User research

5 reasons why kids need special user research

Identified a new type of experience: KX ('Kids Experience').

"Kids are special. There is no doubt about that. But it does not explain why they also need special attention when it comes to user research. Here are 5 reasons why we need to start doing user testing with kids and why it's very different than what we know from testing adults."

(Sabina Idler a.k.a. @SabinaIdler ~ UXkids)

Posted on April 19, 2013 | Permalink

Keynote: Health behavior change and beyond: The health benefits of success experiences

Great and important topic, the patient experience.

"While sustained behavior and lifestyle changes can lead to improved health outcomes, there may be another pathway to health. Namely, the increased sense of confidence and control that comes from being successful at changing ANY behavior, even if the change is not sustained, can also improve health outcomes. Learn how to avoid the tyranny of prescribed failure experiences. Learn how to prescribe success by aligning with passions, discovering patient-generated solutions, and celebrating success."

(David Sobel ~ Healthcare Experience Design 2013, the presentation videos)

Posted on April 15, 2013 | Permalink

Strength of user research evidence

Research precedes design, and the other way around.

"Usability findings derived from a broad base of diverse studies have higher credibility than those based on many users with a single stimulus."

(Jakob Nielsen ~ Alertbox)

Posted on April 15, 2013 | Permalink

The Design for Usability book

A Dutch delight.

"The Design for Usability project published a book that provides the product development community with a comprehensive and coherent overview of the results of the project, in such a way that they can be applied in practice. The book outlines the studies conducted in the project, and indicates how the individual research projects are related and which of them can be applied in a coherent mode."

(Edited by @jaspervankuijk ~ Design for Usability)

Posted on November 16, 2012 | Permalink

Ditch Traditional Wireframes

Some still think they have value.

"Wireframes have played an increasingly leading role in the modern Web development process. They provide a simple way of validating user interface and layout and are cheaper and faster to produce than a final visual comp. However, most of the methods and techniques used to create them are far from being efficient, contradicting the principles and values that made wireframing useful in first place. While this article is not about getting rid of the wireframing process itself, now is a good time for questioning and improving some of the materials and deliverables that have become de facto standards in the UX field. To make this point clear, let's do a quick review of the types of wireframes commonly used."

(Sergio Nouvel a.k.a. @shesho ~ UX magazine)

Posted on October 25, 2012 | Permalink

Capturing User Research

Anything you can capture from other people helps.

"It's interesting to think of what the future might bring in information-capture technology for user research. In my dreams, an ideal tool would be on a tablet, reducing the massive amount of paper that I currently waste when capturing handwritten notes. It would allow me to view a discussion guide and add handwritten notes using a stylus. My notes would be synced with either an audio recording or a wireless video recording, which would make it easy to jump to any point in a recording that corresponds to particular notes. The application would then take my handwritten notes and automatically convert them to text that I could manipulate in a word processor. Do you know of any tools that would let me achieve this? If not, I can dream. In the meantime, I'll be taking plenty of handwritten notes on paper and backing them up with audio or video recordings."

(Jim Ross a.k.a. @anotheruxguy ~ UXmatters)

Posted on April 03, 2012 | Permalink

A/B Testing, Usability Engineering, Radical Innovation: What Pays Best?

It looks scientific, but it's not.

"Three approaches to better design: each has its uses, but the costs, benefits, and risks differ dramatically."

(Jakob Nielsen ~ Alertbox)

Posted on March 26, 2012 | Permalink

Talking Out Loud Is Not the Same as Thinking Aloud

Old wisdom: What people say is (often) not what they think.

"(...) get your participants to think aloud, but encourage comments that illuminate the problem space - because that's what usability testing is all about."

(Mike Hughes ~ UXmatters)

Posted on March 20, 2012 | Permalink