Fat-free UX research

Go beyond lean with an introduction to fat free user research. In this hands-on session we’ll show how to strip customer research and analysis back to the bare essentials without sacrificing quality. Learn tried-and-tested techniques that you can put straight into practice in your projects.

by Paul Blake and Julia Birks, at UX Australia 2015

Transcript

1. FAT FREE UX RESEARCH Julia Birks Senior Experience Designer, Isobar Paul Blake Director, Splendid Studio August 2015
2. TODAY’S ADVENTURE https://warosu.org/data/lit/img/0047/00/1395760622442.jpg
3. TODAY’S SCENARIO •  Golden Churn Ice Cream Company •  Start-up, with “dine in” and takeaway •  They’re seeking to be a premium brand •  Want to innovate in ordering •  You’ve been hired to consult on their digital experience. 3
4. SAY VS DO http://www.peachpit.com/store/user-is-always-right-a-practical-guide-to-creating-9780321434531
5. Discovery: Observations
6. PEOPLE ACTIVITY CONTEXT https://www.flickr.com/photos/51282757@N05/4854560937
7. EXERCISE: OBSERVATION PREP As a group: You’ve been given a budget for ½ day of observation activities. •  Where would you go? •  Who would you watch? •  What would you watch for? 5 mins 7
8. Discovery: Depth Interviews
9. WATCHING AND TALKING TO USERS DOING THEIR EVERYDAY TASKS http://maggiebignell.com/images/nasa/contextual.jpg
10. RUNNING SESSIONS 10 Put the user at ease •  “I’m here to learn a little more about…” •  “I want to emphasise this isn’t a test of you in any way…” Master vs apprentice Let the user guide you through what they do and how they do it •  “Can you show me how you’d normally use…?” •  “When was the last time you...?” •  “What other things do you use it for...?” •  “What do you like about it?” •  “What would you change about it?” Reflection At regular intervals, play your take on the user’s comments back to them •  “So if I’ve understood you correctly I think you’ve said…”
11. EXERCISE: WRITE A DEPTH INTERVIEW SCRIPT As a group: Write an interview guide for a 10 min interview that explores people’s ice cream purchasing experiences. People + Activity + Context 5 mins
12. SHOW AND TELL 12 Photo by The Style PA on Flickr
13. OUR SCRIPT Intro + put user at ease Can you tell me about the last time you bought ice cream? What prompted you to go? When did you go? Where did you go? How did you get there? What did you buy? How do you decide on a flavour? What did you like the most about it? What’s the one thing you’d change?
14. DEMO INTERVIEW 14 Photo by The Style PA on Flickr
15. EXERCISE: CONDUCT DEPTH INTERVIEW Split into small groups: •  Interviewee •  Interviewer •  Note takers 5 mins
16. 2 MIN BREAK
17. Analysis: Affinity Diagramming
18. INTERVIEW TIME = ANALYSIS TIME http://www.olingergroup.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/In-depth-Interview-cropped.jpg
19. AFFINITY DIAGRAMMING 1. Write up post its •  One idea per post-it •  Each post-it must make sense out of context •  Beware: too many post its •  Try to write up notes following each session 2. Group post-its by affinity •  Place post-its on wall •  Group common items into themes and name each theme •  Reference each post it to a session (numbers not names) 19
20. EXERCISE: AFFINITY DIAGRAMMING In your groups, write up the notes from your interview. 5 mins Affinity all the notes together as a group. 10 mins.
21. Analysis: Design opportunities
22. EXTRACT OPPORTUNITIES FROM YOUR FINDINGS
23. EXERCISE: EXTRACT DESIGN OPPORTUNITIES As one big group: •  Identify design opportunities •  Capture them on post-its 5 mins 23
24. “HOW MIGHT WE…?” & “WHAT IF…?” https://www.flickr.com/photos/7302769@N05/3865422342/
25. “HOW MIGHT WE” AND “WHAT IF…?” Assuming our ice-cream shop customers dislike queuing, ideate by reframing like this: How might we… •  Reward customers for their patience (emphasize the good) •  Eradicate the queue (remove the bad) •  Make the queue exciting (explore the opposite) Refine ideas and spark new ones by adding constraints: •  How would my Mum design it ? •  What if there were no computers?
26. EXERCISE: HOW MIGHT WE… Pick a design challenge from our user mental model, devise and run a “How might we..?” exercise: As one big group: •  Select a design challenge (1 min) •  Whiteboard our “How might we…?” questions (5 mins) •  Ideate! (5 mins) Add our ideas to the “design opportunity” section of our user mental model 26
27. Thanks!