Links - "Best of": User Experience cannot be designed, Lean UX & More, better, faster UX design

Hi,

today I want to share with you some interesting links of the last days.

Why User Experience cannot be designed
Smashing Magazine, Helge Fredheim - March 15th, 2011

UX doesn't depend only on how something is designed, but also on other aspects, because we cannot design the user and we cannot design the situation in which the product is used. Fredheim gives a great new perspective how we should see the UX work... because it's not limited to usability or information architecture.

Lean UX: Getting out of the deliverables business

Smashing Magazine, Jeff Gothelf - March 7th, 2011

Traditionally user experience design is very deliverable-oriented. So most of the times a huge amount of effort is used to deliver documents instead of working on end-user experiences. Lean UX, inspired by lean and agile development techniques, tries to bring results faster to life with less emphasis on deliverables and greater focus on the actual experience being designed.


More, better, faster: UX design for startups
The Cooper Journal, Stefan Klocek - March 16th, 2011

This article, also related to the Lean UX idea, is focusing on how the UX process can be speed up to be able to show results very fast.

3 to 5 days for each "learn-build-measure" cycle are suggested. But fast shouldn't be dirty so pair design - as we know the concept already from software development - is recommended.

Br, Claudia

UX Events in Europe & why don't usability problems get fixed?

Hi,

today I want to share two user experience events in Europe you might be interested in.

One - I'm not sure if I will attend - is the UX LX in May - an User Experience Event in Lisbon with a lot of interesting speakers and workshops.

The 2nd event is the UXcamp Europe on the 11th and 12th of June in Berlin. I will be there and if you too perhaps we can get in contact...

And now a link that may be interesting for you.

Why don't usability problems get fixed?
UX matters, Jim Ross - February 7, 2011
The usability test is done, you worked on good solutions for the usability problems and presented them to the team.... A few weeks later only a few of your recommendations are implemented - what's wrong?
Jim Ross collected reasons and limitations and also provides some ideas how this problem can be solved.

Have a nice weekend,
Claudia

SpecLog is here... the new tool for organizing requirements.

Hi,

I'm very proud to inform you about a cool tool where I'm involved as a Usability Engineer in the development. The tool is called SpecLog and should help to organize requirements for agile projects in a more natural way using story maps for showing the relation between goals and user stories and capturing the acceptance criteria.

The best features in my opinion are the TFS integration, the customization of the requirement cards (language and process independent) and of course the synchronisation of the repository (backlog) from different clients. Useful if you have already a backlog is the Excel import.

SpecLog is free at the moment because this is now the beta phase so you have enough time to have a look and try it out.

We already have a lot of ideas how to improve but we are always looking for new inspiration and ideas so your feedback is highly appreciated.

You can find more information and the download link at http://www.speclog.net/.

Have fun...
Claudia

Book Review "Forms that Work"

The book "Forms that Work - Designing Web Forms for Usability" by Caroline Jarrett and Gerry Gaffney is a must read for all usability experts dealing with business applications and online forms. I would also recommend it for developers interested in these topics.

Like the books by Steve Krug ("Don't make me think" and "Rocket surgery made easy") this book is filled with a lot of great examples and the focus of the content is on the relevant topics.The chapters are dealing with Persuading people to answer or making questions easy to answer to choosing the forms controls and making a form look easy.



A lot of examples with good explanations



More information about this topic and the book can be found on the Forms that Work website.

Have a nice day,
Claudia

Links - "Best of": Wireframes to Code, Best Podcasts 2010 & Crappy Surveys

Hi,

perhaps you have at the moment - between Christmas and New Year - more time, so I want to share with you again some interesting articles from the last weeks.

From Wireframe to Code (Part1)

UX matters, Bill Schmidt - 20th of December 2010

How can the workflow be optimized? Is it more useful to have a integrated code approach (use the same artefacts for design and code) or separate code approach (artefacts to communicate design are separate from the final code)?

***

Lauren Cramer, User Interface Engineering, provided an article about the most interesting podcast of 2011 (part 1/part 2) and I want to provide you two I find most interesting:

Design Lessons from Facebook’s 350 Million with Julie Zhuo
2nd of March 2010
A few years ago we heard the following wishes from the customer ... "It should work like google.." "It should work like amazon.." Since a few months (in Europe) we hear "It should work like Facebook"... This is an indicator that this are the trendsetters - Brian Christiansen talks with Julie Zhuo, the Product Design Manager at Facebook, about the balance between the need to launch new features and the necessary user research.

Moving Beyond Static Forms with Luke Wroblewski
11th of February 2010
Last time I already shared a link about Better Form Design... and in this podcast Luke Wroblewski (authour of the popular book "Web Form Design") talks about the changes in the last years reagarding Form Design.

***
User Experience For Developers
UX Magazine - Pek Pongpaet, 23rd of December 2010
Quote: "UX shouldn't be the purview solely of UX specialists; a well-rounded developer can become a UX professional, too." Interesting links and what interested developers should focus on.

***
19 Lessons from United Airlines on How To Build A Crappy Survey
User Interface Engineering - Jared Spool, 26th of December 2010
A funny and interesting to read article about Jared Spools experience with a crappy survey from United Airlines.

 

I wish you all a happy New Year 2011 :-)

Claudia

Links - "Best of"

Hi,

today I want to share with you three interesting links from the last weeks....

10 Surefire Ways to Screw Up Your iPhone-App 
UX Magazine, 10th of December 2010
An interesting and fun to read article about how to screw up an iPhone-App - from Information Overload to Not Doing Usability Tests.

When is design done?
The Cooper Journal, 3rd of December 2010

Is the design done when it reaches "perfection", when the requirements are met or when time and money runs out...










Need Better Data? Pay more attention to your webforms
UX matters, 6th of December 2010
"Web forms are like the poor relations when it comes to their getting the attention they deserve from the usability community."
This article is a must read for all who are dealing with webforms in their daily business.

Br, Claudia

Difference between male and female designers

Today the Webdesigner depot (WDD) provided a interesting post and infographic about the differences of web-design by gender.

Have a look and find out some interesting numbers about the tendency to use large numbers of typeface colors or the use of straight or rounded lines. (Of couse the numbers are no rules, there are only a rough insight.)

Br, Claudia