a bad idea. Instead, I think you should set aside some time to redo an old project or mimic an existing design using the new tool. Grab a challenging interaction from your existing product, copy a cool design you use every day, or take the last prototype you built and rebuild it in the new tool.

Learning a new tool or technique takes full attention. Yet, coming up with new design ideas and approaches also takes full attention. Why divide the attention? If your goal is to master a new tool, make the investment to do just that.

Give yourself the time to learn and experiment with the new tool. Pick a design you’re very familiar with and practicing rebuilding it. Remove the need to concentrate on what makes the design good and focus on how you emulate it with this new tool.

Make the practice session all about learning the ins-and-outs of the new tool. Play with the different methods for rendering and simulation.

Take time to practice the techniques for prototyping before you need to put them into action on a real project. (And if you haven’t used a tool in a while, practice that too.)

Other thoughts on prototyping:

• Prototyping’s Resurgence: Communicating the Designer’s Intent
• Five Prevalent Pitfalls when Prototyping