UX Articles

Here’s all my articles on User Experience design. There’s hints, tips, philosophies, tactics, and opinions on all things #UX.

Joseph Dickerson

How could bank branches be improved?

by Joseph on February 23, 2012

As someone who has designed software for many a bank, as well as done ethnographic research in and around branches, I have some very direct ideas on how the banking experience at branches can be improved.

Have express lanes. If someone is coming in to just do one thing, like cash or deposit a check, then have dedicated lines to support those "fast" transactions.

Have a "genius bar." A dedicated customer support area will allow the tellers to take care of the simple transactions and the customers with problems and/or questions can have their own place to go.

Have smarter ATMs. There is no reason that ATMs can't let customers see their last 10 transactions, or print out a statement. Basically, make ATMs self-service kiosks with better software and more features.

Have a change-making/conversion machine. Have a lot of change that you want to change into "folding money?" There is no reason anyone needs to stand in line to talk to a teller to do this.

Seminars. Banks should offer free seminars to customers on money management, budgeting, etc. It helps customers, it helps the banks increase deposits when customers save more… it's a win-win.

Change the bank's operating hours. 9 to 5? Really? Have hours that make sense for customers, not for bankers.

Increase staff at peak times/days. Many banks already do this, but a surprisng number do not. Banks need to analyze/take advantage of their analytical data to refine thier staffing plans. Have more people on hand during lunch hours and on days when the majority of people get paid (usually every other Friday or the 15th or 30th of the month). This is customer service 101 stuff.

See question on Quora

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Focus on the outcome, not the tool

by Joseph on February 21, 2012

I’m fighting with Adobe. Not literally, obviously – I’m not having physical altercations with a multinational corporation. I’m fighting with thier apps, specifically InDesign. And InDesign is winning.

The thing is, it shouldn’t be. I’ve used page layout programs for years – one of my first jobs was doing magazine and catalog layouts in Quark Express. I SHOULD be able to use InDesign without difficulty, and pickup on things quickly. Yet I can’t – I can do the simple stuff, but doing the more elaborate and advanced stuff is still eluding me. I’m spending more time learning the app than creating things WITH the app.

So I’m giving up. Adobe, you win. I’m sure that with enough time and patience I can master InDesign and do some great work with it. But to me, such an investment is just not worth it. I’d rather focus on creating, not learning the eccentric rules and details of an application that could do with a good top-to-bottom redesign. I value my time more than that.

A good app not only supports the task, but gets out of the way and lets users focus on the work. This doesn’t mean the application lacks in functionality or complexity… it just means that the app is designed and structured to let the user do the core things they need to do, and anything else is available on-demand in a sensible way. When I am designing something I focus on the tasks, and support what the user wants or needs to do. InDesign, like many of Adobe’s apps, has become more and more complex over the years as they attempt to support multiple usage patterns – trying to support print, web, and interactive design into one app. And it shows.

And a good well-design app not only supports the user, it excites them. One of the main reasons I have been somewhat prolific of late was the release of the iBooks Author app from Apple. It allows me to do a lot of what I was trying to do in InDesign, but it’s SO much better. While far from being a “perfect” app, it has nonetheless got me excited about doing the work again… whereas InDesign provoked the exact opposite response.

I know plenty of people who are incredibly proficient at using apps such as InDesign… and I’m sure they produce wonderful work with the application. To them and all like them, use the tools that work for you… but get your sense of accomplishment from what you do with them, not that you learned how to use the tool in the first place.

So the point of my diatribe is simple – focus on the work, not the tool. And use tools that help you do the work, instead of get in the way. “A poor worker blames his tools,” the saying goes… and as tropes go, sometimes it’s spot on.

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Don’t design with “something to prove”

by Joseph on February 18, 2012

I’m wrapping up a long-term design project, and, after two years working on the same thing, I’ve learned a lot. A lot about myself, a lot about design, and a lot about people.

One of the things that I notice over this time was that different designers on my team took design criticism differently. Some of them would be completly open to feedback and respond collaboratively. Others… well, it was worse than saying that their children were ugly – they acted as if you were trying to actually KILL their children. They responded loudly… and sometimes aggressively. Any criticism you provided was unfounded, and you were stupid to provide it.

That’s the response I got when I dared suggest another way of thinking of the design. And these were people who, in the structure of the project, worked for me.

For a while, I thought it was a reflection of these people’s maturity and experience. Nope, that wasn’t it. Some junior dsigners were a lot more profressional in dealing with criticism that the senior ones. Maybe that was it… Maybe the senior people felt that they were above criticism. But no, that didn’t explain it (not fully at least).

I think I finally figured it out. The key was a conversation that I had with one of my designer about a design I had done late last year. Because of some aggressive deadlines, I had to take over a feature that needed someone with my reputation of “getting things done” to come in and finish it. I did my work – quickly – and then went on vacation for the Christmas holidays.

I returned to see that work had, of course, continued to take place in my absence. The designer had inherited my work, and had changed some things I had done. Here’s the thing: I’m never precious about anythng I do, creatively or professionally. Some of my best work has been done when I had someone who I could collaborate with, and that someone often made good work better because they cast a critical eye upon it. So my initial response was “let’s see what he did,” not “how dare he change what I did!”

We did a design walkthrough, and, sure enough, the good design I had done was made better. Extra steps and options that distracted the user from the core task were removed. It was now something that was easier to learn and use. I thanked my colleague and complimented him onthe good work… and that is when I realized why some designers couldn’t take creiticism well.

They lacked confidence in what they did. In every instance over the past two years, I could look back at why the deisgner was defensive… and it was because he or she were insecure. Not just in the designs they did, but they lacked confidence in themselves. They could not seperate themselves from the work because they’re sense of self was wrapped up in what they had done. They weren’t designing to solve problems, or focused on the the users, and instead they were trying to prove themselves… TO themselves.

This is not criticism of them, personally… we all have our faults (mine’s in California). But as I have written before, the work is a reflection of us… it’s not who we are. We need to have a healthy separation. Be passionate, absolutely… but don’t lose the proper perspective. That way, when the work is done and responded to (and often criticized) we can react to what people say appropriately, and professionally.

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Lessons in UX: The “tender trap” of the iPhone

by Joseph on February 14, 2012

If you’ve been paying attention to the stock market lately, you may have noticed that Apple is doing quite well. At the time of this writing the stock is over $500 a share, the company has just had another quarter of record earnings, and Apple is worth more, in market capitalization, than Microsoft and Google combined. And some anaysts say its growth rate is accelerating…

What is driving such amazing financials? Primarily, it’s being driven by a device that didn’t even exist until five years ago: the iPhone. The share of revenues accounted for by iPhone sales was almost half Apple’s total, and that half was more than Microsoft’s TOTAL revenue in the same quarter. The iPhone is one of the most profitable and successful products, ever. And almost every customer who buys an iPhone is going to be “locked in” to their iPhone for a long long time. Not necessarily because the iPhone is “better” than competing mobile devices from Google, Nokia or Microsoft… but because of Apple’s secret weapon: the app store.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time research user habits and behaviors, and have some observations about why people are resistant to change and get stuck in “ruts.” A primary reason is people are either comfortable or afraid of change… or both. But another key factor is cost… both tangible and intangible. We say, “I can’t exercise more, I don’t have the time!” because we think we don’t have the currency – time – to spend doing it. “I can’t change phones, I have everything setup the way I like it” is the inverse of that arguement, in that we look at the amount of time setting up and personalizing our phone as an “investment,” one that would be lost if the user switches to a different type of phone.

Directly aligned with this is the Apple app store, where both actual and percieved cost comes into play. As Apple has the biggest app store, and has made the process of buying apps as simple as possible, it’s easy for users to start loading apps that suit their lifestyle… and the more apps users add and use on the iphone, the more users become locked into the “tender trap” of the iphone. Since the majority of apps cost money, this very quickly results in a lot of additional costs for the new iphone customer, which this (perhaps unconsciously) increases the value of the phone to the user.

Beyond that “sunk cost” of apps, the customer’s use of the apps and the phone over time is another “investment” – the phone becomes more “valuable” because through use, content is created – notes, photos, game achievements, to do lists, etc. This results in a percieved cost to switching, a loss of that created value (which, like the “investment” above, would have to be “respent” with a new phone). This is how the “lock in” happens: the customer personalizes the phone to reflect his or her interests and load it with their own content… and there’s no easy way to “get that stuff out.” Unless, of course, they upgrade to the next version of the iPhone… then it’s easy!

An additional point: The factors referenced above were the same reason that Windows has dominated computers for years – the hard and soft cost of the applications and the data that was created in them made it hard for custoemrs to “switch” to another OS. This need to continue to keep customers on Windows, was one of the reasons Microsoft has focused on backwards compatibility with their apps and operating systems. With a new generation of consumers and an active effort by Apple to convince the world that “switching” was a positive painless thing, that is now far less a factor. If rival phone manufacturers want to “break” the lock the iPhone is creating with customers, they would be well adviced to take a page out of Apple’s “switch” campaign.

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Which mobile apps offer a perfect user experience?

by Joseph on February 12, 2012

Perfect is the enemy of good, and perfect is also a very high bar to achieve. I don't know if I'd say that the following are perfect, but they ae very good indeed:

Simplenote let's you take notes and write. It also syncs your text to all other devices that have the appropriate software in the background. It's simple and just works.

Instagram let's you take and share photos, and the UI is very very good. It's a app that is both usable and fun to use.

Another "insta" app, Instapaper let's you read web pages offline, and presents the text in a way that is quite readable.

Finally, I look at Zite as an interface that is incredibly useful but one that "gets out of the way" and let's you concentrate on reading, which is the key to a good mobile UI.

See question on Quora

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What are best 10 books about user experience design?

by Joseph on February 5, 2012

Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services by Kim Goodwin is a favorite of mine, in the fact that it is just so comprehensive. It's THE book to me.

A Project Guide to UX Design: For user experience designers in the field or in the making is a great primer on UX and a good book around project planning.

The Persona Lifecycle: Keeping People in Mind Throughout Product Design (Interactive Technologies) is THE definitive reference to creating personas.

The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman is the seminal work on UX design and should be the first book in any library.

Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability is another "classic" in the domain.

About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design is Alan Cooper's magnum opus on interaction design.

The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web and Beyond by Jesse James Garrett because it's awesome.

Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design by Bill Buxton, because it's really good and practical.

Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior by Indi Young because it's a great foundational book about understanding how users think of certain domains.

Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan, because desirability is something that is not covered by most books on UX.

See question on Quora

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About Joe…

Joseph Dickerson is a User Experience Architect focused on designing effective and innovative on-line and mobile applications. With over a decade of experience in software design and user research, Dickerson has made it his mission to make technology easier for people to use.
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