When a client hires a company like us to do a project, user experience is usually seen as the deliverable from user research or user testing. It is a high-level requirement that is completed when we finish user research, and user testing.

User research, check. 

User testing, check.

User experience, check...hold on a minute.

User experience is not simply part of the process, it is the process and it really is a way of life. You can't turn it on and off. User Experience is very difficult to quantify and even harder to explain. User experience happens all around you, every decision that is made about a product, every idea that is manifested into a button– everything has an effect on your users’ experiences.

So, what exactly do I, and other user experience professionals, do all day?
Wouldn't you like to know? ... Here is the short version.

We try to ensure that everyone is aware and focused on the needs of the users; that the users' needs are at the core of whatever product we are trying to create. This need for the users to directly effect the foundation of a product is the main reason we need to learn as much possible about actual users as soon as possible.

How do you do that?
Everyone knows that just talking about something is not enough to convince people you are right. Especially if those people have a budget and a job they would like to keep.

We need to collect data.
We collect website analytics data to find out what people are doing. Then we pair the analytics data with data collected from stakeholder interviews and user research. This combination of data allows user experience professionals to communicate very clearly about who the users are, what the client thinks the users need, and what the users really want.  This amalgamation of data usually takes form as Personas, or fictional users whose needs and behaviors illustrate the real needs of your users. Using data in this way allows stakeholders to evaluate existing and potential issues on an objective level.

But this is really just the beginning. Once we have an initial insight into the users, it is up to all of us to continually refer to the users throughout the project. As the project moves along, we will learn more about users and how to better meet their needs. This focus on improving the users’ experience with our product is truly what User Experience is all about.

Until next time, keep it usable, Internets...and don't forget about the user.

I have to give credit where credit is due. I was inspired to write this post by Whitney Hess (@whitneyhess) on Mashable.com. Link to Mashable.com article - http://mashable.com/2009/01/09/user-experience-design/

As web power-users, things that often seem wildly obvious to us, can be just plain confusing to everyday users. Several years ago we made heavy use of Flash on a jewelry website redesign. We were quite careful to use Flash responsibly and created easy-to-see navigation on the page.

But after the site launched, we found that visitors thought they were looking at a dreaded Flash intro. Some even emailed the site owner asking where the “skip intro” button was. Inexplicably, very few people saw the rather large navigation buttons at the top of the page, which we so lovingly put in place.

Many got stuck.

Visitors fled.

Sales plummeted.

This behavior was the last thing we expected during design and development. But it was a valuable lesson learned: users rarely use a website or web application in the way we expect.

Usability testing for the cost of a pizza

That jewelry website lost a week of online sales before we fixed the problem with a simple, strategically placed “view jewelry” text link. I’ve always wondered how things would have gone had we employed some user testing before launching (or even building) the site.

What if we had simply ordered a pizza and had the pizza delivery boy browse the site? Maybe we would have seen the problem then.

What if we had invited our office neighbors over to devour the remaining slices? Maybe they would have uncovered this issue while trying to place an order.

Had we done either, we may have avoided a big headache for us, the jewelry website’s owners, and its users.

Here’s the take-away: if you have any say over your company’s next web project, be sure to do some usability testing before it’s released into the wild.

Some guidelines for home-grown user testing:

• Recruit a handful of coworkers, parents, spouses, neighbors, or anyone willing to help to be your test subjects.
• Assure each participant that they are not being tested; they are helping you test the website and make it better.
• Observe each participant individually as they complete various website tasks.
• Bite your tongue and keep to yourself inner monologue thoughts like “Click the BIG BUTTON…IT’S RIGHT THERE…HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE THAT??”
• Note the tasks that were completed with ease as well as those that were confusing and need rethinking.
• Refrain from beating yourself up over the things that are now obvious that a few moments ago were not.
• Rinse and repeat.

This is guerilla-style, but you will be surprised at the insight gleaned by watching someone with a fresh set of eyes wade through your website or your web application. Better to have test subjects find the flaws than would-be paying customers!