Cheap or Free UX tools that can help your organization

1. By: User Experience Edmonton
@UXYEG

4.  Tools can help us collect data
 Can help us visualize it in a way that we may not have considered
 Opportunity cost – maybe you have better things to do?

5.  Tools that won’t cost you money
 Freemium model
 Pay for lower level of functionality

6.  Single or minimal use
 Subscription model – just make sure you cancel after a month

7.  High or medium utility relative to cost
 Will vary depending on what you are trying to accomplish
 Be prepared to cancel your monthly subscription when you are done

9.  Management
 Information Architecture
 Prototyping
 Assessment
 Anything

10.  YouTrack http://www.jetbrains.com/youtrack/
 Free! (for ten users)
 Project and task tracking tool
 Used for tracking ideas, bugs, enhancements and project tasks

11.  Stormboard https://www.stormboard.com/
 Free! (for five users)
 Virtual post it notes, images, videos or sketches
 Great brainstorming tool
 Can be shared with remote users in real time
 Locally Grown!

12.  Evernote https://evernote.com/
 Free! (for 60 MB / month)
 Share notes between team members and devices
 Not revolutionary – lots of other apps that do this

13.  OptimalSort http://www.optimalworkshop.com/
 Cheap-ish! ($149 / study)
 Use this when you can’t be in a room with your users
 Good for collecting raw data
 Not a replacement for being in the room with users

14.  TreeJack http://www.optimalworkshop.com/
 Cheap-ish! ($149 / study)
 Use this in every website, intranet site
 Can evaluate the navigation and structure of a website
 Tests your labels and structure without being distracted by other site elements
 Can publish as a survey and collect results

15.  Balsamiq http://balsamiq.com/buy/
 Cheap-ish (varies depending on how many licenses you need)
 Wireframing tool – either online or a desktop app

16.  Invision http://www.invisionapp.com/
 Free!
 It’s a cool thing!
 Turns your designs into interactive prototypes
 Upload your designs to the site
 Add hot spots

17.  Bootstrap Tool
 Free!
 If you’re familiar enough with HTML and CSS you might as well just use Bootstrap
 Many different environments that you can use for building Bootstrap prototypes
 https://jetstrap.com/
 http://www.divshot.com/pricing

18.  Google Analytics http://www.google.com/analytics/
 Free!
 Use this. Now.
 Basic user demographics
 Bounce rates
 Entry/exit points
 Site usage metrics
 Device/browser usage

19.  PageSpeed Insights http://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
 Free!
 Quick usability assessment on your site
 Measures basic usability principles for desktop and mobile
 Gives pointers on how to:
 Increase speed
 Make mobile experience better
 Size your text and target areas better

20.  ClickTale http://clicktale.com/
 Free!
 Heat mapping, mouse tracking, analytics
 Record sessions of interactions
 Free!

21.  Ethnio http://ethn.io/
 Cheap-ish
 Recruitment tool
 Handle the awful, terrible parts of recruitment like talking to people

22.  Usabilla https://usabilla.com/
 Cheap-ish
 Visual feedback tool
 Quick, dirty surveys
 Great for quick analysis of visual designs
 Good for testing labeling or feature areas

23.  Paper
 Sharpies
 Post-its
 Pencils

24.  Anything you can do with a website you can do in real life
 You can manage tasks with post-its
 You can prototype with paper
 You can test with any idiot
 You can card sort with paper