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

Inclusive Design- defining the scope of the problem

By Frank Spillers

on July 7, 2020 - 7:04am
two pairs of opposing feet on either side of a red line

Summary: Inclusion is critical as a concept because it is at the heart of all UX activities and intentions. Including user behaviors, needs, and desires in design decisions is core to good UX Design. Including users with disabilities when improving or designing for Accessibility is critical. Finally, including target users in regions your product is used is vital for localization UX. Inclusive design is important to understand because it starts with understanding what is important to your audience, not your company or organization alone. 

What is the basis of excluding users from a product development process?

There is a stronger tradition in software engineering of excluding users than there is of including users in the design and product development process. This stems from a few root causes:

1. Historically engineers were responsible for user interface design. "We don't use designers let alone talk to users!"

Incremental vs Big Bang Redesigns- evaluating design changes for users

By Frank Spillers

on June 28, 2020 - 10:16pm
paper airplanes moving in same direction but one moves in a different direction

 Summary: Big design shifts can have strategic value over tactical changes or little shifts if done right. When updating or enhancing a UI, it is important to evaluate the true magnitude of your changes. Users get notoriously upset at having to learn new designs, though not all design changes are equal. Adjusting your UI 'change-shock' so users can adapt and adopt easily is critical. Managing interface change can help lower the risks and mitigate user adoption. 

Evolutionary or Revolutionary design changes?

Evolutionary changes make tactical improvements, feature by feature. Revolutionary changes blow everything away and change the Interaction design paradigm from the ground up. Both cause changes which cause users to learn. 

5 Persona Distinctions: How to use Personas properly

By Frank Spillers

on June 16, 2020 - 5:56am
person with a face mask

Summary: Getting personas right can save you a lot of time and avoid common approaches to generating persona nonsense. Personas should point to behaviors, not individuals. Using 'Associating Adjectives' can help ground you and reinforce observed behavioral patterns and roles. More importantly, grounding your team will help them navigate this often not-quite-understood qualitative research deliverable.

MVP vs. "Minimal Desirable Product"

By Frank Spillers

on May 29, 2020 - 5:08am
new car buyer taking keys to car

Summary: The MVP is a double-edged sword in that it focuses your engineering and product management priorities, but might steamroll user priorities. An MVP that misses 'desirable' will risk the unintended consequence of poor user adoption. Instead, MVP's should focus on what constitutes priority, need, and desire from an understanding of user context, behavior, and scenario.

Where MVP went wrong

The MVP concept comes from the Lean Startup (book by Eric Ries). Ries emphasized meeting user needs and failing fast. For Ries, this meant quick prototypes and rapid user testing. Unfortunately, like many Silicon Valley UX teams (and authors), his definition excludes the important user needs discovery process that is part of the ISO and industry-standard Human-centered Design method. 

WEBINAR: Designing for the constraints caused by social distance

By Frank Spillers

on May 27, 2020 - 1:11pm
designing for social distancing webinar

Let's face it, the fun factor in being online and being in consumer spaces has disappeared. 

Is social distancing the new social norm for the foreseeable future? If it is, we need to understand the problem space we are designing for with regard to what we know about social user experience, including collaboration, privacy, space, and expectation-setting. Already we have seen problems with adherence to post-COVID attempts to regulate social behavior. Without good user experience, this situation could lead to more COVID infection waves or the use of authoritarian rules, or "bad for the brand" methods of channeling consumer behavior in retail and public spaces. 

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