UXcamp Europe 2015 - Day 1/Part 1: UX Guidelines, Visual User Resarch and Expert Reviews for Mobile

This weekend again I'm participating in the great UXcamp Europe in Berlin. During the Session Planning it is always fantastic to see how many participants step up to propose sessions. For most of the time slots the though task is too chose one out of the 7 parallel tracks.

Session Planning on Saturday Morning

Here are my notes and thoughts of the first three session of day 1.

#1 (Unofficial) Top 10 UX Guidelines - Jasson Schrock

The first session I visited was by Jasson Schrock (Onefootball) presenting the 10 UX Guidelines they want to establish in their company. He pointed out very well what UX experts should focus on. Some of the guidelines are very common sense in the UX community, but often still ignored.

The 10 guidelines are: 

Planning Phase

• Increase users happiness
  He pointed out that speed and simplicty are important, but not always the answer, and that it is important to empathize with the user in order to understand his needs.
• Solve a user need and make it a habit
  The Toothbrush Test is a possiblity to check if it could evolve to a habit - "Would you want to use it twice a day?"



MVP shouldn't been not just feasible.

• Make it valuable not just feasible.

• Plan for the next steps but focus on the MVP.
  New ideas should be collected and prioritized. 
• Implicit over explicit personalization
  We should keep the complexity on our end, not the users. To add a new feature just as a new setting that the user should take care of is not a solution.
• Tell a story
  ... and it's not a feature list.

Design Phase

• Have a clear visual hierarchy
  Check if your design can pass the squint tests. Squint - and check if you can still identify the primary and secondary hierarchy.
• Provide feedback for every interaction
• Encourage interaction with context
  For example community details can be used to improve gamification and encourage exploration (e.g. # of review, ratings,...)
• Be consistent. 
  ... and don't reinvent the wheel. Use common design frameworks so the user know what to expect.

#2 Visual User Research - Jan Diettrich

Jan (@simulo) did a nice presentation about Visual User Research. He presented various techniques of how visual techniques can be used to facilitate user research and improve the outcomes of workshops with users. With these visual tools you can focus on documenting workflows, moods, relations, etc.

Why visual tools?

• It's accessible for researchers and participants alike.
• It gives an overview
• It's easy for referring back



Mood diagram with annotations

• It helps not asking for features but for users experience

Sequence:

• Explain the task including an (not to well drawn) example 
• User should draw/write by himself
• Ask for more information, clarification, demonstration
• Wrap up

We also tried out the method of a mood diagram by drawing the mood of "Breakfast" from preparing to enjoying... It really was interesting to see which different moods various people are going through (motivated to prepare, because everything is smelling good vs. checking out that some ingrediants are missing)

I really appreciate that Jan provides all the templates and also a short book about the methods open source, so you are free to use it. (He would be happy about feedback or adapted templates.)

• Templates & Description: https://m18.uni-weimar.de/~jand/static/researchAssets.html 
• Book "A Beginners Guide To Finding User Needs": https://jdittrich.github.io/userNeedResearchBook/

He also recommends the book "Convivial Toolbox: Generative Research for the Front End of Design" by Liz Sanders and Pietter Stappers (on Amazon).

#3 WTF? Evaluating Usability Without a User - Expert Reviews in the Age of Mobile - Hans Joachim Belz

Hans-Joachim talked about Expert Reviews. Because I'm using that very often in my daily business it was very interesting especially with the focus on mobile reviews.

Expert reviews are cheap and can be surprisingly effective (check out the CUE reports).

WTF? Usability without a user?
Good expert reviews take into account

• User needs
• Mental models
• Typical perception behaviour
• …

Experts have extensive experience with user behaviour (use lab experience, participating in user research efforts,...).

Pro Tip #1: Create maps of needs & mental model
The map and mental model should be based on research.

Pro Tip #2: Multiple experts

• If possible let more than one expert review the product.
• Every expert tests independently. 
• Build consensus about your test results by a thourough and frank discussion of your observations.

Pro Tip #3: Use scenarios (and personas)

The Usability Inspector ... 

• Should have a (small) usability focused set of test devices
• Main display sizes, aspect ratios and screen resolutions
• Leaning towards the more contrained devices
• Should have a agreed set of evaluation criteria including
• Information Architecture
• Interaction Design
• Domain-specific aspects

AND you should evalute complete user journeys based on scenarios.

.... Continues on Day 1 / Part 2: Designing for Context, Becoming buddies with your clients and 5 UX questions answered by Eric Reiss