thinking beyond ux

THINKING BEYOND UX

JULIET RICHARDSONPrincipal UX Consultant

Hi, I’m Juliet. This is my presentation thinking beyond UX from Interact London 2014.

In this talk, I will be discussing how UX in and of itself is not a 'magic bullet'. Designing beautiful and intuitive interactions will only get you so far. If the proposition that you're trying to sell is not the right one for your audience, they're still not going to buy it. I will talk about some real world examples of how thinking beyond UX can mean thinking about anything from content and propositions to organisational change and employee training.

UX IS EVERYTHING

Juliet Richardson

UX did not always used to be seen to be of value. When I started, I used to spend approx. 50% of my time spent doing UX and 50% convincing people of the value of UX.

Now UX is very popular. A recent Forrester survey found that 93% of executives said that improving the customer experience was a key strategic aim. Everyone wants to do UX.

UX IS NOTHING

Juliet Richardson

But, we risk not delivering on the promise of UX if we get it wrong.

UX in and of itself is not necessarily the magic fairy dust that people think it is…

Very funny picture goes here

Hilarious slogan goes here

Juliet Richardson

UX is nothing with the wrong content

The most brilliantly designed interaction is nothing if the content is wrong.

Juliet Richardson

UX is nothing if it doesn’t fulfill a need.

You can have something that is brilliantly designed, very easy to use, etc but if it isn’t something that people want…

Juliet Richardson

UX is nothing if it doesn’t make business sense…

There is no point investing in UX for something that is not in line with your business goals.

Can you test whether recent

improvements have made it easier to sign up for our online forum?

Sign up!

We could do the testing and show it’s easier, but no change in sign up to live forums…

Do people want to sign up? Do they even want a forum?

Can you test the usability of our new

virtual tour?

Watch!

We could do the testing and make is brilliant to use, but still it performs poorly on the live site…Do people want a virtual tour? Do they watch it instead of visiting?Why does the business want a virtual tour?

Can you help increase our online donations?

Donate

!

We can follow best practice to put the right type of images, messages, calls to action, etc. But our impact will be limited if your overall message about what you do as a charity is not appealing to potential donors

We need to increase traffic to these pages – can

you help?

What is the business reason for increasing traffic? More people viewing a page does not give any business benefit unless they’re the RIGHT people…

Optimising UX without addressing wider issues means that you risk hitting a local maximum.You are delivering the best you can within the current constraints.

This means that the impact of UX solutions may not be as great as promised or as hoped for. You risk UX being “nothing”

SO, HOW DO WE AVOID THIS?

Juliet Richardson

Go back to basics… Jesse James Garret – Elements of User Experience (2000)You need to think of the layers of experience and get the basics right. All of the examples we’ve been talking about are a result of not getting the strategy, scope or skeleton layers right. They’re a result of focusing on the surface only or only doing parts of the lower layers…

Juliet Richardson

Think about the starting point…

Do the right research – get at user needs, understand business objectives Ask the right questions – “the five why’s” – good for users and clients

Juliet Richardson

Think about usefulnessTest your vision against reality.

Juliet Richardson

Think about content…Take a content-first approach

Juliet Richardson

Think strategically….Talk to the board, challenge the status quo. Align with business strategy, align UX metrics and business metrics.

Think organisationally…Get the right people… Have someone responsible for UX

Usable

Useful

Desirable

Optimised user experience

Juliet Richardson

Usable

Useful

Desirable

Optimised user experience that delivers business value

Juliet Richardson

Thank youJULIET RICHARDSON

Principal UX ConsultantNomensa

@we_are_Nomensa