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UX: UCD - Gathering Information with Nick Pettit

Now that you've been introduced to the concept of user-centered design,

let's learn how to gather information.

Before you start conducting user activities and gathering requirements,

you need to understand the product that you're working on.

You also need to understand the domain that your product resides in.

Because we're talking about websites in this case,

you know that your product will live on the web,

but more specifically, you need to learn about the market segment that it serves.

For example, if you're building a finance and invoicing application,

you need to familiarize yourself with that domain.

Let's say that you're working on a pre-existing e-commerce site,

like amazon.com, for instance,

and you're trying to improve it.

The best way to learn about it is to actually use it.

Now, I know this might sound obvious,

but if you were developing an e-commerce site,

it's really important to try it out.

So have you tried purchasing merchandise

and getting it delivered to your house?

What was the experience like?

Was there a follow-up email sent to thank you for ordering?

What happens if you try to return it and get your money back?

Using a product yourself is the easiest way

to find the pain points.

Another way to learn about your product and learn about your users

is to gather metrics.

Fortunately, in the web industry, there is no shortage of tools

that can be used to gather hard data,

like Google Analytics, for example.

Taking that data and turning it into wisdom

and actionable items is the tricky part.

We won't dive into web metrics in this chapter,

but just know that it's a tool that you can use to better understand your product.

Another way to better understand your product

is through early adopter feedback.

It's pretty common to see web apps like mockingbird be in beta,

and it's worth giving users a chance to try out your product before it's released

so that you have a chance to make some major modifications to it.

Another great way to gather feedback is by listening.

As you're probably aware, customer service communications

can still travel through the more traditional channels

like phone and email, but social media has become a new avenue

for customers to voice praise and complaints.

Using sites like facebook and twitter

is a great way to better understand the marketplace

that your product will reside in.

And finally, you should look at the competition.

If you're developing a new mockup tool,

you should become intimately familiar with competing products,

like balsamiq, hot gloo, and mockingbird,

and the dozens of other mockup tools out there.

You should even try to make a chart and compare them.

Understanding the product and its domain

is just one part of the equation.

You also need to understand your users,

and while the methods for gathering product information

also tell you some information about your users,

there are other analytical methods that work a lot better.

The first way you could do this is by developing user profiles.

A user profile is a detailed description of your user's attributes,

such as their work experience, education level, age range,

what role they serve in their organization, and so on.

User profiles don't represent an individual, though--

they just represent the whole group that you're targeting.

These will help you when recruiting people for usability activities.

From the user profile data, however,

you could develop personas.

Rather than explain what a persona is first,

let's just make one.

Let's say that you're building a travel website.

Jane Smith here is a 22-year-old college student from New York City.

She has a paid marketing internship, and right now she earns about $22/hour

and works 28 hours a week for a total of $22,000 a year.

The PC laptop she has was a high school graduation gift

about 5 years ago, so it's a bit out-dated

and runs an older version of Firefox just well enough to get by.

It's only saving grace is that she's on a campus internet connection

which is pretty fast.

Jane also likes to travel, and she really wants to visit Las Vegas with her friends.

Building these types of personas

help make your users a bit more real,

even if the personas are made up.

A persona should have an identity, a photograph,

a skill set, and goals,

and because we're developing web software,

we should also make note of the technology that's being used.

Developing personas, especially with photographs,

will put a human face on your challenges.

Once you understand your product and have a few personas developed,

you can start to develop scenarios.

So, let's walk through one.

Jane and her friends are about to finish college,

and they all want to take a trip to Las Vegas together

before they go their separate ways.

Jane wants to be as economical as possible,

but she doesn't have much time in her busy school schedule

to spend hours and hours finding the perfect deal.

Will Jane be able to use your travel site on her mediocre laptop

to find cheap flights from New York City to Las Vegas

and get 2 hotel rooms for her and her friends,

and have enough money left over to see a few shows?

Scenarios should include personas that you developed,

and they should outline a situation.

They should also have a desired outcome and a time interval.

Users will want web applications now and 10 years from now

to be as fast as possible, so adding in some time pressure to the scenario--

such as Jane graduating soon and being too busy to hunt for deals--

will help you understand the pain that users feel,

even if it's artificially generated.

Gathering detailed information about your product and your users is essential.

In the next video, we'll learn how to prepare for user requirements activities.

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