Understanding Context of Use- possibly the most important thing you do in UX

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on November 18, 2020 - 7:49pm
iceberg- surface and deep context

Summary: Understanding and designing for Context of Use is vital to any successful UX project. Going beyond surface context will reveal depth insights that are required for UX Designers to get beyond "throw-away" UX Design. Context is critical for developing products built to last, built to be adopted long-term. 

In this post, the topic of understanding Tasks and Context was discussed. Context of use is also called the 'problem space' as opposed to the solution space where tasks get translated into UI solutions. Context of use means understanding where, how, why, when, and under what conditions (environmental, physical, social, emotional) your product, service, or interface will be experienced or used. Getting context wrong or leaving it out can make or break a good design decision. 

User Research- MasterClass

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on October 6, 2020 - 8:06am

User Research MasterClass October 23rd 2020 (6AM PDT; 9AM EDT; 2pm UTC); 3 hours

To access the Masterclass, join Frank's www.uxinnercircle.com

Video transcript: Frank Spillers, CXO at Experience Dynamics explains the importance of User Research

User Research triggers learning by challenging assumptions

User Research, possibly one of the most important types of activities your organization carries that your organization carries out. Why? Because user research is where we gain the technique that brings us the insight that challenges assumptions. And anything that challenges our internal assumptions with our design, with our organization, with the product or service itself-- anything that challenges assumptions-- is an opportunity to be enlightened, and to be inspired and to gain confidence in your decision making.

Behind the UX Inner Circle- New UX Training & Mentoring Community with Frank Spillers

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on September 7, 2020 - 5:27am

Summary: Frank Spillers' UX Inner Circle is a new space to get access to monthly MasterClasses, Online Workshops, and a digital library of Frank's past two decades of training topics ranging from Accessibility to Service Design, VR/AR UX Design, UX Management, and more.

Whether you are new to UX, changing jobs or roles, continuing your UX learning, or building a Center of Excellence...staying ahead of the curve is critical. Having a trusted and accessible guide to help you along the journey is also key. Frank Spillers has worked for hundreds of organizations over the years and lead UX teams across diverse and complex projects and challenges. He has been conducting UX training for over 20 years and has provided online UX training to over 50,000 students globally with his classes at the non-profit Interaction Design Foundation. 

Desirability vs Usability- which is the most important in UX?

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on August 14, 2020 - 6:32am
woman smelling kale at a supermarket

Summary: Getting to the bottom of your desirability criteria is more important than understanding usability. Since usability metrics are based on successful task completion, they come second after first clearly representing user tasks, needs, and goals. Desirability criteria should be defined first, then usability considered and tested next. Understanding desirability and what users truly want and need can differentiate a design, product, or value proposition fundamentally, with impacts on business results like conversion, engagement, and user adoption.  

5 Types of Journey Maps and when to use them

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on August 5, 2020 - 12:48pm
obstacle course participants

Summary: When doing Customer Journey Mapping, you have five options for representing the journey. The choice depends on your intention going into the mapping process; your business goals for the journey effort and how much impact you need to generate with your Journey Map deliverable. 

How to represent Journey Map data

Journey Mapping is a UX process for visually documenting how your customer or user moves across an experience over time. It involves understanding defects in the customer experience and highlights opportunities for healing those breakpoints in channel and touchpoint interaction. 

Inclusive Design- defining the scope of the problem

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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!"

5 Persona Distinctions: How to use Personas properly

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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"

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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. 

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