Designing for those digging rocks, pirouetting and saving lives: Our design process for academics
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The document discusses the design team's collaborative structure and challenges associated with creating products for a diverse range of scientists using Mendeley, a reference management software. It emphasizes the importance of user research, understanding unique workflows, and balancing design consistency across various environments while adapting to the fast-paced agile environment. Key takeaways highlight communication within teams and the need for adaptable design processes to meet user needs effectively.
!["I try to find as many papers as possible all the time. I'm always looking." [How important
is accessing the PDF?] "Very. I'm a hoarder. I'm a frantic hoarder. I need as many PDFs."](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ourdesignprocessforacademics-200224195010/85/Designing-for-those-digging-rocks-pirouetting-and-saving-lives-Our-design-process-for-academics-17-320.jpg)
!["I should probably sort my references better." [Why don’t you?] "Because I’m lazy. I have a
child. I teach in a different city. I work with the [name of committee] Committee. I do
YouTube videos. I run an academic kindness run. Tagging all my references seems like a
daunting task…"](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ourdesignprocessforacademics-200224195010/85/Designing-for-those-digging-rocks-pirouetting-and-saving-lives-Our-design-process-for-academics-18-320.jpg)
!["We don't have a lot of storage for some reason. You're done after 5 papers." [So, do you
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Designing for those digging rocks, pirouetting and saving lives: Our design process for academics
- 1. Designing for those digging rocks, pirouetting and saving lives Elizabeth Chesters | UX Designer
- 3. About Mendeley Reference management software Researcher network Platform for finding career and funding opportunities Developing new products for note-taking and staying up to date on research 10.3 million registered users 1.4 million monthly active users, April 2018
- 7. The Mendeley Design Team Design Director UX Designer UX Designer UX Designer UX Designer UI Designer UX/UI Designer UI Designer UX Designer UX/UI DesignerUX Designer
- 8. Design Team and Product Structure One company design team Designers are distributed across products and projects Products have several designers, who sit with the product owners and developers Those designers work across the multiple projects that make up a product Designers support multiple agile teams
- 9. One Company; Many Products
- 10. One Team across Many Projects
- 11. Team Structure Benefits Designers on each product work closely with the product owners, developers and QAs We work alongside teams in their agile ceremonies; attending stand ups, prioritising research and design Each product has 2-4 designers of different skills, e.g. research or UI focused 1 lead designer on each product works more closely with the overall product owner
- 12. What challenges do we face?
- 13. A Diverse Audience Users are at different career levels Users conduct research in different domains Users can also be practitioners, NGOs, academics Users are located around the world Users work in a wide range of environments
- 14. A Diverse Audience Users are at different career levels Users conduct research in different domains Users can also be practitioners, NGOs, academics Users are located around the world Users work in a wide range of environments PhD Students, Postdocs, Professors Physicists, microbiologists, neuroscientists Emotional states, industry demands US, China, Italy, Brazil Offices, public transport, natural disaster zones etc.
- 15. Understanding Scientific Researchers It’s hard to be exposed organically to a research audience, compared to e.g. travel sector A day in the life of a scientist is far away from our daily lives as designers Our products focus on productivity, where workflows are personal to each researcher User journeys and funnels aren’t as clearly defined as others like a checkout journey
- 16. Understanding Scientific Researchers It’s hard to be exposed organically to a research audience, compared to e.g. travel sector A day in the life of a scientist is far away from our daily lives as designers Our products focus on productivity, where workflows are personal to each researcher User journeys and funnels aren’t as clearly defined as others like a checkout journey How does a microbiologist read papers? When does a nano physicist take notes across multiple papers? How does a neuroscientist judge a paper as relevant to read? What environmental limits does a computer scientist have working in a natural disaster area?
- 17. "I try to find as many papers as possible all the time. I'm always looking." [How important is accessing the PDF?] "Very. I'm a hoarder. I'm a frantic hoarder. I need as many PDFs."
- 18. "I should probably sort my references better." [Why don’t you?] "Because I’m lazy. I have a child. I teach in a different city. I work with the [name of committee] Committee. I do YouTube videos. I run an academic kindness run. Tagging all my references seems like a daunting task…"
- 19. "We don't have a lot of storage for some reason. You're done after 5 papers." [So, do you carry your hard drive around with you?] "Yeah, it's like a child!"
- 20. "I've been in cardiac arrest situations where you're on call, it's the middle of the night, you've never met the patient before but your alarm goes off. You go down to the ward to help and you don't know who the patient is, and you're having to wait for a computer to load, just to figure out who they are, why they came in, what might be wrong with them, what's wrong with them. Whereas before, you could pick up the notes and flick through. In two minutes you've got an idea of who that patient is... I like technology but I don't like it if it's not fit for purpose or if people haven't really thought about how we as human beings need to use it."
- 21. Consistencies Across Products and Platforms Scientists need to work in a range of environments across a range of devices Users demand the same functionality within different contexts We need to balance what needs to be consistent with acceptable divergences Testing for such a wide range of circumstances, interoperability and environments is challenging
- 22. Consistencies Across Products and Platforms Scientists need to work in a range of environments across a range of devices Users demand the same functionality within different contexts We need to balance what needs to be consistent with acceptable divergences Testing for such a wide range of circumstances, interoperability and environments is challenging Should search be consistent or different on mobile and desktop? How do we design a consistent search experience, for users looking for existing references versus new references versus funding opportunities? How do researchers search for content written in different languages?
- 23. Fast-Paced Agile Environment Research and design can take longer than development Product and business requirements and priorities often change We have to balance doing research well and hit deadlines, without putting effort in too early Designs can be out of date when the feature is prioritised for development This means the UX and UI has to go back to the drawing board regarding designs
- 24. Creating Products from Scratch New products often don’t have equivalents in the industry At times there are no products to look to for patterns to provide consistency Difficult to understand user challenges and user value of a new product
- 25. How do we solve these challenges?
- 26. Our design team is diverse All designers spend time with users Research extends to understand international markets and behaviours Research includes users with impairments and accessibility needs Designing for a Diverse Audience
- 27. Our design team is diverse All designers spend time with users Research extends to understand international markets and behaviours Research includes users with impairments and accessibility needs Designing for a Diverse Audience Russian, Portuguese, British, Irish, Argentinian, German, Italian, Dutch, American Designers can sign up to any sessions, whether it’s their product or not A research project looked into how Chinese researchers manage references and use social media Desk research, training, in-house expertise and outsourced accessibility testing
- 28. Understanding Scientific Researchers Qualitative In-field research such as visiting science labs Interview senior researchers on site Remote user interviews with international users Up to 8 in-house user interviews a week Quantitative Analytics and usage data Unmoderated remote testing Surveys Onboarding help and feedback
- 30. Designing for Consistency We created experience principles based on user research Internal for the design team Helps us to design products that evoke the same feelings We apply these to our journey maps, user testing, team discussions and style guides
- 31. Confident: Let’s inspire confidence in our content and data, as a trusted, secure part of the researcher workflow. Connected: Our users should feel like they’re standing on the shoulders of giants;, that they’re part of a bigger picture and that they connect with people from across the world. Designing for Consistency Empowered: Inspire creativity in the researcher workflow, and facilitate new ways of researcher thinking through content discovery. Organised: Let’s bring order to our users being inundated with content across disconnected workflows, by being relevant and connecting the dots.
- 32. Designing across Products and Platforms Design System Defining pattern libraries of solutions to standardise certain elements Patterns also need to be flexible to be adaptable for different contexts Modular reusable patterns allow us to shift effort from pixels to user journeys Visual language to support scannability, legibility which is suitable for productivity tools
- 33. Designing across Products and Platforms Design System Defining pattern libraries of solutions to standardise certain elements Patterns also need to be flexible to be adaptable for different contexts Modular reusable patterns allow us to shift effort from pixels to user journeys Visual language to support scannability, legibility which is suitable for productivity tools Content, interfaces, style, behaviours, accessibility These allow us to quickly spin up new prototypes and ideas which are consistent with current products Patterns to share across different products A design system suited for its purpose
- 34. Designing as a Team Twice a week we come together as a team for design critique and feedback Update the team on the status of products and projects Share early and late strategies, sketches, wireframes, designs Ensure consistency in designs used like UI patterns and component behaviours
- 35. Designing in an Agile Environment We have a weekly design focused stand-up Status updates of what’s being done in the week, what needs testing, what needs UI Involve director of design, UX designers on products, product owners, business analysts Product adds what needs to be researched and designed next for visibility Designers are involved in most stages of the planning of tickets We sit with developers, product and QAs to flesh out development stories We review the designs and acceptance criteria to ensure they’re the most up-to-date before it’s built
- 37. Creating Products from Scratch Understand the user goal to create a Minimal Viable Product, focusing on the bare minimum steps Design an proof of concept to allow early research and testing Explicitly ask users to explain how the prototype works and how it solves their problems Sequence the onboarding experience to the tiniest steps to ease users into a new product
- 38. Creating Products from Scratch Understand the user goal to create a Minimal Viable Product, focusing on the bare minimum steps Design an proof of concept to allow early research and testing Explicitly ask users to explain how the prototype works and how it solves their problems Sequence the onboarding experience to the tiniest steps to ease users into a new product What problems can our product solve? What could our solution look like? Testing is planned with 4 labs, around 100 users Qualitative and quantitative
- 39. What’s next?
- 40. Iterating over Processes Our processes don’t solve all our challenges Improve our design processes to make the most out of our research Formalise the process Share processes and design solutions across products and companies
- 41. Key Takeaways Every design team has their own challenges Communication within teams is important Don’t let consistency hinder the experience Processes can help but shouldn’t be written in stone
- 42. Thank you! Elizabeth Chesters | @EChesters Obrigado | Dziękuję | Shokran | Dankeschön | Xie xie | Nandri | Grazie