Xander Ashwell talks about Designing for User Experience (UX), how it can help improve digital products, and how putting theory into practice can have a positive impact on your business and it’s users. Xander is Creative Director @ Bulb Studios, with nearly a decade of practical experience in digital interface design, web development, and user experience design. Bulb Studios is an established digital design agency based in Leicester, using user centred design methods to provide tangible results for clients such as Jaguar Land Rover, Warner Bros., Domino’s Pizza, & Audi. Created for Digital Startups Leicester: https://twitter.com/@digitalstartup1

1. User Experience Design
Making awesome things that people like

2. Who is this joker, anyway?

3. I make stuff.

7. What is
User Experience design?
Why does it matter?

9. User experience design is
simply being considerate.
Goddamn hippies.

10. In other words…
Enhancing a user's experience of a product
by improving the interaction between the
customer & the product.

11. User Centered Design
Optimising a product around how users can,
want, or need to use the product, instead of
forcing them to change their behaviour to
accommodate the product.

12. (Peter Morville, http://semanticstudios.com/user_experience_design/)

13. Dan Saffer: http://www.kickerstudio.com/2008/12/the-disciplines-of-user-experience/

14. How do I do it, though?
Depends.

15. User Research
Understanding user behaviours,
needs, and motivations through
observation techniques, task
analysis, and other feedback
The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web and Beyond (2nd Edition) by Jesse James Garrett

16. Usability Evaluation
How well users can learn and use
a product to achieve their goals.
Also refers to how satisfied users
are with that process.
The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web and Beyond (2nd Edition) by Jesse James Garrett

17. Information Architecture
How information is organised,
structured, and presented to users.
The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web and Beyond (2nd Edition) by Jesse James Garrett

18. Interface Design
Anticipating what users might
need to do and ensuring that the
interface has elements that are
easy to access, understand, and
use to facilitate those actions.
The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web and Beyond (2nd Edition) by Jesse James Garrett

19. Visual Design
ensuring an aesthetically pleasing
interface that is in line with
brand identity and product goals.
The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web and Beyond (2nd Edition) by Jesse James Garrett

20. Let’s be practical about this.
How to make things better?

21. Establish user types
and requirements
Good ole’ fashioned pen and paper |Keynote

22. Establish user tasks
Good ole’ fashioned pen and paper | Keynote

23. Design Workflows
and user journeys
gliffy.com| lucidchart.com|google docs drawing

24. Build prototypes and test
them with real people
framerjs.com | www.axure.com | popapp.in | getbootstrap.com

25. Test a lot.
verifyapp.com | optimizely.com

26. Testing makes a difference.

27. Design patterns, not pages.
Brad Frost: http://bradfrostweb.com/blog/post/atomic-web-design/

28. Brad Frost: http://bradfrostweb.com/blog/post/atomic-web-design/

29. Iterate, validate, repeat
Fail fast & learn from it.

30. Where’s the value in UX?
It’s not just pretty pictures.

31. Surprise & Delight
Emotional attachment > Rational thinking

32. “Every dollar invested in ease of use
returns $10 to $100.”
Money well spent.
http://www.upassoc.org/usability_resources/
usability_in_the_real_world/roi_of_usability.html

33. Focus on people, not features
Solve real problems, don’t create new ones.

34. Which sells more?
I’d totally buy the UltronX78ª with a MultiplexInside
674Y chip and a YARP procrastination engine.

35. You’re helping them be better.
Tell ‘em about it.

36. Where does it all go wrong?
Common mistakes and how to fix ‘em

37. “Pretty is better than usable”
A glittery turd is still a turd.

38. ALL THE THINGS
Too much is worse than not enough

40. Observe, don’t listen
What we think we want and what we use are distinctly different.

41. Just no.
Asking for so much in return for so little
http://boxesandarrows.com/let-them-pee-avoiding-the-sign-upsign-in-mobile-antipattern/

42. $300,000,000
In one year, on one site.
Just for letting people browse in peace.
http://www.uie.com/articles/three_hund_million_button

43. All aboard.
Turn pedestrians into passengers.

44. And I stiiiiilllll haven’t foooounnd…
FFS, please don’t breed Bonos.
Help him find it & perhaps he’ll stop.

45. Case Study
A thing that we done.

46. +150% revenue overnight

47. What Changed?
Lots of little things.

48. Making it obvious
UI Design

49. Helping people
Information Architecture

50. Making it easy
Wayfinding, Signposting, Content Strategy

51. Thanks for your time.
@xanderashwell
xander@bulbstudios.com
bulbstudios.com