Monthly Archives: October 2014

UX Deliverables and Assets, Web Design

Visual designer for my life.com

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I will soon have some work samples on the regular website in my portfolio, but I wanted to share some of the projects I’ve been working on as the UX Visual Designer at mylife.com.

As a UX Visual Designer, I design simple and innovative solutions to complex User Interface problems. Create multiple iterations and concepts for the final online product for desktop and responsive mobile formats. Actively participate in a fully integrated agile/scrum team with product managers, developers, engineers, QA and others. Recommend and implement copy and design changes to improve customer conversion and engagement.

User Experience Visual Designer at my life.com
User Experience Visual Designer at my life.com

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Uncategorized, Web Design

15 Mobile UX Facts And Insights

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I cam across this interesting article about UX and Mobile.

Read the entire story including links at Measuring Usability‘s website.

Designing a better user experience means making sure that users can access information and services across multiple devices, especially mobile devices (phones and tablets).  

In building a better experience, there are many questions about mobile device usage and how designers can best meet users’ needs with apps and responsive designs. We’ve conducted a lot ofmobile usability studies and in the process have encountered many common questions.

Here are 15 data points to help in answering some common questions about mobile usage and behavior. I’ve included as many sources as possible so you can double check our conclusions.

  1. Around half the US’s and 62% of the UK’s mobile phones are “smartphones.” The percentages are similar across Europe. Fortunately for us researchers, most consumers actually know what a “smartphone” is and whether they own one with around 8% not knowing what “smartphone” means. 
  2. Around 20% of the US population over the age of 18 owns a tablet.   It’s about evenly split between Android and iPad platforms.
  3. Tablets have a similar profile as desktops. While tablets get lumped together with smartphones, some data suggest that they are more similar to desktop computers.  Tablet users are more engaged and view about the same number of pages as desktop users. That’s about four times more than smartphone pageviews.
  4. People use full-size tablets at home and in the evening.  In addition to size, part of the reason for the homebound devices might be that only about half of iPads have cellular data access.  In fact, we found the most concentrated time was used at home, on the couch, or bed between 7 and 10pm[pdf]. 
  5. Most people have over 20 apps (5 or more paid for).  
  6. Most people forget what apps they even downloaded. 
  7. Most user prefer shopping using websites to apps. One of the more pressing decisions for mobile teams is whether or not to build an app. Going down the app path means supporting multiple operating systems and platforms (usually having different development teams). In our lab-based studies, we also generally see users spending the most time with the web browser and often not knowing whether they have an app or not.  One of the biggest complaints in the mobile browsing experience is the constant nagging of downloading apps and the non-continuity of links that don’t open the apps.  We generally see users prefer shopping on websites rather than using apps. The percentage changes depending on the industry, app and demographic but the app should offer a compelling experience, rich features or something you can’t get in a browser. Update: Changed a link title that cited a somewhat misleading figure suggesting 87% of consumers preferred apps over websites. 
  8. Around half of US smartphone users use their mobile phone to compare prices while in the store. The percentage is a bit lower for Europe.
  9. Most tablet owners still have another desktop or laptop, and despite high usage, it’s still not considered the primary computer. 
  10. Most smartphone users haven’t scanned a QR Code. But if they do it’s usually for finding more product information or obtaining discounts.  
  11. Portrait vs. Landscape?  For viewing content it’s about evenly split with 54% preferring portrait mode.   However, landscape might be more popular for using certain apps.
  12. Conversion rates from tablets are four times higher than smartphones 5% vs. 1% (about the same as desktop conversion rates). 
  13. Consumers who own both a tablet and a smartphone were significantly more likely (63%) to indicate increased overall mobile spending than owners of smartphones only (29%). Larger screen size, full keyboard, and touch screen capabilities are cited as the main reasons for a better shopping experience. 
  14. Security is a still a major reason why mobile users don’t make purchases. In our 1:1 lab interviews, we consistently hear fear of stolen data as often as usability and screen size as reasons why users don’t like to use credit card or bank information on mobile phones and tablets. 
  15. The more consumers consider and research a purchase, the more they use their smartphones to find product information. For example, 73% of mobile usage in electronics stores was to read product reviews.
Education, Web Design

When to Use Which User-Experience Research Methods

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This post originally came for Nielsen Norman Groups website in the full article “When to Use Which User-Experience Research Methods”. Here is an excerpt  from that article highlighting a comprehensive list of research methods.

Research methods chart on Jennifer Blatz UX Design

20 UX Methods in Brief

Here’s a short description of the user research methods shown in the above chart:

Usability-Lab Studies: participants are brought into a lab, one-on-one with a researcher, and given a set of scenarios that lead to tasks and usage of specific interest within a product or service.

Ethnographic Field Studies: researchers meet with and study participants in their natural environment, where they would most likely encounter the product or service in question.

Participatory Design: participants are given design elements or creative materials in order to construct their ideal experience in a concrete way that expresses what matters to them most and why.

Focus Groups: groups of 3-12 participants are lead through a discussion about a set of topics, giving verbal and written feedback through discussion and exercises.

Interviews: a researcher meets with participants one-on-one to discuss in depth what the participant thinks about the topic in question.

Eyetracking: an eyetracking device is configured to precisely measure where participants look as they perform tasks or interact naturally with websites, applications, physical products, or environments.

Usability Benchmarking: tightly scripted usability studies are performed with several participants, using precise and predetermined measures of performance.

Moderated Remote Usability Studies: usability studies conducted remotely with the use of tools such as screen-sharing software and remote control capabilities.

Unmoderated Remote Panel Studies:  a panel of trained participants who have video recording and data collection software installed on their own personal devices uses a website or product while thinking aloud, having their experience recorded for immediate playback and analysis by the researcher or company.

Concept Testing: a researcher shares an approximation of a product or service that captures the key essence (the value proposition) of a new concept or product in order to determine if it meets the needs of the target audience; it can be done one-on-one or with larger numbers of participants, and either in person or online.

Diary/Camera Studies: participants are given a mechanism (diary or camera) to record and describe aspects of their lives that are relevant to a product or service, or simply core to the target audience; diary studies are typically longitudinal and can only be done for data that is easily recorded by participants.

Customer Feedback: open-ended and/or close-ended information provided by a self-selected sample of users, often through a feedback link, button, form, or email.

Desirability Studies: participants are offered different visual-design alternatives and are expected to associate each alternative with a set of  attributes selected from a closed list; these studies can be both qualitative and quantitative.

Card Sorting: a quantitative or qualitative method that asks users to organize items into groups and assign categories to each group. This method helps create or refine the information architecture of a site by exposing users’ mental models.

Clickstream Analysis: analyzing the record of screens or pages that users clicks on and sees, as they use a site or software product; it requires the site to be instrumented properly or the application to have telemetry data collection enabled.

A/B Testing (also known as “multivariate testing,” “live testing,” or “bucket testing”): a method of scientifically testing different designs on a site by randomly assigning groups of users to interact with each of the different designs and measuring the effect of these assignments on user behavior.

Unmoderated UX Studies: a quantitative or qualitative and automated method that uses a specialized research tool to captures participant behaviors (through software installed on participant computers/browsers) and attitudes (through embedded survey questions), usually by giving participants goals or scenarios to accomplish with a site or prototype.

True-Intent Studies: a method that asks random site visitors what their goal or intention is upon entering the site, measures their subsequent behavior, and asks whether they were successful in achieving their goal upon exiting the site.

Intercept Surveys: a survey that is triggered during the use of a site or application.

Email Surveys: a survey in which participants are recruited from an email message.

Web Design

Image-Focused Design: Is Bigger Better?

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UX, user experience, Jennifer Blatz, design, hero image

The Nielsen Norman Group has released an article discussing the importance and flaws of using a huge hero image on the home page. I am sharing the important check list that is included in the article. Read the entire article about image usage “Image-Focused Design: Is Bigger Better?” now.

How to Ensure that You Use Images Appropriately

Follow these steps to make sure you have the right balance of elements:

  1. Identify and prioritize all the goals of the page — both the user goals, and the business goals (including brand goals.) Is the page primarily a marketing vehicle to build your brand? Or are most visitors already familiar with your organization (or at least your industry vertical), and now need specific content or functionality?
  2. Define how each design element relates to the page goals. Images are usually decorative, and support branding goals. Navigation and structured search relate to specific user tasks.
  3. Assign visual weight based on goal importance. If a design element supports a high priority goal, it should have more visual emphasis; conversely, design elements related to secondary goals should have less emphasis. (This guideline sounds obvious, but is often completely disregarded, or gets lost along the way to creating a ‘modern’ looking website.)
  4. Select images that have a strong relationship with brand goals. Remember, the purpose of your site is not just to showcase images (unless you’re Flickr). Instead, the images you select should showcase the purpose of your site.
  5. Choose striking visuals that capture attention. Once you’ve identified the goals of your images and their relative importance among other design elements, and you’ve determined what types of images relate to these goals — only then should you focus on selecting the most compelling images you can find.
  6. Be selective about which trends you embrace when ‘updating’ your site. For many redesign projects, creating a site that looks ‘modern’ is an important goal. But there are many ways to accomplish this goal. Typography, layout, and brand colors — just to name a few—can all be effectively used to create a modern look and feel, while still providing appropriate emphasis on critical site functions.
Education

I am quoted in an article at UX Beginner

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“Am I Too Old For UX?”

According to the blog UX Beginner, “Yes, you are.”

But if you read the story further, entering the UX field is not really about how old you are, but rather how much experience you have. Don’t let your age intimidate you and keep your for pursuing a career in UX. Just get started today!

UX Beginner, Am I too old for UX?

Read the Entire article now:

Am I Too Old For UX?” Yes, you are. by Osbourne Chen at UX Beginner