A Day in the Life of a UX Designer - Emily Holmes, Director of UX for R&D, Hobsons, Inc.

This month, we explored the role of a UX Designer!

Some UX designers do a little bit of everything (concepting, information architecture, wireframing, prototyping, and usability testing) on a project, while others might specialize or lean more toward one area of the field.

Our guest speaker for this session is Emily Holmes, the Director of UX for R&D at Hobsons, Inc. Emily talked about her role as a UX Designer on an innovation team and walked us through a case study of a project she worked on using Lean UX methodology. This is her slide deck for her presentation. You can find a recap of the event on exploreUX.org or on the event’s meetup page.

About the A Day in the Life Series
Each month, we'll explore a different role in the UX field. This gives an opportunity for you to learn about what people do in that particular role, ask them questions, and participate in activity to “test drive” what it’s like to be in this role.

This event series is brought to you by exploreUX and Triangle UXPA. For more about this event or exploreUX in general, check out the exploreUX Raleigh Edition meetup page or exploreUX.org.

Transcript

1. Emily  Holmes  -­‐ @uxemily
   Director  of  UX  for  R&D,  Hobsons
   Using UX
   to guide
   innovation
   

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2. background
   8,500  middle  and  high  school  customers
   Used  in  80+  countries
   95%  renewal  rate
   

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3. background
   > 35%
   of  all  US  high  school  graduates  in  the  
   US  last  year  had  a  Naviance account
   

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4. We want to do more
   93% 44%
   of  middle  school  students  
   aspire  to  go  to  college
   of  students  actually  
   enroll  in  college
   

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6. Lean ux
   

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7. Can we use UX
   to empower K-12 students
   to take control of their futures?
   

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9. Counselors are overburdened
   

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10. Parents are lost
    Don’t  speak  English
    Haven’t  been  to  
    college
    Unfamiliar  with  the  
    college  application  
    process
    Work  multiple  jobs
    Assume  college  is  
    not  affordable  
    Aren’t  computer
    literate
    

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11. Students are unprepared
    33% • of  students  in  US  post-­‐secondary  institutions  
    will  require  remediation
    • of  US  students  who  go  to  college  will  never  
    graduate
    

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12. Let’s find a way to help
    solve this problem.
    

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14. Where do we start?
    What  we  know: What  we  don’t  know:
    Tool  to  help  students  
    prepare  themselves  more  
    effectively  for  the  future
    Focus  on  college  and  
    career  readiness
    Who  the  customer  is
    How  we’ll  sell  it
    What  we’re  building
    Everything  else!
    

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15. Where do we start?
    Form  a  team
    Talk  to  people  we  already  know
    Look  to  see  what’s  out  there
    

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16. User research
    

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17. User research
    

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18. User research
    

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19. What we learned
    What  students  like: What  schools  want:
    Project-­‐based  learning Consistent,  standards-­‐
    based  curriculum
    Video  content,  especially  
    when  it  shows  people  
    who  are  similar  to  them
    Identifying  their  own  
    strengths
    Progress  bars  and  bright  
    colors
    Ability  to  assess  student  
    progress
    Engaging  content  for  
    students
    

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21. Testing assumptions
    Students  will  pay  for  a  solution
    Parents  will  pay  for  a  solution  and  have  access  
    to  tech
    Schools are  willing  to  pay  for  a  solution
    Schools have  access  to  adequate  technology
    Students  will  see  value  in  what  schools  want  
    for  them
    

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23. personas
    

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25. scenarios
    

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26. scenarios
    

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28. Story maps
    

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29. Story maps
    More  info:  Jeff  Patton  -­‐ “The  New  User  Story  Backlog  is  a  Map”  http://bit.ly/1KQp
    

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31. Testing the details
    A B
    

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32. Testing the details
    Perceived  difficulty Interest  level Confidence  level
    

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33. Testing the details
    

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34. Testing the details
    

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35. Ongoing iteration
    • Tested  every  new  piece  in  a  classroom  setting
    • Always  looked  for  the  simplest,  most  
    lightweight  way  to  test  new  hypotheses
    • Never  built  too  much  before  getting  direct  
    feedback  from  students  and  educators
    

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37. Launch a product
    

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