"Let's talk about it": The work of the designer
This week we tried to systematically consider who, why and how the UX designs . Today we decided to continue this topic in the light of the redesign of our Pechkin-mail service .
A huge role in improving usability is the study of the user audience. This is the starting point for each project. It helps us get to know the users, their behavior, goals and needs. The study also shows what difficulties users have and, most importantly, what feelings they have when interacting with our product.
In the absence of research, our work will be based only on our own experience and assumptions. And it will prevent to achieve objectivity, because our opinion may differ from the opinions of customers.
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The key to doing this research is empathy. Without it, it will be difficult for you to understand why people with different levels of training and experience do not perceive your product differently, and offer effective solutions for these groups without trying to influence the behavior of the people themselves.
The study has other benefits. The irrefutable results of an extensive user research can help get support from colleagues or supervisors when demonstrating designed solutions.
1. First, take a few user interviews. An interview with a user is a meaningful dialogue between the interviewer and a user from a potentially interested group. It is carried out to find out the needs of the user and his requirements for the product. Interviews can be conducted directly during the interaction of the client with the product. You can even offer the client to describe what the perfect product would look like in their presentation.
2. Online survey. This method of gathering information is a set of questions sent to your target audience via the Internet - usually in the form of a questionnaire. The duration and format of the online survey may vary depending on the project, but in any case, the data obtained are entered into the database and subsequently studied. To fully understand the subject area, it is recommended to first resort to the first method - in the future, thanks to this, it will be easier for you to put more accurate questions in the online questionnaires.
3. Creating a person is the third way you can present an image of your potential customer. Do not give the desired "ideal" client for a far more severe reality: persons are those customers that you have or may have. A person is a description of a fictional person within a certain user audience, created on the basis of qualitative and quantitative data from a study of a user audience.
Peter Morville (Peter Morville), known as one of the founders of the information architecture, explains the benefits of this method:
Now it is necessary to move again from practical usability techniques to theory. The fact is that it is impossible to tell about one more direction of usability testing - without telling the subject of information structuring.
If the user is unable to cope with the huge flow of information, or if he is entangled in the navigation of the site, his user experience when interacting with the product, brand or service will be negative. To avoid such situations, the usability team designs a so-called information architecture.
Designing an information architecture provides a project with several advantages:
As always, there are a number of ways to form a hierarchy of site content: from simple to complex.
1. Card sorting. During a card sorting session, users categorize various site elements into several categories. After that, they need to come up with a name for each category, which, in their opinion, will accurately describe its content. You can use real cards, sheets of paper or one of several online services for card sorting.
2. Wireframing - “wireframe modeling”. Wireframing in UX design - an image or diagram of a site, software interface or application page that displays:
“Frameworks” are rarely colored, they do not contain images and are not styled for a project, because their purpose is to help the usability team understand and establish links between the various elements of the product.
3. Prototypes. A prototype is a concept for your future website or product that allows you to present its user interface as accurately as possible before starting to write code.
Prototyping allows usabilityists to experiment, as well as test the functionality and usability of the product, so as not to waste money on development. Thanks to the creation of a prototype, the value of each function becomes obvious, and the team of UX-designers can see the project as a whole and eliminate any inconsistencies and shortcomings.
As well as the study of the user audience, testing is an important part of the usability and the UX design process. It allows you to improve the initial design of the product or site and see how the changes made during the development phase stand up to criticism.
HolgerEggert, the main usability expert of LevelGreen, gave us his recommendations regarding user testing:
1. Usability Testing
Usability testing is usually carried out in "laboratory" conditions individually. The idea is that participants (preferably representatives of your target audience) are asked to complete the task with the help of your product, website, application, while the interface designer is watching them from the side.
The purpose of such testing is to find out what problems the user has encountered, and why they have arisen. The advantage of this type of testing compared to remote usability testing is that it allows you to record the actions taken by users, and not just their opinions on the product.
Usability testing (as, indeed, many other types of testing) is carried out in several main ways:
In fact, to conduct effective usability testing, you will need a clear plan in which you define the goals of this testing, as well as several real users who will interact with the interface, share their opinions and answer questions.
Before inviting users, you need to ask yourself the question: “What information do I need to get from this test?” And, having only answered it, you can start drawing up a questionnaire. If you are not going to conduct an interview or create a questionnaire, but simply want to observe the behavior of users when interacting with your website or product, the task remains the same.
Sometimes participants are asked to loudly comment on their actions during usability testing, which allows interface designers to better understand the user's thinking. Do not forget about the difference between listening to users and observing their behavior. You can get more valuable information in a shorter period of time by carefully observing your users during testing, as well as capturing their comments.
2. Remote usability testing
The advantage of remote testing is that users interact with the product in a familiar environment (for example, at home or in the office). This helps to avoid feelings of anxiety and uncertainty, which overcomes them in an unfamiliar place and can affect the test results.
Remote usability testing can be useful for a team of interface designers in the event that a personal meeting with representatives of the target audience is expensive or difficult to implement.
Participants, facilitators and observers can be far away from each other, so they are combined online. Although this format of testing can be convenient, the value of its results is less (in comparison with the “laboratory” test). In addition, in the case of online testing is more difficult to analyze the data.
3. A / B testing
A / B testing (also known as split testing) is a research method that consists of comparing two versions of the same web page, product, email or system, and determining which version is more successful. The purpose of testing is to see the differences in the behavior of the two user groups and to assess the impact of each version on their actions.
Remember : A / V testing is only useful if you already have a finished product (service) and need to improve it. You should not start with the A / V tests at the design stage - instead, test it with the participation of users.
Of course, testing, information architecture and studying the audience is not all that the UX designer works with (in this material we omit the issues related to design, writing code, typography, etc.) things that a usability often has to do. encounter in the absence of relevant staff in the team).
However, it’s still worth talking about the team itself and the teamwork interaction: no matter how your position is called and no matter how many roles it combines in itself, without the support of fellow developers, the UX designer’s work will not be implemented in the finished product. And when interacting with developers, you may find the following recommendations useful:
PS Other materials from the blog Pechkin-mail :
A huge role in improving usability is the study of the user audience. This is the starting point for each project. It helps us get to know the users, their behavior, goals and needs. The study also shows what difficulties users have and, most importantly, what feelings they have when interacting with our product.
In the absence of research, our work will be based only on our own experience and assumptions. And it will prevent to achieve objectivity, because our opinion may differ from the opinions of customers.
')
The key to doing this research is empathy. Without it, it will be difficult for you to understand why people with different levels of training and experience do not perceive your product differently, and offer effective solutions for these groups without trying to influence the behavior of the people themselves.
The study has other benefits. The irrefutable results of an extensive user research can help get support from colleagues or supervisors when demonstrating designed solutions.
Ways to research user audience
1. First, take a few user interviews. An interview with a user is a meaningful dialogue between the interviewer and a user from a potentially interested group. It is carried out to find out the needs of the user and his requirements for the product. Interviews can be conducted directly during the interaction of the client with the product. You can even offer the client to describe what the perfect product would look like in their presentation.
2. Online survey. This method of gathering information is a set of questions sent to your target audience via the Internet - usually in the form of a questionnaire. The duration and format of the online survey may vary depending on the project, but in any case, the data obtained are entered into the database and subsequently studied. To fully understand the subject area, it is recommended to first resort to the first method - in the future, thanks to this, it will be easier for you to put more accurate questions in the online questionnaires.
3. Creating a person is the third way you can present an image of your potential customer. Do not give the desired "ideal" client for a far more severe reality: persons are those customers that you have or may have. A person is a description of a fictional person within a certain user audience, created on the basis of qualitative and quantitative data from a study of a user audience.
Peter Morville (Peter Morville), known as one of the founders of the information architecture, explains the benefits of this method:
“Portraits and profiles of user types (as well as their goals and behavior patterns) remind all of us that we are not users, and serve as a compass in designing and developing.”
Designer's Work: Information Architecture
Now it is necessary to move again from practical usability techniques to theory. The fact is that it is impossible to tell about one more direction of usability testing - without telling the subject of information structuring.
What is an information architecture, and why is it needed?
If the user is unable to cope with the huge flow of information, or if he is entangled in the navigation of the site, his user experience when interacting with the product, brand or service will be negative. To avoid such situations, the usability team designs a so-called information architecture.
Designing an information architecture provides a project with several advantages:
- Increase customer autonomy and, as a result, increase in the number of satisfied customers
- Efficient navigation
- Reduced customer support costs
- Reducing the number of denials from your product or service
Ways to organize information
As always, there are a number of ways to form a hierarchy of site content: from simple to complex.
1. Card sorting. During a card sorting session, users categorize various site elements into several categories. After that, they need to come up with a name for each category, which, in their opinion, will accurately describe its content. You can use real cards, sheets of paper or one of several online services for card sorting.
2. Wireframing - “wireframe modeling”. Wireframing in UX design - an image or diagram of a site, software interface or application page that displays:
- space allocation on this page;
- distribution of images and content;
- content prioritization;
- available features;
- expected user behavior.
“Frameworks” are rarely colored, they do not contain images and are not styled for a project, because their purpose is to help the usability team understand and establish links between the various elements of the product.
3. Prototypes. A prototype is a concept for your future website or product that allows you to present its user interface as accurately as possible before starting to write code.
Prototyping allows usabilityists to experiment, as well as test the functionality and usability of the product, so as not to waste money on development. Thanks to the creation of a prototype, the value of each function becomes obvious, and the team of UX-designers can see the project as a whole and eliminate any inconsistencies and shortcomings.
The work of the designer: Testing as another way to form a hierarchy of content
As well as the study of the user audience, testing is an important part of the usability and the UX design process. It allows you to improve the initial design of the product or site and see how the changes made during the development phase stand up to criticism.
HolgerEggert, the main usability expert of LevelGreen, gave us his recommendations regarding user testing:
“Do not try to solve all problems at once. Start with the most essential, and then test again. This will save you time. ”
Types of tests
1. Usability Testing
Usability testing is usually carried out in "laboratory" conditions individually. The idea is that participants (preferably representatives of your target audience) are asked to complete the task with the help of your product, website, application, while the interface designer is watching them from the side.
The purpose of such testing is to find out what problems the user has encountered, and why they have arisen. The advantage of this type of testing compared to remote usability testing is that it allows you to record the actions taken by users, and not just their opinions on the product.
Usability testing (as, indeed, many other types of testing) is carried out in several main ways:
- simple observations;
- questionnaires;
- polls;
- interview.
In fact, to conduct effective usability testing, you will need a clear plan in which you define the goals of this testing, as well as several real users who will interact with the interface, share their opinions and answer questions.
Before inviting users, you need to ask yourself the question: “What information do I need to get from this test?” And, having only answered it, you can start drawing up a questionnaire. If you are not going to conduct an interview or create a questionnaire, but simply want to observe the behavior of users when interacting with your website or product, the task remains the same.
Sometimes participants are asked to loudly comment on their actions during usability testing, which allows interface designers to better understand the user's thinking. Do not forget about the difference between listening to users and observing their behavior. You can get more valuable information in a shorter period of time by carefully observing your users during testing, as well as capturing their comments.
2. Remote usability testing
The advantage of remote testing is that users interact with the product in a familiar environment (for example, at home or in the office). This helps to avoid feelings of anxiety and uncertainty, which overcomes them in an unfamiliar place and can affect the test results.
Remote usability testing can be useful for a team of interface designers in the event that a personal meeting with representatives of the target audience is expensive or difficult to implement.
Participants, facilitators and observers can be far away from each other, so they are combined online. Although this format of testing can be convenient, the value of its results is less (in comparison with the “laboratory” test). In addition, in the case of online testing is more difficult to analyze the data.
3. A / B testing
A / B testing (also known as split testing) is a research method that consists of comparing two versions of the same web page, product, email or system, and determining which version is more successful. The purpose of testing is to see the differences in the behavior of the two user groups and to assess the impact of each version on their actions.
Remember : A / V testing is only useful if you already have a finished product (service) and need to improve it. You should not start with the A / V tests at the design stage - instead, test it with the participation of users.
Conclusion: a couple of words about teamwork
Of course, testing, information architecture and studying the audience is not all that the UX designer works with (in this material we omit the issues related to design, writing code, typography, etc.) things that a usability often has to do. encounter in the absence of relevant staff in the team).
However, it’s still worth talking about the team itself and the teamwork interaction: no matter how your position is called and no matter how many roles it combines in itself, without the support of fellow developers, the UX designer’s work will not be implemented in the finished product. And when interacting with developers, you may find the following recommendations useful:
- Be honest - usabilityists should openly communicate with developers about the ultimate goal of the product.
- Let's explain - developers should be clear about what they need to do and how to achieve the desired result. They need to be very clear to explain why some idea does not work, and not just state a fact. To do this, engage developers to discuss in the early stages of design.
- Be realistic - when you submit a ready-made design to developers, set a realistic time frame for the project. Thus, everyone will have the same expectations.
- Express your thoughts clearly - when communicating with a team of programmers, make sure that your instructions and requests are clear. The UX designer should be able to explain and accurately illustrate what should work in the future and how.
PS Other materials from the blog Pechkin-mail :
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/308058/
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