Dealing with DesignA survival guide in three acts

When do you need a designer?

What are the flavors of designers?

Hiring & Vetting• What are my product’s goals and challenges?• What must users do/experience for us to win?• What competency must the designer have?• Where do I find them?

The Interview1. Portfolio

• Watch out for “we”2. Design exercise

• Same exercise for everyone• Short, and reveals thinking• Not about making a good design

3. Interview• How did you solve a similar problem?• What would you change about our product (if

existing) or competitor• What’s your ideal job?

Working effectively with designers

• Bring them in EARLY• Set clear priorities• Get the flows (or IA) first• Critique with goals, not solutions• Push respectfully forward

Ten reasons to kill your designer

1. "I did the best I could - there's only so much you do with..." 2. "Just tell me what you want and I'll make that." 3. “Oh, that can't be done.”4. “Oh, but my idea is much better” 5. "Well you never told me it was supposed to be REALLY good!" 6. "Your database doesn't work with my design" or “Is all of this stuff

really necessary?”7. "That solution would be non-standard" or “Users don’t scroll.” 8. "I went to design school" 9. "Because it looked better.“10. “Trust me"

http://www.linkedin.com/answers/product-management/product-design/interface-design/PRM_PDS_INF/173714-1751812

When it’s you

Layers of design• Base: User need/business need/tech

options• Information Architecture and/ or Interaction

Design• Interface Design• Graphic Design

Four Design Hacks

Participatory Card Sort

Running a successful card sort

• 50-75 pieces of content (not categories!)

• Provide as much information as possible while not overwhelming

• Lay all content out on a large table, shuffled thoroughly

• Provide blanks for category labels

• Encourage thinking-out-loud

• Be helpful, but do not suggest or advise. Play psychiatrist.

• Collate results and look for patterns.

Scenarios and Task Analysis

Example Persona Scenario

Task analysis

• Step by step breakdown of scenarios

• Helps define interface/interaction needs

• Flushes out potential opportunities for errors

Task analysis

“CHECK OUT” BECOMES

a. Select checkoutb. Sign in/sign upc. Input shipping addressd. Input billing address

e. Input paymentf. Review orderg. Finalize checkout

Purchasing a purse at nordstroms.com might include the tasks:

1. locate purse 2. add purse to shopping cart3. check out

Task analysis

“CHECK OUT” BECOMES “INPUT BILLING ADDRESS” BECOMES

a. Select checkout d. Input billing address (prepopulate all fields from c.)

b. Sign in/sign up i. Input first name

c. Input shipping address ii. Input family name

d. Input billing address iii. Input street address

e. Input payment iv. Input street address

f. Review order v. Input state (dropdown of standard abbreviations)

g. Finalize checkout vi. Input country

And so on…

Page Zoning

• Table setting?

Title

Content

Viral featuresmetadata

Related content

Graphic design hacks

Minimalist Design• Only use one font. Preferably helvetica. • Only use three, maybe four sizes, all very very

different. • Only use one color, with variations, and one

“accent” color.• Turn on the grid (if you are using photoshop, etc)• Never align center.• Never use stock photography.• Have a hierachy

I am a serifed font

I am sans-serif

I am Times New RomanHey, I’m arial

niiiiiiice

Cheat• Patterns• Libraries• Odesk• Conference proceedings

You can’t buy taste

ResearchBeyond usability

Who does it?

• Internal User Research Specialist

• Outside Consultant

• You

Why do it?

• Know if the product meets user needs before you build it

• Cheap to change a sketch

• Affordable to change a Photoshop comp

• Expensive to change fully coded product

• Customer service expensive as well

Why do it?

• Enable you to develop easy-to-use products• Satisfy customers

• Decrease expenditures on technical support and training

• Advertise ease-of-use successes

• Improve brand perception

• Ultimately increase market share

Who are the users of the system?

• Start by collecting pre-existing information

• Hunt down previous data (marketing demographics, surveys, past usability tests)

• Hold stakeholder interviews

• Conduct customer service interviews

Finding the end user

• Recruiting • Develop a portrait of the user (a la the persona)• Develop a screener based on this• Recruit typical end users

• Professional recruiter• Do it yourself

• Offer a consideration: cash or a gift• Watch for ringers

• Professional testers• Inarticulate users

Not the end user

• Employees• Designers• Programmers• Market researchers• You

Three Research Hacks

Site visit

Site visit

Rules• Ask them to use your product, and “think

aloud” while doing so• Take photos (with permission)• Record quotes• Note interruptions, accessory items, and

social itneractions

Friends and Family Usability

OK, if• They are just like your target users• Unfamiliar (or typical familiarity) with

product• NO CHEATING!

Form of… usability test!• Set of tasks• Think aloud• Time tasks, if relevant• One more time– no hints, no leading

questions

Paper Prototyping

Tools

Research Don’ts• Ask leading questions• Show people where things are• Let them get frustrated• Make them feel stupid• Take your own notes• Do focus groups

Research dos• Do it.

• Any way

• Do it

Organizations• Iainstitute.org• Ixda.org• Aiga.org

These all hold excellent conferences. Ixda.org will be posting videos of last weekend’s conference shortly (including my talk on viral design).