Silverlight won't save your user experience - you will!

Silverlight won't save your User Experience - You Will!

Shane MorrisUser Experience EvangelistMicrosoft AustraliaARC304

Take Away #1

User Experience Design starts long before the drop-shadows and rounded corners

Why all this interest in User Experience (UX)?

Why all this interest in UX?

Differentiated experiencesCapability of platform and tools

Capability of Platform and Tools

“With great power there must also come – great responsibility!”

Stan Lee

Silverlight won’t save your user experience.

Dropping Our Standards

2 things used to constrain our ability to get ourselves in trouble

Platform capabilityPlatform standards

Platform Capability

The Web3270 with pictures

Graphical User Interfaces(GUI’s)

Platform performanceDifficulty of coding

wikipedia.org/3270

Platform Standards

WebLogo, Search, Contact Us, top nav, left nav...

GUIFile, Edit, View, Tools, Window Help...

3 Ingredients for Failure

Awesome powerNo standardsBoss that says we need a more up-to-date user experience.

Quiz

The boss says we need a more up-to-date user experienceDo you:a) Hire a user experience designer immediatelyb) Ask "What users?"c) Brush up your resume

What Users?

User Research

User ProfileUserTaskEnvironmentPlatform

Persona's

http://www.usability.gov/analyze/personas.html

What is your User Experience?

You don't need a UI to define your user experience

User GoalsBusiness GoalsUsability GoalsDesign Goals

Attitude statementWhen people use this application, they feel...

Lonely Planet Surface Concept

Quickbooks vs XERO

http://blog.xero.com/2008/12/bank-reconciliation/

Quickbooks vs XERO

http://blog.xero.com/2008/12/bank-reconciliation/

Eventually you Have to Design Something...

Quiz

You go to your first UI design meeting. In front of you is a blank sheet of flipchart paper.Do you:a) Change the subject: the required UI will become

clear later.b) Say "Hey, nobody ever got sacked for copying

Amazon!"c) Hand a Texta to the person wearing the most black

in the room

Your First DesignActivity Scenarios

Lonely Planet Surface Concept

Matt and Kate in Sydney

Matt and Kate have finally made it through immigration at Sydney airport.

They've been planning their South American trip for months - it's finally here!

But first they have to suffer through the usual two hour wait in the airport before

departure. Matt thinks quickly - 'let's get a coffee!' They wander around scanning

the usual airport shops, looking for a Gloria Jean's. There are sunglasses shops,

duty free of course, a newsagent...

Suddenly Kate notices a cool looking store sporting a big blue Lonely Planet logo.

"Oh my God! I didn't know there were Lonely Planet stores! Let's check it out!"

While planning the trip, Kate was a regular visitor to lonelyplanet.com. She has

registered a Lonely Planet profile, and the South America guidebook that they've

been thumbing through for the last 4 months is in her bag. Kate has even stored

her favourite South American destinations on lonelyplanet.com, and has posted a

bunch of questions on Thorntree about the best romantic spots in Buenos Aires.

Matt has been less involved in the planning. He knows the Lonely Planet brand,

but just associates them with guidebooks.

As they walk into the store, they can see not only Lonely Planet products, but also

Crumpler, Teva, Northface and a bunch of other travel related brands. Kate is

immediately attracted to the wall of books, while Matt notices a group of people

leaning over a display screen in the middle of the store.

Matt watches a young boy flick through images of New Zealand on the tabletop

screen using his hands. Behind the photos is a map of the Queenstown area of

New Zealand.Over at the book shelf, Kate notices a sticker on the back of the Buenos Aires city

guide. The sticker says “Place me on our Microsoft Surface to learn more!” She

grabs Argentina, Peru, and Buenos Aires and takes them over to Matt.

Lonely Planet Scenario

Take Away #2

Your first user experience design doesn’t have a user interface.

Can I draw something now?

OK, I’ve written my Activity Scenarios

Task Analysis

Applications Break At The Joins

Workflow Diagram

New Inquiry

Who is calling?

Create ‘Customer’

Identify ‘Customer’

Create ‘Policy Claim’

Identify ‘Policy Claim’

What do they want?

Act on request Finish Call

New

Existing

New

Existing

The Hiser Group

Workflow Diagrams

AreA map of the main user steps that make up a taskHigh-levelA way to start thinking about how to break tasks up in the user interfaceA way to focus on flow between functions, not just the functions

Workflow Diagrams

AreA map of the main user steps that make up a taskHigh-levelA way to start thinking about how to break tasks up in the user interfaceA way to focus on flow between functions, not just the functions

Are notA site mapA diagram of the screens/pages in an applicationA diagram of every possible path and action

Workflow Diagram

New Inquiry

Who is calling?

Create ‘Customer’

Identify ‘Customer’

Create ‘Policy Claim’

Identify ‘Policy Claim’

What do they want?

Act on request Finish Call

New

Existing

New

Existing

The Hiser Group

Can I build some screens now?

OK I have workflow diagrams

Paper Prototyping

Paper PrototypingFAST DESIGN

Paper Prototyping

ProsNo technical skill requiredNot intimidatingClearly unfinishedNecessarily high-levelLow investment

ConsBecome unwieldy with lots of contentAwkward to show subtle interactionsNot as portable

Digital Prototyping

Prototyping problems:

Required specific skillsToo much implementation detailWasn’t agile enoughEverything interpreted through the prototyper’s eyesThrow-away

Many of these problems are resolved

Then the miracle happens

Quiz

OK, you’ve got a user interface design. What is the best way to ensure your user interface is usable?a) Hire a user experience consultantb) Get Quality Assurance involvedc) Get an expert user to review the user interfaced) None of the above, the users will tell us if there

are any problems

Usability Testing

Usability Testing

http://www.portfoliodesign.net/clients/case_study/monster_mob_usability_testing.asp?nav=marketing>

Usability Testing

Give users tasks to performGet them to think aloudDon’t interfereKnow what constitutes successConsider getting a neutral party to test

You don’t have to have a ‘usability lab’You don’t need large numbers of users

Usability Testing Bonus

Project buy-in

Take Away #3

Fail early, and fail often.

What We've Been Talking About

User ProfilingUser Experience GoalsActivity ScenariosWorkflow DiagrammingPaper PrototypingUsability Testing

User Centred Design

People

Behaviour

Problem

Solution

Technology

User Centred Design

Design

BuildEvaluate

Analyse

Users

Progressive RefinementInformation Design

Interaction Design

Visual Design

3 Ingredients for Failure

Awesome powerNo standardsBoss that says we need a more up-to-date user experience.

3 Takeaways

User Experience Design starts long before the drop-shadows and rounded cornersYour first user experience design doesn’t have a user interfaceFail early, and fail often

question & answer

Related ContentWUX212 Panel Discussion - Designers & Developers How We Do It In the Real World

Wednesday 3:45pm

shanemo@microsoft.comblogs.mdsn.com/shanemoixd101.com@shanemo

Thank you

© 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS,

IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.