When you are facilitating a usability test, there are many different factors that you should keep in mind. These techniques will help you get the most out of your test and will prevent most awkward uncomfortable moments. Here’s those tips.…
Category: UX 101
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: On usability testing
Once you have created an interface, you need to test it, and this is known as usability testing. How do you do that? Well, it’s easier than you may think. First, let’s define what we mean by the term “usability…
UX 101, UX Articles
UX101: On user interface design
All you have learned about user research, information architecture, and interaction design is the foundation for the next step – execution. Taking all you have learned and defined and then designing screens that let users accomplish tasks and get things…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Interaction Design and Models
In user experience conversations you will often hear the term “interaction design” bandied about. What does it mean? Here’s the Wikipedia definition: Interaction design, often abbreviated IxD, is “about shaping digital things for people’s use”, alternately defined as “the practice of…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Creating and using journey maps
When we previously covered personas, we discussed how personas could be used as the subject of user stories or (more detailed) scenarios. These narratives detail what goals the persona wants to achieve and (in the case of scenarios) the detailed…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Information Architecture and different models of thought
When you are structuring the information architecture for the content and functionality you are providing to your users, you need to think of how those users think of the domain. How do they think of the information? What preconceived models…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Navigation design and best practices
Whether you are designing a website or a desktop or mobile application, you’ll need to provide a way for users to get to what they want or need. Hence, you will need to provide some form of navigation. How should…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Different User Research Methods
User research is the one thing that you should never skip in a user experience process. It provides insights and understanding into the motivations and drivers of existing (and potential) customers and it is a key input into any design.…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Creating and using personas
When I discuss the word persona with people, I get a lot of blank stares and tilted heads. The film buffs I know respond with, “The Bergman film?” and the rest of them just shake their head when I ask…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: On Information Architecture
When you read about user experience and the UX design process, you will inevitably see a lot of discussion about Information Architecture. What is Information Architecture? Simply put, Information Architecture is the art and science or organizing and labeling data…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Understanding bias
We are all biased… anyone who says otherwise is fooling themselves or lying. We are all biased because we are all human… We are the sum of all of our experiences, and those “inputs” influences our opinions and interpretation of…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Typical UX jobs and roles
While UX is still a fairly “young” discipline compared to other occupations, there are some fairly consistent standards as to roles and responsibilities. Here are some typical (and not so typical) jobs that you will find out there, with some…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Design Foundations
User experience isn’t “a” skill – it’s several of them. UX is a multi-disciplined domain that requires a lot of varied abilities, and the most successful UX professionals are the ones who are good at a lot of things. The…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: “Selling” user research (to management)
User research is a vital part of any design project, because if you don’t know who you are designing for, how can you be sure you’re creating the right solution? They are your real boss, the ones who are the…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Working with legacy designs
I’ve found that most of the educational materials on user experience design gives the impression that UX design projects will always be a “from scratch, develop a new product or application” effort. In my experience, that’s rarely the case. While…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Stakeholders and you!
In any design project, you are going to have one or more stakeholders. These are the people who sponsored the project, and/or are the product managers responsible for the product being design, and/or are VPs responsible for a particular division……