Dive into UX design topic based on our years of award-winning UX consulting from Experience Dynamics, Founder and Chief Experience Officer, Frank Spillers.

A piece of our mind / our blog

How to explain Ease of Use vs Context of Use to your boss

By Frank Spillers

on January 17, 2020 - 9:54am
man explaining ux to his boss

Summary: Understanding the difference between ease of use and context of use is one of the most important UX distinctions. Context of use focuses on where, when, how and why users are performing a task, reaching a goal or using your product or service. Ease of use focuses on helping users get through the interface when they are actually using it. Ease of use is more widely understood, but context of use is far more important to master in your UX strategy.

Function follows context

Ease of use maps directly to usability, a key product goal. It's the most basic idea behind good user experience: Can the user interact easily with the UI and complete their task effortlessly? It is easily understood that ease of use aims to reduce complexity, but rarely do we dig deeper to understand what is going on around the act of use. 

Why participant recruiting is non-trivial, and why nobody is talking about this

By Frank Spillers

on November 8, 2019 - 11:18am
user shaking hands with interviewer

Summary: Recruiting participants requires careful consideration of the users you want to involve in your study. While recruiting is commonly performed and is necessary for gaining fast access to your users, be careful of the quality of your recruits. Poor recruits mean poor insights. Aim for high quality recruit targets to keep your data sparkling clean. 

How many users should you test with in user testing?

By Frank Spillers

on October 29, 2019 - 6:29pm
usability testing- observing a user test

Question: How many users do you need to test with for a usability test?

Answer 1: = 5 users (Jakob Nielsen and Thomas Landauer, 1993).

Answer 2: = 15 users (Laurie Faulkner, 2004), PDF file.

So, which is it, 5 or 15? And why are we arguing about an extra 10 users, doesn't one need to test with at least 100 or more users for statistical significance, accuracy and validity?

Hiring the right UX Manager- what to expect from this role

By Frank Spillers

on September 17, 2019 - 4:46pm
ux manager

Summary: Hiring UX managers, like hiring UX designers, requires a careful diligence to understanding the role, its functions and its business value. Managing UX requires a deep understanding of how design is delivering value. UX managers require a seat at the table, equal to a Dev or Marketing manager. Senior managers also require strategic placement, including 'C level' authority. 

WEBINAR: Desirability First: Understanding customer value, insights and opportunities

By Frank Spillers

on August 2, 2019 - 12:19pm
webinar cover slide- desirability first

The holy grail of maximizing return on investment in UX is to understand customer value. Engineering teams often define MVP based on an internally focused set of priorities. Marketing and business teams often use market research to focus group customer perceptions. Both of these approaches miss a major innovation in UX methodology. 

If you dissect UX, it has two sides: “Ease of use” vs. “Do I even want your feature?”. Most teams chase ease of use, because it seems to be the goal of reducing complexity, and it is. However, desirability or, “Are you solving core customer problems?” is more important. 

In this webinar we will learn how to ground your UX efforts with a Desirability First approach. We will see how this essential aspect of your UX/UI process is critical to business and design innovation. We will discuss this single most important element of your UX strategy and how to bring tangible business value to your UX efforts from user research. 

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