Jim Henson started working as a puppeteer in 1954, a fair 40-50 years before many of us even considered User Experience as a career. He did, however, take it upon himself to apply many of the core principals that UX Designers are falling love with today (or are at least using as part of our everyday lives). Hang out for a quick dive into the life of Jim Henson, with a view into his work from the perspective of how it pertains to what it is we’re doing today, that promises to even leave Waldorf and Statler happy. And yes, there will be muppets.

1. From Muppets to Mastery:
Core UX Principles from Mr. Jim Henson
Russ Unger | @russu | GE Capital Americas

2. #UXMuppets | @russu

3. #UXMuppets | @russu

4. #UXMuppets | @russu
You wouldn’t decide to become
a puppeteer, I don’t think.
“

5. #UXMuppets | @russu
A Brief History - The 1950s

6. #UXMuppets | @russu
A Brief History - The 1960s

7. #UXMuppets | @russu
A Brief History - The 1970s

8. #UXMuppets | @russu
A Brief History - The 1980s

9. #UXMuppets | @russu
A Brief History - The 1990s & Beyond

10. #UXMuppets | @russu
MuppetLean

11. #UXMuppets | @russu
MVK
Minimum
+ =
Viable Kermit

12. #UXMuppets | @russu
Iterate
1955 1965 1968 1978
, Iterate, Iterate, Iterate

13. #UXMuppets | @russu
2005
Iterate, Iterate, Iterate, Iterate, Iterate

14. #UXMuppets | @russu
Project Ecosystems

15. #UXMuppets | @russu
Designer
Product Manager
Project Manager
Marketing QA Dev
Client?

16. #UXMuppets | @russu
Good Experiences Are Invisible

17. #UXMuppets | @russu
A Good Experience is Invisible

18. #UXMuppets | @russu
A Good Experience is Invisible
Give the audience enough to work with
and they’ll do the rest for you.

19. #UXMuppets | @russu
A Good Experience is Invisible
Give the audience enough to work with
and they’ll do the rest for you.

20. #UXMuppets | @russu
A Good Experience is Invisible
Give the audience enough to work with
and they’ll do the rest for you.

21. #UXMuppets | @russu

22. #UXMuppets | @russu
Visual Thinking

23. #UXMuppets | @russu
I’ve always been most
intrigued by what can
be done with the visual
image. I feel that is
what is strongest about
the work I do...the
visual image.
“

24. #UXMuppets | @russu

25. #UXMuppets | @russu

26. #UXMuppets | @russu
Sketching / Storyboarding / Prototyping

27. #UXMuppets | @russu
Sketching
Henson started sketching characters and comic strips as a kid.
He never stopped.

28. #UXMuppets | @russu
Sketching
Henson started sketching characters and comic strips as a kid.
He never stopped.

29. #UXMuppets | @russu

30. #UXMuppets | @russu

31. #UXMuppets | @russu

32. #UXMuppets | @russu
Storyboarding
A storyboard is a graphic organizer that visually tells a story.
Creating a storyboard helps you plan your story shot by shot.

33. #UXMuppets | @russu

34. #UXMuppets | @russu

35. #UXMuppets | @russu
Lend4Health.com
Home Page
(0.0.0.0)
Search Loans to Fund
(1.0.0.0)
Loan Details
(1.1.0.0)

36. #UXMuppets | @russu
Lend4Health.com
Home Page
(0.0.0.0)
Search Loans to Fund
(1.0.0.0)
Loan Details
(1.1.0.0)

37. #UXMuppets | @russu
Patterns

38. #UXMuppets | @russu
Patterns
Original Muppets were designed so that ~6 Muppets could be
easily made from a single design.

39. #UXMuppets | @russu
Patterns
Original Muppets were designed so that ~6 Muppets could be
easily made from a single design.

40. #UXMuppets | @russu

41. #UXMuppets | @russu
Hacking

42. #UXMuppets | @russu
Bernard Tyers
Belén Barros Pena
~$3,000.00
http://www.diymobileusabilitytesting.net/

43. #UXMuppets | @russu

44. #UXMuppets | @russu

45. #UXMuppets | @russu
Travis Isaacs
keynotekungfu.com

46. #UXMuppets | @russu

47. #UXMuppets | @russu
Hacking
Jim needed to see what the viewer would see, so he started using a
“monitor” to view scenes from where he was located.

48. #UXMuppets | @russu
WWJHD?
What Would Jim Henson Do?

49. #UXMuppets | @russu
(So What?)
Jim Henson made sketching and prototyping a constant part of his thinking process.
He continually evolved everything he worked on.
He hacked things together.
He made it up as he went along.
As a relatively new industry, so do we.

50. #UXMuppets | @russu
You wouldn’t decide to become
a puppeteer, I don’t think.
“

51. Russ Unger | @russu | GE Capital Americas
Thank You!