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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] Compose message
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.
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