I recently attended a UX conference with many talented people, here's some of my note and thoughts:
Keynote: Improving the customer experience with top tasks
By Gerry McGovern
About this keynote:
This is the Age of the Customer. Never before have customers had more power, more connectivity, more information, more tools. Today, it’s not about designing for the customer but rather designing with the customer. Understanding what matters most to customers (their Top Tasks) gives you a solid foundation from which to design a superior customer experience.
Developed over 15 years, Top Tasks has been used by some of the world’s largest organisations (Cisco, Microsoft, Google, Toyota). You’ll learn about how to make it work for your organisation.
Notes:
Don’t design what you want people to want, get over your ego and design things people actually will use - deliver what people want, not what we want them to want.
Design based on what is used - not what is “cool”
If you help people solve their problems, they’re more likely to solve yours
We’re all primitive at heart, so the ego is usually at the heart of the organisation
Give people control because that’s what they want
Never hide the navigation!
Make people successful at what they want to do
By making it faster for users to find the information they’re looking for, you’re more likely to get users to come back/use your website more often
When building a list (top tasks), don’t focus on what you have but on the environment
To identify top tasks come up with a way of measuring what people want to do, not what you want them to do:
Are people successful?
How long is it taking them?
What people expect from you is usually not even what you offer
To identify top tasks it’s a collaborative process and we must build a list with the environment in which the users are in, ie:
Instead of “when buying a TOYOTA...” use “when buying a car...”
Hardest thing is to take away, not to add.
Understand underlying reasons for searches, nobody is “just looking for information”, they have a purpose.
Make sure you choose top tasks that matter to your users, quality over quantity.
Balance comes through iteration (usually, it takes about 6 weeks to come up with a good task list)
When gathering potential tasks, If you get the right ones, you’ll get the right structure.
Make sure it’s 20% organisational interest and 80% user interest
We need to create structures the way people think, not the way the organisation thinks.
How to bring stakeholders on board?
Use measurements/videos/proof (the power of the actual experience)
Combine 5 people experiencing the product (the emotional / empathetic side) with 40% statistical measures
FAQs don’t work because…
Quick links
Knowledge base
How do I know my question is frequently asked?
If it IS a frequently asked question - why not include it in the navigation in the first place?
FAQs are a lazy internal way of fixing problems
Similar to this are
A great link should tell you what it is but also tell you what it is not.
Hamburger menu: Hiding the navigation decreases engagement, because it reduces the user’s control.
Challenge the “law” the lawyers say is “fact” because 9 times out of 10 “it’s bs”.
Out with accessibility - In with inclusive design
By Robin Christopherson
About this Case Study:
Robin Christopherson of leading UK tech charity AbilityNet will explore the ‘mental 180’ we all need to undergo when it comes to considering accessibility in this mobile-first world. If you’ve not come across him, Robin is blind and a regular inspirational speaker at a wide range of events in Europe and the US, raising awareness of the power and potential of technology to transform people’s lives. This session includes practical illustrations and demos.
Notes:
Technology opens a whole new world to disabled users, so they are using a lot of tech
Everyone struggles with small screens and low contrast at some point
Ie: you can only use one hand because you’re holding something, you’re using your device outside and there’s poor contrast, you’re on transport and that makes it hard to type or read as there’s too much movement, you’re drunk,...
“Temporarily impaired” from using their devices in extreme environments
Every user requires inclusive design as you will be impaired at one time or another
Inaccessibility is impairing people to use your content
Ie: CAPTCHA is an accessibility catch-22 as you are making it impossible for screen readers to grab info off the screen.
Accessible CAPTCHA: http://www.textcaptchasolver.com/
Neuroscience of digital distractions and the social responsibility of designers
By Anastasia Dedyukhina
About this case study:
In this entertaining and insightful session, TEDx speaker, Huffington Post blogger, book author and owner of digital well-being agency Consciously Digital, Dr Anastasia Dedyukhina explores how the internet is changing our brains.
She’ll explain the impact of tech design on our brains, creativity, decision making and memory and call for a more ethical and sustainable tech design.
Notes:
Your attention is currency: the ability to stay focused on something
Online addiction
We are constantly stimulated and never bored
We have instant gratification
We’ve turned into dopamine junkies
Training your memory gives the ability to focus for longer
Your memory is associated with creativity
“We can’t choose if presented with too much choice” - Sheena Iyengar
4 Principles
Time management: when do you choose to be connected
Space management: where do you use your devices
Relationship management: How/when to contact people
Self management: figure out when you’re most productive
Ethical design solution framework
Too many notifications reduces the choice to see the important signals
Design for compassion
Empower the user by giving them more control
Use ethical metrics
Assess the impact design has on the user before and after
Design for human values, not immediate actions
You device is just a tool