seeing the forest for the trees: visual problem solving as a design and usability tool
Post on 06-May-2015
921 Views
Preview:
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
Wait for it…
Wait for it…
So I can get a feel for my audience, how many of you have read Dan Roam’s book “The Back of the Napkin”? [image of book cover]
How many of you have read Luke Wroblewski’s book “Site-Seeing”? [image of book cover]
• How many of you have heard of this person? [picture of Christina Wallace]
• How many of you have heard of JSTOR? Ithaka?
? ? ?Christina Wallace
Usability and Content Coordinator, Ithaka
=
+ +
June 10, 2009
Seeing the forest for the trees:
Visual problem solving as a design and usability tool
WARNING: this presentation is not accessible to the blind or visually impaired.
What’s this presentation about?
General MethodologySpecific tacticsProblem solving
Whether defining or designing the user experience, UX practitioners often come into contact with three groups of people…Client Groups
• Stakeholders
• Technologists
• End users
Client groups
&
• content
General MethodologyGeneral Methodology
Step 1: identify questions surrounding the problem
Who and what problems
relate to things, people, users, roles, etc.
How much problems
Involve measuring and counting
When problems
relate to scheduling and timing
Where problems
relate to direction and how things fit together
How problems
relate to how things influence one another
Why problems
relate to seeing the big picture
General Methodology
Step 2: identify visuals that demonstrate or elucidate the problem
Who and what problems
relate to things, people, users, roles, etc.
How much problems
Involve measuring and counting
When problems
relate to scheduling and timing
Where problems
relate to direction and how things fit together
How problems
relate to how things influence one another
Why problems
relate to seeing the big picture
Personas, target users, market segments
ROI, usage stats
Testing duration, up-front investment, time-to-market
Functionality, proximity, information architecture
Interoperability, work/user flows
Usability testing, impact analysis, gap analysis
Portrait
Chart
Timeline
Map
Flow chart
Plot
General Methodology
Step 2: identify visuals that demonstrate or elucidate the problem
Think about deliverables that these groups often create themselves. These will give clues as to the types of visualizations that will be effective.
Client Group
Traits Needs/WantsDeliverables/Tools that work well
StakeholderExamples: Business units, your boss, Legal, client, designers
- business-oriented- management, leadership- “big chunk” communicators (not detail-oriented)- goal-oriented- visionary- busy with other “primary” tasks
- high-level information - “big picture” understanding- cause and effect info- ROI/cost analysis
“At-a-glance”-charts-graphs-bullet points-executive summary
TechnologistExamples: Front & back end developers, operations, DBAs, IT
- detail-oriented- literal- minimal- concise
- efficiency- logic- semantics- formulas
“See, understand, show”-images-work/user/task flow charts-UML diagrams-White boards
End UserExamples: students, librarians
- result-oriented- task-oriented- practical- application
- clarity- concise information- predictability/patterns- to not be overwhelmed with detail
“Step-by-step”-ordered instructions-user stories-use cases-flow charts
General Methodology
Step 3: gather visuals and put them to work for us
Tactics
Shock and Awe • Wallpaper a room/hallway with everything
• Provide outlets for feedback
• Enable a free-form discovery period
• Watch who talks to whom – unique connections will be made
• Works with both introverts and extroverts, although separate mechanisms for feedback need to be in place for each group.
• After discovery period, engage participants – can be like a “show and tell” about what they learned, or more directed discussion.
Problem: engaging a diverse group of stakeholders that has minimal exposure to a project and limited time to devote to issues.
Tactics
Splashing the Pot• Throw everything related to the problem on a table and let it spread out everywhere
• Let people sift through and start “chunking”
• See where information ends up, see how people group it to understand it
• Come up with problem statements for each chunk
• Works best with groups that are somewhat familiar with the project/issue
•Does not work for “coasters” (people who like to sit back and watch others work)
•Works best for overwhelming problems
Problem: Redirecting a group or team that is trying to solve “how” before “what”.
Tactics
The Wicker Man • Creating a visual so that it can be “burned down” by others
• Purposely leaving something out or doing something wrong – something that can easily be detected
• Caveat: don’t make it seem like you’re an idiot
• You could also inform participants of what you’re doing
• Works well with individuals
Problem: engaging a group or individual with limited time or interest and eliciting the information you need.
Tactics
Where’s Waldo? • Creating a perfectly good visual and telling people that there is something wrong with it
• Relies on the fact that people will always find something wrong (see Waldo everywhere)
• Works well with early designs to get feedback or “test” a design direction
• Put wireframes/mockups up in a public place and leave sticky notes and markers or a “ballot box” for feedback
• Challenge people: find 5 things wrong with this design
• Good comparison across many answers
• Good for anonymous feedback
• Caveat: lots of feedback = time consuming to sort through “junk”
Problem: Getting enough/any feedback from client groups on a design.
Aftermath
Apply the same techniques you used to create the visuals to communicating the outcomes.
Teach your client groups what they can expect from you consistently.
Follow-through is important. I often create different “outcome” or summary deliverables for specific client groups. Rarely are these documents. Think visuals!
Want copies of this presentation?
Email me:christina.wallace@ithaka.org
Pick up a poster of this presentation or one of my “cards”…
Give me your business card or email and I’ll send it to you.
top related