UXD and me
This article will help me produce and present important parts of my major project. I will present my concept for the website, the methodology I could use in the future, my opinions on certain topics as well as valuable information about UX itself.
What is UX?
The official definition by ISO is
“A person’s perceptions and responses that result from the use or anticipated use of a product, system or service.”
Many believe it is an umbrella term which covers several activities that constantly evolve.
What is UXD?
It is a category of UX activities. User Experience Design is the process of designing either the physical products or even a service. Goal of UXD is to produce an easy and a pleasant experience for the user.
Project idea
I plan to develop a website with information on different fabric types and a quiz to find out which fabric is the best for which garment according to different criteria. The website aims to provide the user with useful and simple information through the quiz section and more in-depth knowledge in the blog section. The extended content will provide information on sustainability of chosen fabrics, its history, the way it has made etc. It is important to me that I understand how the users want to learn and create an accessible guide for beginners as well as a useful resource for those who already know a thing or two.
Background
I have chosen this topic because I am personally interested in it. I thought it could be a good way to learn even more about it while teaching people something useful. With brands like SHIEN on the raise fast fashion became almost unavoidable. The clothes are bad quality, fall apart easily, they are mass produced and mass discarded which harms the environment. It is important to me that I buy consciously – decent quality timeless pieces are the absolute must have these days.
Research goals
The goals are both simple and complicated at the same time. They must be precise and help me set an unobstructed vision of the goals – at the end of the day the research is supposed to help and guide me towards good UX. In my case it should be centred around people interested in fashion and fabrics as well as those environmentally conscious. Gathering information such as user demographics of similar existing websites and their needs would be an advantage in understanding what needs to be done to design a successful website.
With all the UX methods and activities available it would be best to stick with Discover Explore Test and Listen activities. Depending on which stage of the research I am on I would use different methods. Some of them might be more appropriate than others – all depending on e.g., the type of products and services. Most popular methodologies include; field study, journey mapping, in-person usability study, surveys and many more. The most valuable and effective are direct tests with users, however that is not always possible. In that case the key is prioritizing data analysis and keeping in mind that it is real people you are designing for. Data analysis could seem mundane and boring, but it is a reliable source of helpful information on the user.
“No product is an island. A product is more than the product. It is a cohesive, integrated set of experiences. Think through all the stages of a product or service – from initial intentions through final reflections, from the first usage to help, service, and maintenance. Make them all work together seamlessly. “
— Don Norman
Research
The research would be executed using an online survey. The most important rule of surveys is to filter out the users important to us. If the person taking it does not really care for fashion or the quality of their clothes, then the data we would gather from their survey would be useless to the research because they are clearly not the target of my website. However, there could be people who are complete newbies to the subject but want to learn more. They benefit from my website as much as I benefit from their input. Having the perspective of a that user is great for suggestions and potential additions to the content (e.g., dictionary of most used words). In that case I must ask myself the question “what does that type of user want to see when they open my website?” I want to grab their attention and retain it with content catered to a newbie. I need to figure out how can that be done and ask potential users what grabs their attention.
Questions for users already familiar with the subject could circle around how confident they are with their knowledge and what would they want to know more about. It would be interesting to ask about their spending habits (in regards of clothing only) and how much they pay attention to the tags on their garments. I would also include a question about competitors – where the users got their knowledge from and how. It is important to understand that these users are less likely to be interested in things catered for beginners. In that case I could provide them with a choice of content, so the beginner friendly elements can have their own category on my website to avoid confusion and cause decision anxiety.
The survey would include questions about the demographics such as age, sex, location and preferably occupation. These additional questions determine the user profiles and help understand WHO the users are.
Usability testing
Competitor websites could be useful in this part of the research – in case if there are a lot of them, I would use the ones that were mentioned number of times in the survey. The users would be asked to look up specific information on the websites e.g., “What’s the best fabric for t-shirts?” “Find information about how cotton is made.” User behaviour would be monitored to understand what the thought process is while preforming the tasks. It would be beneficial to acknowledge the possible obstacles and make sure that they are not repeated in my design.
After the task, the users would be interviewed about their experience on the website. Their opinions on the way it works looks etc. They will be able to make suggestions and address any difficulties.
Data from these activities will be converted into journey maps and the information from surveys will help me with creating the user profiles.
Data analysis
To know who the design is for – the designers need to understand the users. It is easy to say but not easy to do. The personas you create must be realistic but still fictional since it is a combination of data. They are supposed to be archetypes with a human description. They have background information such as age and sex but also their needs and goals. It is important to create those for a clear view of the users. It helps with visualizing and remembering who the user is.
My user personas
Since this is still the very beginning of my research and planning for the major project, I am basing them on my assumptions and predictions. I get to focus on their wants needs and pain points to distinguish these hypothetical end users. These sections will be my source of wisdom to drive efficient design decisions. I would also be beneficial to create scenarios to test them in the context of potential problems users want to solve.
Empathy maps
This method is not as popular as user personas, but it is extremely helpful with systematizing the knowledge of need of the target audience.
It should include 4 sections:
- Says – that could be direct quotes from interviews
- Thinks – what matters to the user?
- Does – what action does the user preform?
- Feels – what worries the user? What is he excited about?
That way you will get a clearer picture of users’ attitude and behaviours which benefits the design process. It could also be used to help our team get a better understanding of the user, that way we can prioritize users’ needs on a larger scale.
Some of these answers could overlap with one another, it is important to not overthink whether the item fits into one category more than the other. There is quite a lot of ambiguity with this method.
Information architecture
First thing about such a big project would be working on content first. I find it exciting, but I know others would disagree and prefer to get into the designing process as soon as possible. I will produce appropriate categories and figure out the media side of things. Using images might be tricky and I am set on making my own illustrations. However, I could be completely wrong, and my illustrations might turn out to be not the most pleasant to look at and not beneficial to the user. Initially it might be challenging to plan everything from scratch and at the later phase of designing I will make appropriate adjustments based on more research and/or user testing and feedback.
Working on information architecture and deciding what is more and what is less important could be quite hard since I am biased on the subject which is a wonderful opportunity to ask colleagues and other designers for help in that matter.
Next step is working on components like SEO, logo, and side content (e.g., about me page).
Responsive design and accessibility
One of the last things to work on before initial functional testing is responsiveness of my website. I am expecting at least 60% of users to generate traffic from their mobile devices which puts a lot of pressure on the responsiveness of the website. I want users to be able to access information about fabrics on the go for example in the clothing store or a thrift store. That way they have an easy guide and do not have to learn the list of fabrics and their traits by heart.
I want the quiz part to work as well and as fast as possible on the mobile since it is a crucial part of my major project website.
I wish to make my website as accessible as possible to accommodate many potential users’ physical limitations, at the end of the day all of us want to wear quality garments.
Prototyping and sketching
I will be starting with pen and paper. I really enjoy that method especially at the beginning. A lot of innovative ideas and solutions come to me that way. Using the Crazy 8 method I can quickly sketch some of my ideas without delving into details too much and letting creativity and ideas flow freely.
After drawing and writing I will move on to putting the wireframes on the screen making sure I understand the user flow. At that point there might be some things that do not look as I would like them to. I am prepared to make changes and adapt the design to different possibilities. Early testing would also help me save time and effort before the prototype gets made.
With many tools available I will not limit myself to just the ones I already learned. I believe in branching out and always learning. If my project could be made better using a language I do not know – I will at least try to learn it. Leaving your comfort zone is a big part of designing.
Conclusion
In this article I brainstormed quite a lot of ideas and came up with new things that I might have not thought about before writing it. UXD is the foundation of the entire project, and it is important to master different techniques tips and tricks to have a solid base for further work. As a complete beginner in the field, I understand how valuable results of various activities are to the designer. Data make designing more efficient and to the point. Seeing and understanding information based on research is the core of good and well planned product.