Our Discovery to Delivery Model - click to enlarge (or copy and share 🤓)
Little more than a simplified, visual mashup of the Double Diamond design process, a Build-Measure-Learn development loop, and an overly lightweight representation of delivering a solution to market - but that’s the point. I needed to illustrate how a transformation programme could align their next phase of work, and these combined processes seemed to best frame the outcomes we were after...
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Let’s spruce up the blog with a GIF for once whilst a certain music video from ‘99 comes to mind…
Throw away your list of failed experiments, the projects that didn’t get off the ground, the books or screenplays that failed to sell. Keep the lessons you’ve learned in mind, but recognise that it may simply have been the approach, the pitch, or the conditions at the time that were not optimal for success - the idea may still have legs.
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Flower bouquet image courtesy of Francisco Menéndez via Wikimedia Commons.
Created just-in-time around specific [and hopefully validated] scenarios and needs. Heavy hitting and unambiguous with their core values and present emotional situation clearly on display. Task-based personas give product and design teams the context they need for strong ideation, and here's an example why...
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A PrinterNOx nitric oxide monitoring device with a red light showing above an “Alarm” light label
If you’re near a smoke detector in your home, go press the Test button now. Hear (or remember) that shrill tone that all but guarantees you wince in pain as soon as it starts going off? Now imagine that you’re a fragile, sick patient lying on a hospital bed (not to mention being a preterm baby) and are suddenly bombarded with that ear-piercing wail emanating mere feet from your head - that’s not detrimental to your recovery, no, not at all…
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Two women sitting on a couch talking, one holding some paper, a pen, and pointing at the other woman’s iPad
At some point or another you'll be asked to review someone else's work, but there are some key differences between giving strategic level advice versus prescriptive design feedback. I recently came across a short article by Fabricio Teixeira on that specific topic, and the following key questions rang true in my head around what to consider when reviewing and providing feedback to any team…
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Woman with glasses smiling in front of a brick wall
“Working on complex socio-technical systems - that’s what we should be teaching to our young, aspiring designers.” This spoke to me (as Don Norman’s videos often do) as a message worth sharing to anyone feeling like they’re beholden to how someone else perceives their title and their supposed responsibilities within.
So, for all of my fellow “UXers” in the back feeling left out or stuck in a digital-only world, know this…
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Flight reservations page with a Select and Cancel links, identically designed, per flight row with a Note fine print paragraph below
My finger was trembling a little bit in shock; floating, still hovering a millimetre over the left mouse button.
My heart was equally pounding a bit when I realised that I was but one mere click away from canceling a transatlantic flight scheduled for the very next day to see the beautiful woman who is now my wife.
How did it nearly come to this?
A usability issue. If I’m writing about it here, you know it’s going to be about a usability issue.
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Holy Hand Grenade scene from Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail
Nothing should take more than three clicks.
We need a 1-click button.
Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three (*lobs thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch whilst counting to three because five is right out*).
When I first starting trying to evaluate digital interfaces (or even physical ones like credit card payment terminals), I thought that one of the user experience metrics I needed to focus on reducing was the number of clicks it took to complete any task. Surely that would provide a good, measurable benchmark of an experience with a product or service… right?
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Horse blinders / blinkers (Image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons by Alex Proimos)
Words are powerful, and when you get the right combination in the right order, sometimes all it may take to spark that lightbulb moment of realisation is a simple quote like, "Experiences happen before and after the transaction."
Understanding that your product or service isn't the end all, be all of your customer's day is what removes the metaphorical blinders from your eyes that would have otherwise kept you and your team from seeing all of the surrounding, yet hidden business opportunities available. People don't seek out and interact with what you're offering in isolation….
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Stock image of a Happy New Years note with champagne glasses (courtesy of Hubspot)
I want to take a moment on this first day of the New Year and publicly recognise a great user experience for a change because we, in general, don't do that enough.
It isn’t that good designs are or should be invisible, as Dan Saffer recently broke down that myth.
More simply, I think it's easier to identify the discrete experiences that annoy us because there's something tangible we can point to and go, "See here? This irritates me! Let's not do this." Inversely, a design that allows us to successfully accomplish our goals without too much friction isn't as easy to explain how we feel with a single screenshot like, "Wow. Everything about this task flow was fantastic. We should try to follow this in our own designs.”
For me today, it all started with buying movie tickets…
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"Are you ready to pay for these clothes?"
- CANCEL!
How awkward would face-to-face interactions be if you could no longer answer questions with a simple "Yes" or "No", but instead had to speak using the same button terminology commonly seen on your phone or computer?
”Are you ready to pay for these clothes?” CANCEL!
Imagine the weird looks you're going to get as they slowly back away from you...
Yet, if a pop-up window appeared on your screen right now with any of those words on a button or two, you probably wouldn't bat an eye. After all, you've seen these labels being used to describe actions day-in and day-out…
A public art sculpture of two intersecting arrows (stock photo courtesy of https://pxhere.com/en/photo/709321)
What is "art" to you?
I asked this question to a few people today after seeing Mr. Alan Cooper's brief thoughts on art's role in design, or the lack thereof. The answers I received aligned with his definition of art being personal expression.
But what of art's relation to design? Is there a place for art in terms of software, web, or end-to-end experience design or, as Mr. Cooper states, does this idea essentially differ and distract from the true needs of design work?
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“Do the UX for this page."
"Make the UX work better for this screen."
We hear things like this all the time.
However, I came across an interesting argument yesterday for seeing “UX” as a human reaction, not something you necessarily design…
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