Usability and User Experience

22-3375 Web Design I // Columbia College Chicago

Usability & User Experience

Utility, Usability, User Experience

Utility: Does it provide the features you need?

Usability: How easy and pleasant is it to use the features?

User Experience: “UX” encompasses all aspects of the end-user's interaction with the company, its services, and its products.

Internet

Usability

Project 1: Group Crits

Is there a clear visual hierarcy?

Is it obvious what is clickable?

Does the design match the user goals (from last week)

Does the visual design embody the site’s message?

Is the imagery, type and color compelling, professional?

In what ways is the design using gestalt principles? Proximity, common region, connectedness, similarity

How is the design using these basic design principles: balance, emphasis, rhythm, unity contrast

In general, usability refers to how well users can learn and use a product to achieve their goals and how satisfied they are with that process.

(usability.gov)









Usability is a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use. The word "usability" also refers to methods for improving ease-of-use during the design process.

(useit.com)

Project 1: Group CritsEasy to Learn How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they encounter the design?

Efficient to Use: Once users have learned the design, how quickly can they perform tasks?

Easy to Remember: When users return to the design after a period of not using it, how easily can they reestablish proficiency?

Few Errors: How many errors do users make, how severe are these errors, and how easily can they recover from the errors?

Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design?

(useit.com)

Five Basic Attributes of Usability









Usability Testing

≠ Focus Groups









Usability Testing = what they do

!

Focus Groups = what they say

User Experience (UX)

User Experience: The creation and synchronization of the elements that affect user’s experience with a particular company, with the intent of influencing their perceptions and behavior. (Unger and Chandler, A Project Guide to UX Design)

A Slippery Definition

There is no one defined role or definition for a UX designer within web and application design; typically it is a hybrid role that combines:

information architecture,

interaction design,

visual design and

usability engineering

— but different aspects of those roles may be emphasized more heavily depending on the team.

O N E D O L L A R

Building Credibility and Trust

User Centered Design (UCD)









BASIC PRINCIPLE

Know your user, for they are not you.

The chief difference from other product design philosophies is that user-centered design tries to optimize the product around how users can, want, or need to use the product, rather than forcing the users to change their behavior to accommodate the product.

(Wikipedia)

Procrustean Bed

PROXIMITY COMMON REGION

SIMILARITY

Size Shape Shade Color

CONNECTEDNESS

LARGE TO SMALL IRREGULAR TO REGULAR DARK SHADE TO LIGHTSATURATED TO

UNSATURATED COLOR

Gestalt Principles

UCD principles in fork & spoon design

Needs to fit in a range of mouth sizes

Handle needs to accommodate large and small hands

Needs to function on both solids and liquids

Needs to be produced in large sets, equal amounts of each

Needs to be easily stackable in small spaces

Needs to be durable and reusable

There is plenty of room for ‘design’ in UCD

Change in plans.

We need a low-cost, single use, all-purpose utensil. Our costs must come in below $.000001 a unit or I won’t get a bonus this year.

Business-Centered Design

UCD in a new user context

Worksheet

!

Can you think of a web design technique

that is NOT user-centered?

Why?

Users are not designers

The goal of user-centered designs is not simply to give the user what they ask for; it isn’t their job to know how to solve their needs relating to your site.

No matter what objectives you have set for your Web site, it must carefully balance the needs of users and the needs of your organization. If users don't find your Web site helpful, they will not use it.

Iterative Design

To “iterate” just means “to repeat.”

Iterative Design is a term that describes a common sense idea: you build something, test if it works, learn from your mistakes, and make it better.

Understanding Conventions & Expectations

Users have certain expectations when they visit a website, expectations that, if not met, could result in them having trouble understanding how it works. Therefore, it's important that websites are designed so that users can predict how things will work and where certain elements will be.

Conventions in Life

Worksheet

!

Can you think of any new design patterns

that have emerged in the past year?

How do we get to know the user?

In the planning stages of the design (refer back to our workflow presentation), you might define your users through:

focus groups,

use cases,

personas,

and/or user/task flowcharts.

Use Case

Personas

User/Task Flows


During design and after launch of the design, you might perform formal and informal:

usability testing,

analysis of site analytics,

heuristic analysis,

and/or surveys.


Which is all very nice, but ...

In truth, the ux designer needs to make hundreds of small decisions, not all of which can be empirically tested; and the ones that have been tested need subjective interpretation to actually mean anything.

Much of the art of ux design is in the process of empathizing with users — the ability to “walk in their shoes” though scenarios and tasks, and making a best guess on whatever information is available to you at a given time.

Cognitive Science

Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of mind and intelligence, embracing philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, linguistics, and anthropology.

Cognition: The mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.

Usability and User Experience

Design

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