Sometimes I think that I don’t need to write posts like this because it is an essential part of what I do something I take for granted, but then I’m reminded that not everyone does what I do.
Some people talk about human-centered design, that is what I practice. It is only through a deep understanding of individuals and their needs that we can best design for them.
What does this look like in practice? It means I use real people at all stages of design and use the next best thing (which of course pales in comparison), personas, as well.
How do I involve people, i.e. users or potential users, in the design process? I take prototypes and put them in front of a person or a group. What we do from there depends on what stage of the process we are in, and what we are trying to accomplish. We may just so a semi-structured interview, we talk about aesthetics, emotional response, how this would fit into what they already use, how they would make it better etc. We may do some usability testing, giving them tasks to accomplish and timing them and seeing where things go well and where things break down.
What is a persona? A persona is a constructed composite of possible or present users. When I use them I give that person a picture, a name, an age and a backstory. Depending on what is being designed I use 1-3 personas. Throughout the design or evaluation process, I always ask myself will this work for Miguel or Laura?
I think that for other designers, this is just a “duh” post, but for others who do not really understand what it is I do, this will be helpful.
Questions? Comments? Talk back below.
I think that you should mention some information about distilling the data that you receive from the users into implementable results. The reason for this is that is where we, the designers, shine. Usability is quite simple to learn how to do. Most people can surely run a test or a card sort, but it is in the understanding the results where the difficulty appears and remains.
By making it apparent to non-designers that they are looking for your help in understanding the results, I think you will gather more faith from them in your abilities. As they may think through the process, “I can do this. Why are we paying him again?” On that note, they probably could run a test, maybe not create it or catch important feedback during the test as well as we can, but finding the results will most definitely lose them.
Just a few thoughts
Good points Brandon, and I honestly would encourage smaller companies to run their own tests once they feel comfortable with it and bring in someone to help them interpret results (and to help them design the tests if they are pretty serious about it). This springs from the ideas in Steve Krug’s book Don’t Make Me Think. As a company grows, or as a large company grows more aware of the incredible value of designing for their customers wants and needs, and having a solid methodology and a change in mindset they will start creating UX groups or hiring UX people into their cross-disciplinary groups.
Overall it is the ability to take what you get from designing with your audience and turn that into actionable items that is the real strength that most UX professionals bring to the table.