UX Consulting: A Look into the Design and Usability Center at Bentley

Transcription

1 UX Consulting: A Look into the Design and Usability Center at Bentley walbert@bentley.edu

2 Agenda Who we are What we do A few things we have done recently UX consulting Lab tour Discussion 2

3 Who We Are

4 About the DUC Established in 1999 Founded as an independent center within the Human Factors in Information Design graduate program at Bentley s McCallum School of Business Dual mission to support the university and provide an education experience to graduate students Solutions delivered for over 200 clients 4

5 Senior Consulting Team Bill Albert, PhD Peter McNally, MS Lena Dmitrieva, MS Elizabeth Rosenzweig, MS Fiona Tranquada, MS Vicky Morville, MS Executive Director Sr. Usability Consultant Sr. Usability Consultant Principal Usability Consultant Sr. Usability Consultant Usability Consultant and 8 10 Research Associates 5

6 DUC Experience o o o o o o o o o o o 75+ years of experience in design and usability research Graduate level training in fields such as: Human Factors, Information Design, Human-Computer Interaction, and Cognitive Psychology Teach courses in the Bentley UX Certificate program Teach courses in the Graduate program in Human Factors in Information Design at Bentley Past President of the International Usability Professionals Association Founder and Director of World Usability Day Representation on the Boston UPA Board Publication of two usability books (and counting!) Local, national, and international presentations Published dozens of research papers and four patents Sponsor of local and national UX events 6

7 Working With Diverse Clients Websites, portals, applications, products, devices 7

8 How Do We Get Work? Many repeat clients Established as thought leaders in the UX field Reputation of the Grad Program and UX Certificate Advertising/marketing 8

9 Facilities Two state-of-the-art testing labs Live streaming of test sessions Post production video editing Remote/field testing capabilities One-way mirrors in both labs Observation up to 6 people (downstairs) and 24 (upstairs) 9

10 Special Equipment Remote/field testing capabilities Document cameras to evaluate mobile and medical devices Eyetracking (lab and portable) Access to Qsensor (measuring emotional engagement) 10

11 Focus on the Whole User Experience First impressions Support key tasks and workflow Ease of learning and re-learning Ease of use (efficiency over time) Design Business Strategy Consistency within and between products Accessibility Emotional response and persuasion Marketing Emotion Reason User Human Factors Engineering Error prevention and recovery Satisfaction and enjoyment 11

12 Maintain a Scientific Approach Access to latest research and faculty Academic and professional publications Third-party independence Focus on measurable improvements Skilled in both qualitative and quantitative research techniques 12

13 Achieve Key Business Goals Good User Experience Effective Business Strategy Product Success Increased sales Larger and broader customer base Decreased development and support costs Increased customer success on business critical transactions Increased efficiency of use and shortened learning curves Increased customer satisfaction Increased brand loyalty and cross selling opportunities Greater product differentiation in a competitive landscape Increase use and long-term acceptance of the product 13

14 What We Do

15 The DUC Toolkit Discovery Design & Evaluation Benchmarking Stakeholder visioning Literature review Personas Surveys Interviews and focus groups Ethnographic observation Open card sorting Task flow analysis Use case scenarios Expert UX review Competitive assessment Paper prototype testing Closed card sorting Usability testing Remote testing Eye tracking A/B testing Wireframe designs Establishing UX metrics Competitive analysis Online surveys Trend analysis Large-scale usability testing Concept Development Early Structural Design Detailed and Visual Design Production Release 15

16 The DUC Toolkit Discovery Design & Evaluation Benchmarking Stakeholder visioning Literature review Personas Surveys Interviews and focus groups Ethnographic observation Open card sorting Task flow analysis Use case scenarios Expert UX review Competitive assessment Paper prototype testing Closed card sorting Usability testing Remote testing Eyetracking analysis A/B testing Wireframe designs Establishing UX metrics Competitive analysis Online surveys Trend analysis Large-scale usability testing Concept Development Early Structural Design Detailed and Visual Design Production Release 16

17 The DUC Toolkit Discovery Design & Evaluation Benchmarking Stakeholder visioning Literature review Personas Surveys Interviews and focus groups Ethnographic observation Open card sorting Task flow analysis Use case scenarios Expert UX review Competitive assessment Paper prototype testing Closed card sorting Usability testing Remote testing Eye tracking A/B testing Wireframe designs Establishing UX metrics Competitive analysis Online surveys Trend analysis Large-scale usability testing Concept Development Early Structural Design Detailed and Visual Design Production Release 17

18 Discovery: Field Research Observation of product usage in natural environment Probing questions about usage, goals, motivations, task flows, and requirements Validate designs in the real world Greater customer insight Define user requirements Sparks innovation 18

19 Discovery: Focus Groups/Group Exercises Explore design concepts with a group of targeted customers or prospects Compare design alternatives, early prototypes, and wire frames Additional activities might include sketching, card sorting, or pairedcomparisons Facilities accommodate up to 10 participants and 24 observers Remote observation capabilities National and international access to facilities 19

20 Design & Evaluation: Expert Reviews Evaluate the user experience of any product or system based on industrywide best practices Evaluation based on common use scenarios and targeted users Focus on navigation, terminology, information hierarchy, and consistency (visual and interaction) Major usability issues are identified, with rationale and design recommendations 20

21 Design & Evaluation: Card Sorting Technique to understand users mental models about a product or system Drives information architecture, navigation, content organization, menu structures, and labeling In-person card sorting provides insight into groupings and labels Remote card sorting techniques allow for larger sample sizes and geographic dispersion of participants 21

22 Design & Evaluation: Wireframe/Interaction Design Detailed early designs representing core structural elements of design Basis for early usability testing of navigation and information architecture Allow for quick evaluation of design foundation without requiring significant development effort 22

23 Design & Evaluation: Usability Testing 1:1 sessions reveal the user experience, including significant usability issues, satisfaction drivers, and impacts on efficiency Typically task-based, but also may include open exploration Qualitative insights through thinkaloud protocol and probing questions Collect data on task success, completion times, ease ratings, and overall scorecards Testing in lab setting, remote, or in the field Access to local, national, international recruiters 23

24 Design & Evaluation: Eye Tracking Eye tracking technology collects data about where participants are looking in real time Answers questions such as: How much time is spent looking at different objects? What do participants notice first? What regions of the display receive the most attention? How long does it take a participant to notice an object? Test with static images, websites, print media, video, or commercials Lab, home or field-based studies 24

25 Benchmarking: Large Quantitative UX Studies Online usability study whereby participants are interacting with a product from their home/work guided by the survey tool Large sample sizes, excellent for capturing key metrics, comparing design alternatives or subtle design treatments Not limited to web or software, can be used for any technology Official research partner for UserZoom 25

26 A Few Things We Have Done Recently

27 Chinese vs. American Style Designs 27

28 Voting Machines 28

29 Eye Tracking and Ads 29

30 Paper vs. Digital Textbooks YouTube Video 30

31 Face of Finance Conference 31

32 UX Consulting

33 State of UX Consulting Field is expanding, and maturing rapidly Economy is favorable for consulting Work is getting more interesting, not just lab testing with websites More competition (but still plenty to go around) UX is more global Landscape is shifting very quickly 33

34 Are You a Consultant? What flavor of consultant? Jack of all (or most) trades Specialist (visual design, interaction design, research, information architecture, etc.) What type of organization? o o o Sole practitioner Small agency with focus on research, design, etc Large agency, usually broader technology focus Do you like working with clients? Are you comfortable learning new domains? How do you handle pressure? Do you like to network? How do you feel about business development? 34

35 The Grass is not always Greener Business: Always worrying about the next study Constant need to market, promote, network, etc. Under scoping projects Project delays Losing work Projects: Usually, a certain amount of organizational dysfunction Difficult clients (sometimes) Clients expect you to know everything about their product Travel is not always glamorous Usually very tight time lines 35

36 Challenges Steady stream of work Scoping and pricing projects accurately Expanding service offering Pushing into new domains and technologies Moving up the food chain Keeping talent Maintaining and developing new skills Being Zen 36

37 Thank You! Bill Albert, PhD Executive Director Design and Usability Center,