Engaging Users in Design
Download as PPT, PDF1 like800 views
This document discusses the importance of engaging users early and often in the design process. It provides three main sections: The Whys, which discusses why designers need frequent access to users and common barriers; The Dos, which offers suggestions on how to ensure the user's voice is heard through methods like user research and developing a customer board; and The Don'ts, which advises against practices that don't help user engagement like confusing market research with behavioral research or creating long findings documents. The overall message is that involving users directly leads to increased usability, adoption and productivity of products, but designers must work to overcome barriers to prioritizing user research.
Engaging Users in Design
- 1. Engaging Users in Design… Early & Often. Natalia A. Framil Leader of Design, IBM Smarter Workforce Director of User Experience, IBM
- 2. Summary The Whys Why do designers need frequent access to users, and what are common barriers? The Dos What can you do to ensure that the voice of the user is heard loud, clear, and often? The Don’ts What are some things that don’t help when trying to set up a user engagement program?
- 3. The Whys Why do designers need frequent access to users, and what are common barriers?
- 4. It’s a no brainer – engaging users in design leads to: Increased Usability Increased Adoption Increased Productivity Uncovered Opportunities Lowered Costs
- 5. We also know how we can engage with users Contextual Inquiry Usability Testing Participatory Design Card Sorting Diary Studies
- 6. “Pay attention to what users do, not what they say.” Jakob Nielsen
- 7. … but when did you actually do user research last? • This week • Last week • Last month • Last year • (Never?)
- 8. “Know Thy User” It’s easy to acknowledge the need to really understand ”the other” in a movie… but how about in real life?
- 9. How often do we hear: “As a user, I’d want to do X” “Our market research shows what our users want” “They’ll be trained to use this” “Our users are experts and will get it” “I like this too! Looks easy enough” “If we go to users, they’ll ask too much” “Amazon <Apple, etc.> does it like this” Designing for yourself Assuming you know your users Relying on “help” or “training” Designing by committee Overestimating their ability / attention Fear of “opening a can of worms” Relying on “best practices” Implicit Avoidance
- 10. And how about: “We don’t have the time to do user research” “Our budget doesn’t allow for user testing” “I am not sure how useful this would be” “The sample size is small, I can’t trust the findings” “I already showed it to customers, they like it” “It’s hard to find participants” “We don’t have the skillset on our team” Research time > time to fix bad design Cost of testing > cost of bad design Questioning qualitative value Using “what do you think” approach with buyers Questioning the size of research Assuming too expensive to train ming the customer / user isn’t interested in participating Explicit Rejection
- 11. The Dos What can you do to ensure that the voice of the user is heard loud, clear, and often?
- 12. Find and engage with your internal stakeholders Product Management Client Services Sales Training Customer Support Find out who has access to clients in your organization, and can connect you with the client stakeholders. 1
- 13. Have a ready-to-use overview of UX goals for user engagement Develop simple, actionable templates that you can use to recruit for user engagement initiatives. 2
- 14. Develop a customer board & cultivate it continuously Build up a pool of customers / users so you can reach out to them quickly to observe, collaborate, and validate designs. 3
- 15. Share your success stories with other teams & departments to increase adoption “Much better, very clean and organized.” “I'd take this in black and white if I could have it today!” “I like it, it looks nice and clean. I really like the map view.” 150% 4
- 16. Better yet, adopt a design way of thinking. IBM Design Thinking. 5
- 17. Better yet, adopt a design way of thinking. IBM Design Thinking. 5
- 18. The Don’ts What are some things that don’t help when trying to set up a user engagement program?
- 19. Don’t confuse market research with behavioral user research 1 GOAL FOCUS SAMPLE METHOD Understand what users do & how they do it Behavior Small (4-12 per role) Observation-based (contextual inquiry, field research…) Inform design Qualitative PURPOSE TYPE Understand what customers want Opinions Large (500+ per segment) Opinion-based (surveys, focus groups…) Inform opportunity Quantitative Market Research Behavioral User Research
- 20. Don’t create overwhelmingly long, wordy research findings 2 Personas & Mental Models Story Telling Video Reel
- 21. Don’t limit research sessions to researchers and designers 3 … but don’t overcrowd users either.
- 22. Don’t separate research from design 4 Introduce design concepts to users early and often, sketch!
- 23. Don’t believe that engaging users in design is luxury! 5
- 24. Thank You
Editor's Notes
- #15: This pool of users should be to cultivated to grow continuously, so that we don’t talk with the same users all the time. Customer advisory board also builds trust & increases overall customer service satisfaction!