Tag Archives: usability

Uncategorized, UX

New phone, new Woes

Leave a comment

Jennifer Blatz UX design iPhoneX new technology

I finally relented and for the iPhone X. Happy new year to me, right?  Despite being a UX designer, I am not a gadget geek. I am not an early adopter. In fact, I am just the opposite: I will resist updating and change for as long as possible.

I can’t really explain why I am not super eager to adopt the newest technology right off the bat. I guess it is a combination of fear and anxiety. I don’t want to lose any data, like photos. I don’t want any down time. I don’t want any learning curve. Geez, this is really starting to sound like it is all about me, ha!

I came across an article or two that talked about how the new iPhone was a gesture nightmare. Oh brother, that certainly was not a glowing endorsement for me. I was already unhappy with the iPhone 7 which took away the headphone jack. I guess my silent protest of mot buying the “headphones” version would be in vain because once Apple takes something away, they never give it back. We are forced to adopt. That’s the price you pay with the advancement in technology.

So I got the new phone and of course the first major difference is how do I get in to the thing?? There is no home button. I instantly touched the screen and swiped up. That seemed like the logical thing to do. Well that did nothing. Nope. Then I just tapped on the screen. OK! Progress, that seems to be the magic touch to open the phone. I can do this.

So I decided to go a little deeper in the water to try a few other things: open an app, take a screen shot, close an app, display the percentage of my batter power. These are items I do multiple tomes a day, so these are the most common actions I will be performing.

Opening an app, no problem. Same old, same old.

Closing an app, now that is a different story. That required a good search on my part. Now instead of just swiping up through the apps that are mounted, I now I have to hard press and get the “Do not Enter” street sign to close each window. This seems like additional work. Not to mention a tiny touch target to close an entire window. I am not a fan. Easily discoverable? No. Doable? I guess so.

I am constantly checking the battery power of my phone. OK, maybe I am a little bit OCD about it. (My husband would certainly say so.) I can’t help it, I like to know the exact quantity I am dealing with. So now with the new iPhone X, I cannot instantly see the remaining battery power on my phone. Huge deal killer for me. I am not happy about this. Again, I resorted to Google to see how to turn this on. There are instructions on how to activate this in Settings. Alas, this option is not available. Noooooo! Now I have to do some crazy swipe from an angle at one corner to bring up the Control Center (or whatever the hell is it called) and then do another corner swipe to see battery power. No I have to 2 (TWO!!!!) swipes to get information that was available on the opening of the phone. This is a big problem for me. (Though my husband is probably over there in the corner laughing at me….)

Finally, I wanted to know how to take a screen grab of the phone. The home button was half of the equation on completing this task. So now what? Again, I had to do a Google search to figure out how to accomplish this task. Are you starting to see a pattern here? Yeah me too.

So much for Apple being intuitive. So much for iPhones being so simple to use that I can just pick it up and figure things out by playing around with it a bit. I am not to type of person to just try anything because my fear of “not mucking it up” is more powerful than my desire to try new things. Nope, when it comes to technology, I am a “play it safe” kind of gal.

One really important lesson that has surfaced in my experience is the importance of keeping the user in mind when I am designing something new. All too often, I hear people say, “They will be able to figure it out,” or “It’s pretty intuitive, they will not be bothered by this change.

Ahhh well, I have a refreshed level of empathy for the user. I will design for the type of user who just wants to get things done and does not want to worry about some huge learning curve. I want to make sure that my designs, or change in design will not harm the experience, but will help the experience.

Here’s to doing good in design in 2018!Jennifer Blatz UX designer cheers to good user experience design in 2018

Education, UX Deliverables and Assets

User research: measuring information

Leave a comment
User research measuring quantity vs. quality Jennifer Blatz UX design
Author/Copyright holder: Nielsen Norman Group.

When conducting user research, there are a variety of methods to acquire valuable data. This chart, courtesy of the Nielson Norman Group, illustrates the ranges that your research can measure.

Let’s break this down to the extreme ranges of this chart.

Behavioral

Ethnographic research is a fine example of behavioral research. This is where the researcher goes in to the user’s natural environment and observes the user in the user’s normal and regular context.

Attitudinal

Surveys and Interviews are some ways to see what the user says they would or would not do something. Often users will give answers they think the research wants to hear or what they think is the “correct” answer. The key here is that the user might actually believe what they are saying is true. But in fact, when the researcher actually observes the behavior, what the user has said might not be accurate.

Qualitative

One-on-one interviews and ethnographic research are a couple of great ways to get qualitative research information. The researcher can devote individual time to the user, and really get deep information about them. This takes time, and therefore can be difficult to accomplish in mass quantities. But submersing yourself in the users world will provide much more in-depth information than more quantitative research methods.

Quantitative

Surveys accomplish quantitative research very well. Especially with the plethora of online survey tools (many of them are free), one can easily send out a survey to hundreds, if not thousands of participants and gather a large amount of data. This data can then be accumulated to show trends, make charts and post results of several people. However, this research method does not provide individual insight and appreciation that a more qualitative research will provide.

All in all, there are many research methods that a UX researcher has at his or her disposal. They key is to know which research method is best for the type of information he or she is seeking. Also, many of research methods fall within the middle ranges of this chart, and not at the extremes. I encourage you to use a variety of research methods in your next UX project.

 

UX

Real world vs. electronic world

Leave a comment
Designing a paper EMR in to a digital format Jennifer Blatz UX Design
Creating an electronic version of a paper medical record is very challenging for the UI designer.

A UX/UI designer has a tremendous challenge when she is assigned the duties of translating a real-world process in to an electronic or digital process. The UX designer must keep the user’s mental model in mind when designing an electronic system.

When working on EMR, or electronic medical records, it is a completely different set up and system than the paper recording method the user has been using. They key to designing a successful EMR, is to closely match the work flow and system that the user is used to. That success has not really been achieved in most EMR systems. Often, software designers get too excited and caught up in the features and flash of digital possibilities. When working on any electronic system, it is crucial to always understand how the user works, and make your system as similar to that work flow as possible.

If you have any suggestions on how to bridge the gap between the real world and electronic world, please leave them in the comments. Thanks!

Education, UX

Information architecture heuristics by Abby_the_IA

Leave a comment

Abby Covert Information Architecture Heuristics

Findable – Able to be located

Is it Findable?  Can users easily locate that which they are seeking?  How is findability affected across channels and devices? Are there multiple ways available to access things? How do external and internal search engines “see” what is provided?  Is information formatted with results in mind?  What is provided to make the delivered results more useful?

Accessible – Easily approached and/or entered

Is it Accessible? Can it be used via all expected Be aware that upwards of 20% or more of the channels and devices?! worldʼs population has. How resilient and consistent is it a disability. when used via “other” channels?  The internet is a public place. Does it meet the levels of place. Itʼs like building a ramp to your building, or accessibility compliance to be refusing to be  considerate of those users with disabilities.

Clear – Easily perceptible

Is it Clear?  Is it easy to understand? Is the target demographicsʼ grade and reading level being considered? Is the path to task completion obvious and free of distraction? Would a user find it easy to describe?

TOP 3 Clarity Offenses

•  Corporate underpants: When you are obviously making a navigational decision based on your organizational structure, not user decision paths.

•  Inside Baseball: When you are calling something a term that is unclear to anyone that doesnʼt work for your company.

•  Weasel Words: When you are being purposefully unclear in language to avoid making a promise or decision about process or commitment to a user.

Communicative – Talkative. informing, timely

Is it communicative?  Is the status, location and permissions of the user obvious? How is messaging used throughout? Is messaging effective for the tasks and contexts being supported? Does the navigation and messaging help establish a sense of place that is consistent and orienting across channels, contexts and tasks?

Useful – Capable of producing the desired or intended result

Is it Useful?  Is it usable? Are users able to complete the tasks that they set out to without massive frustration or abandon?  Does it serve new users as well as loyal users in ways that satisfy their needs uniquely?  Are there a few navigation options that lead where users may want to go next? Are they clearly labeled?

Credible – Worthy of confidence, reliable

Is it Credible? Is the design appropriate to the context of use and audience? Is your content updated in a timely manner? Do you use restraint with promotional content?  Is it easy to contact a real person? Is it easy to verify your credentials?  Do you have help/support content where it is needed? Especially important when asking for sensitive personal data.

Controllable – Able to adjust to a requirement

Is it Controllable? Are tasks and information a user would reasonably want to accomplish available? How well are errors anticipated and eliminated? When errors do occur, how easily can a user recover? Are features offered to allow the user to tailor information or functionality to their context? Are exits and other important controls clearly marked?

Valuable– Of great use, service and importance

Is it Valuable? Is it desirable to the target user? Does it maintain conformity with expectations throughout the interaction across channels? Can a user easily describe the value? How is success being measured? Does it contribute to the bottom line? Does it improve customer satisfaction?

Learnable – To fix in the mind, in the memory

Is it Learnable? Can it be grasped quickly? What is offered to ease the more complicated processes? Is it memorable? Is it easy to recount? Does it behave consistently enough to be predictable?!

Delightful– Greatly pleasing

Is it Delightful? What are your differentiators from other similar experiences or competitors? What cross channel ties can be explored that delight?  How are user expectations not just met but exceeded? What are you providing that is unexpected? What can you take that is now ordinary and make extraordinary?

These heuristics are provided by @Abby_The_IA

You can view the IA Heuristics by Abby Covert Slideshare deck of the presentaiton.

Education, Web Design

Usability Testing for User Experience Course

Leave a comment

When testing the Weather Channel App, I discovered a number of usability issues. Clearly, if the UX team had run some basic usability tests, a number of problems would have discovered and corrected.

Some issues I discovered:

• Make clickable items like buttons seem clickable.

• Remove ads within the feed, especially if they look like weather (editorial) content.

• Do not use ads as a background image on home page.

• Put useful information like search functionality in side drawer.

• Put more information, like a few days’ forecast on the home page.

• Use arrow indicator to notify the user to scroll down.

• Do not include every searched location in the favorites list.

• Allow user to just search a location without saving it.

• Allow users to include more than 10 locations in the favorites list.

• Clearly indicate current city with writing the city name, rather than relying on image.

• Give clues on social weather page as to what the icons mean and what will happen before a user clicks the icon.

• Make icons intuitive and less confusing and add a word them to clarify the function.

• Allow user to return to the top of page by tapping on the bar at the top of the screen.

• Move radar closer to top of feed. Or allow users to modify the order of content or remove something that does not interest them.

weather channel app usability problems
Make sure that items that are clickable in an app or website are clear to the user