The User Experience Team of One A Research and Design Survival Guide

Experience DesignerWeb Designer

Interactive DesignerInteractive Designer

Information ArchitectInteraction Architect

User Experience SpecialistInformation Designer

Web WriterUI Designer

Human Factors ResearcherUser Specialist

CopywriterEthnographic Researcher

Web DeveloperUser Interface Developer

UX TEAM OF ONE

User Researchers

Interaction Designers

Visual Designers

Content Strategists

Design Prototypists

The Biggest Challenges ForUX Teams of One

Building a basic

understanding of UX

17%

Getting

permiss

ion

to do t

he work

13%

Communicating + selling ideas 12%

Just Trying to Do Good Work12%

Time8%

Politics7%

NoStrategy 7%

Creative Isolation6%

Status Quo 5%

Territory Disputes 5%

Keeping Up With the Industry

No Process

Holding My Ground

For teams of one, ideally methods are...✓ inclusive & participatory✓ focused on prioritizing✓ lowest fidelity possible✓ self documenting

UX QUESTIONNAIREUX PROJECT PLANLISTENING TOUROPPORTUNITY WORKSHOPPROJECT BRIEFSTRATEGY WORKSHOP

1.2.3.4.5.6.

19.

20.21.

22.23.

LEARNING PLANGUERILLA USER RESEARCHPROTO PERSONASHEURISTIC MARKUPCOMPARATIVE ASSESSMENTCONTENT PATTERNS

7.8.

9.10.11.

12.

13.14.15.16.17.18.

DESIGN BRIEFDESIGN PRINCIPLESSKETCHINGSKETCHBOARDSTASK FLOWWIREFRAMES

PAPER & INTERACTIVEPROTOTYPESBLACK HAT SESSIONQUICK-AND-DIRTY USABILITY TESTFIVE-SECOND TESTUX HEALTH CHECK

UX Questionnaire

Team. Who needs to be involved?

Business Goals. Are we targeting measurable outcomes?

Users Goals. What do we know about our target users?

Tasks & Scenarios. What are the key work flows?

Strategy. Why will people choose us over the alternative?

Erin Product Manager

Dev Team Front-End DevBack-End DevDatabase AdminDev Manager

Kevin & Chris

Content Writers

Data Import and Integration

Our Track-Record

GreatContent

Jen & Jaime Sales & Marketing

JoeFounder

CORE TEAM

APPROVERS

(Need to confirm through competitive analysis)

Our assumptions...Busy JobsHave kidsUpwardly Mobile ProfessionalsLife OptimizersPossibly skewing more female?

No idea! Talk to Joe.Track How I Spend Time

Get Ideas

Review my progress

View Suggestions

ManualEntry

DataImport-or-

View Dashboard

ReadDaily Email-or-

Add toMy List

Check OffWhen Done

Until we know more about the users, we won’t know if these are the right tasks. Need to do user research!

UX Project Plan

DURATION ACTIVITY OUTPUT WHO'S INVOLVED

2 weeks User ResearchResearch in two parts: (1) interview existing customers about what’s good and bad about the product, and (2) interview target customers about how they balance work/life today, pain points, tools they use today, etc.

Proto-Personas • Me• Erin, Product Mgr (attend interviews and help take notes)• Customer Support Team (help recruit existing customers to interview)

2 days Product AssessmentReview existing product to identify what can be used in the new product, what needs to be improved, and what‘s not relevant

Heuristic Markup • Me

1 week Strategy WorkshopShare what we’ve learned so far and create alignment on our vision for the project

“Vision Board” that Includes Triads, Artifact from the Future, and Bang/Buck Graph To Live on the Wall and Inspire the Team

• Me• Erin, Product Mgr• Dev Team• Customer Support Team• Kevin & Chris, Content• Jen, Marketing• Jaime, Sales• Joe, Founder

3 days RecommendationsSynthesize research, product assessment, and strategy workshop and make design recommendations

Design Brief • Me (co-author)• Erin (co-author)• Jen, Jamie, Joe (approvers)

2 weeks Initial ConceptsDo sketches and run a sketchboard session. Develop higher fidelity sketches for approval.

Medium-Fidelity Concept Sketches for Core Workflows

• Me• Erin, Product Mgr• Dev Team• Customer Support Team• Kevin & Chris, Content• Jen, Marketing• Jaime, Sales• Joe, Founder

6-8 weeks Iterative Detailed DesignCo-locate with engineering team and product detailed wireframes for core workflows. Bring in contract visual designer for look and feel.

Detailed Wireframes and Design Comps

• Me• Contract Visual Designer (to be hired)

6-8 weeks (concurrent w/ detailed design)

User TestingConduct task-based usability tests on core workflows

Recommendations for Improvements to Designs

• Me (conduct)• Erin, Product Mgr (observe)• Development Team (observe)

ACTIVITY WK 1 WK 2 WK 3 WK 4 WK 5 WK 6 WK 7 WK 8 WK 9 WK 10 WK 11 WK 12 WK 13 WK 14

User Research

Recruit & Plan

Interview & Document

Product Assessment

Heuristic Markup

Strategy Workshop

Plan

Conduct

Document

Recommendations

Prepare & Deliver Recommendations

Initial Concepts

Sketch

Sketchboard Workshop

Refine Sketches

Iterative Detailed Design

Wireframes

Visual Design

User Testing

Task-Based Usability Tests

Lo-Fi Learning Plan

Research Questions Mind Map

Heuristic Markup

Step 2: Attempt to Sign Up

I guessed and ended up in the right place, but I wasn't totally certain where this would take me. Is this the same

as my corporate login? Can't tell...

Couldn't find this button at first. Blends in with the picure.

What? You're using my data? That's makes me not hesitant to sign up or sign in.

Phone number please!

https://intranet.acmecorp.net/benefits/worklife

Journey Line

TIME

Sign UpA little confusing

Start

ProfileFun to fill out - asks engaging questions

Set GoalsInteresting, but

feels a little clunky

Log EventPretty easy...

Then I notice that I can import data.

Data ImportWow! Very cool. I

didn't realize it could use my outlook data

DashboardInteresting to see it

with my data

Grrr..Keep hunting around. Really can't figure out what I'm supposed to do. Guess I'll try to

log an event...

Not sure what to do now, so

I log off.

Next day...

Email Arrives

Don't mind being reminded, like that it has some extra

content

Follow Link to ArticleReally

interesting!

Add sugges-tion to my list

This is a cool feature and feels really seamless

Now What?

Sketching

Task Flow

Design Collage

Critical/Complex Graph