People First: Making a Better Web by Truly Understanding Our Users

The foundation and starting point of any great website or application is a deep-rooted understanding of its users. When we truly understand the actual people interacting with the things we design – and not just on a superficial level – we can create products that make for happy users.

In this talk, we discuss how to discover various user groups, what questions we should really be asking about them, how user-centred design solves common project problems, methods to get the information we need, and real-life examples of deep user understanding that have led to lovable products.

Note that this is a photo-heavy talk; most slides don't provide enough context to be helpful on their own. I suggest breezing through the presentation to find the slides that do make sense and provide value in this context.

Transcript

1. @JEFF_ARCHIBALD PEOPLE FIRST
2. SHOW OF HANDS.
3. WE’VE HAD THESE PROBLEMS TOO.
4. BUT WHAT IF…
11. WIKIPEDIA “User-centered design tries to optimize the product around how users can, want, or need to use the product, rather than forcing the users to change their behavior to accommodate the product.”
12. PRINCIPLE 1 Deep understanding of users, tasks and environments.
13. PRINCIPLE 2 Involve users throughout the entire process.
14. PRINCIPLE 3 User-centred evaluation drives the design.
15. PRINCIPLE 4 Iterate.
16. PRINCIPLE 5 e focus is on the entire user experience.
17. PRINCIPLE 6 Team members have multidisciplinary skills & experiences.
18. HOW CAN UCD SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS?
19. 1. CLIENTS PLAYING ART DIRECTOR
20. 2. SUBPAR WORK; WORK WE DON’T WANT OUR NAME ON
21. 3. BUILDING PRODUCTS NOBODY LOVES OR USES
22. 4. GETTING HARSH FEEDBACK FROM USERS
23. 5. PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS GOING SOUR
24. HOW-TO & METHODS
25. USER INTERVIEWS & OBSERVATIONAL RESEARCH
26. 1. LIKES/DISLIKES 2. TASKS 3. ENVIRONMENTS 4. RECORD
27. USER PERSONAS
28. IMAGE FROM VIGET.COM
29. IMAGE FROM VIGET.COM
30. IMAGE FROM VIGET.COM BLANKDOTS.COM/OPEN/PERSONAS
31. USER FLOWS IMAGE FROM WIREFRAMES.LINOWSKI.CA
32. TEST & ITERATE
33. PAPER PROTOTYPING
34. USERTESTING.COM
35. WHO IS DOING THIS?
36. IMAGES FROM MAILCHIMP.COM
37. 50,000+ MILES 2.4M NEW USERS IMAGES FROM MAILCHIMP.COM
39. $500M ANNUAL REVENUE (plus the most exciting research footage known to mankind)
40. CHALLENGES & OBSTACLES
41. BUDGET.
42. COST VS. VALUE
43. COST OF GETTING IT WRONG
44. PROCESS CHANGE & GETTING BUY-IN
45. THE BIG IDEA
46. MAKING USERS THE FOCUS IS THE KEY TO HAPPINESS FOR ALL PARTIES.
47. 1. IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU.
48. 2. IT’S ABOUT UNDERSTANDING YOUR USERS, THEIR GOALS, & THEIR ENVIRONMENT.
49. 3. IT’S ABOUT INVOLVING YOUR USERS ON THE WAY.
50. WE HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO AFFECT REAL, POSITIVE CHANGE THROUGH DESIGN – IF WE DO IT RIGHT, AND PUT THE USER FIRST.
51. @JEFF_ARCHIBALD THANKS.