User Experience for the Web (WebUX)

by Amir Ansari
Module 1: Overview of User Experience
Topic 1: Introduction
0:10Hi, and welcome to the first module.
0:11In this module, I'm going to cover user experience, and
0:14give you an overview of the design discipline.
0:17I'll talk about the evolution, where it's come from, and
0:19where it's going.
0:20I'll also focus on understanding user needs and
0:24business needs.
0:24It's all about a balancing act.
0:27Finally, I'll talk about user experience in other
0:29disciplines, and some of the characteristics you need to
0:32have to become a user experience practitioner.
0:35User experience is, in effect, designing all aspects of a
0:38person's experience with a product or service.
0:41It's really fast moving, so if you actually ask five
0:44different people, you're bound to get 10 different
0:46explanations.
0:48So now I'm going to talk about the fact that user experience
0:51is multidisciplinary.
0:54So it's been influenced by disciplines such as graphic
0:58design, psychology, research, and anthropology,
1:16just to name a few.
1:22Now this is isn't a definitive list.
1:24There's a lot more disciplines that have either impacted user
1:27experience or vice versa.
1:29But if you have a look at this, you realise that it's
1:31all about the end user, so about human behaviour.
1:34It's about how a user perceives
1:37something that's visual.
1:38It's about the cognitive behaviour as well, and also
1:41user experience is underpinned by research, research being
1:45researching what the user needs, and how they'll go
1:47about interacting with new products and services.
1:50To give you a real example of what I mean by user
1:52experience, let's take an everyday toaster.
1:55The majority of toasters are functional, right?
1:57You put a toast in, you press the lever down, it toasts.
2:01You keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't burn it.
2:04The toaster serves a function, but it definitely doesn't put
2:06a smile on your face.
2:08Now imagine the ultimate toaster--
2:10the one that has had user experience design sprinkled
2:13over the top.
2:14You press a button instead of a lever.
2:16The toast slowly moves down.
2:18Once it's finished, it gives you a bit of a reminder that
2:21it's about to finish, and it's cooling the toast down so you
2:24don't burn your finger.
2:25As it moves up, it presents the toast to you.
2:28You take it off and it's evenly toasted.
2:31Now, that puts a smile on your face, right?
2:34That's designing the experience of a toaster.
2:36Now let's talk about the online space.
2:40A website is typically influenced by many factors.
2:44So one of the things that influences the user experience
2:47of the website is the content-- the actual
2:49information of the website.
2:52Also the tone of voice and the language of the website is
2:55really important.
2:57Obviously, usability--
2:59the ability for you to actually complete your task on
3:01the website-- impacts your experience.
3:04The branding--
3:05how the website makes you feel.
3:08And also the look and feel of the website itself.
3:11The visual elements and the aspects in the graphic design.
3:16Which content such as images and animations will also
3:19impact your experience?
3:22And also, finally, the processes that you follow when
3:25trying to complete your task, and the fact that the website
3:27tries to anticipate what you're trying to do will
3:30impact your user experience.
3:32Now, considering that this subject is all about user
3:35experience in the online space, I thought I'd give you
3:37a real-life example of an online website.
3:40So I've got a dog.
3:41His name's Obie.
3:42He's a big dog.
3:44He's about 40 kilos, but he's not fat.
3:46He's just big boned.
3:47And I purchase food for him once a month.
3:50I go to the same online store.
3:52I often forget my username and password, so I have to search
3:55around through my emails before I find it.
3:57I log in, I know the product I want, so I have
4:00to search for it.
4:01I search for it, I find it, I go through the checkout
4:04process, enter my credit card details and address details,
4:08and I check out.
4:10Now, imagine that same website with that same amount of user
4:13experience sprinkled on top.
4:15Imagine if I logged in and I only have to put in a four
4:18digit PIN, because it remembers my credentials.
4:21And as soon as I log in, the product that I buy every
4:25single month is right there in front of me, with a single
4:28button that says, one click to check out.
4:30Lovely.
4:31I press it, it checks it out, it assumes and it asks if I
4:34want to use the same credit card details and address, I
4:37say yes, and voila!
4:38My job is done.
4:41It anticipates, it supports me through the process, and it
4:45really helps solidify and put a smile on my face, helping me
4:49to come back to that same website over and over again.
4:52Remember, user experience isn't a checklist.
4:55It's not a set of deliverables.
4:58It's an overall principle and an
4:59understanding of group design.
5:01User experience goes beyond the interface.
5:04It helps to design the experience of the customer,
5:07and the way they interact with the product or service.
5:10In effect, a happy customer means a happy business or
5:13organisation.
5:15In this topic, I've talked about user
5:17experience and what it is.
5:19Hopefully you have a better understanding, and I'd love to
5:22know if you've got a toaster that you really love, or a
5:25website that you really love, and why you love that website.
5:28Perhaps jump into the forum and discuss it with your
5:31fellow students.
5:32In the next topic, I'm going to talk about the evolution of
5:34user experience.
5:35Where it's come, and where it's potentially going.

Pop Quiz 1:
What is User Experience Design?
A discipline that encompasses all interactions and events, physical and digital, between users/customer
and a product, service or organization.
Topic 2: The Evolution of UX as a discipline
00:00[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:10In this topic, I'm going to talk about the evolution of
00:12user experience, where it's come from and potentially
00:15where it's going.
00:17As a design discipline, it's reasonably new.
00:20The term user experience was coined in the mid-1990s by a
00:23gentleman, Don Norman, who is a usability and user
00:27experience expert.
00:29However, it actually dates back to the mid-1940s, when
00:33the design of interfaces was all to do with military
00:37equipment, designing assistant to fit the user.
00:41So things like human factors engineering and ergonomics
00:44played a big part.
00:46So ergonomics was about the study of the human, their
00:49physiology, and the system that they use and work with.
00:52So things like height of chairs,
00:55tables, length of levers.
00:57It was all about fitting the system to meet the user.
01:01Then came the age of computers in the 1980s, and ergonomics
01:04became obsessed with designing computers for humans.
01:08Now we're in a new era.
01:10There's multiple channels of interface for users--
01:13mobile phones, tablets, websites, kiosks.
01:17Technology is everywhere.
01:19So it's no longer about ergonomics or human-computer
01:22interaction.
01:23It includes motivations, experiences, and the overall
01:26feeling a person has when they're engaged or use a
01:29product or a service, such as a website.
01:32User experience now is helping to bridge the gap between the
01:36customer and the business.
01:42Now, with the speed at which technology is improving, who
01:44knows where user experience will be.
01:47But for now, it's all about making sure the customer is
01:50happy with the product or service they're using, and
01:52therefore the organisation or the company is happy because
01:55they're successful.
01:57So in this topic I've given you a bit of a summary as to
02:00where user experience has come from and where it's going, and
02:03the fact that it was something that was underpinned by
02:05ergonomics, human-computer interaction, and now user
02:08experience.
02:08In the next topic, I'm going to talk about usability.

Pop Quiz 2:

Option B
Topic 3: Usability
00:10Welcome to topic three.
00:11In this topic I'm going to talk about usability.
00:14Now many people interchange usability and user experience,
00:17it's not actually quite right.
00:19Usability is about efficiency of use, ease of use, and
00:31satisfaction.
00:38The way I typically explain it to people is that imagine if
00:42usability is here.
00:46It's actually a subset of the user experience.
00:52So usability simply looks after the efficiency of a
00:56user, the ease in which the user can complete their task,
00:59and how satisfied they are with that task.
01:02So user experience is actually more than
01:04just these three terms.
01:06It includes the experience the user has, the emotions and
01:09motivations that come with the user using an interface.
01:13There's an international standard for usability.
01:16It's ISO 9241 part 11.
01:20So the standard talks about the user, the task, the
01:23equipment, and the environment.
01:26Here's some bad examples of usability in
01:28your everyday life.
01:30I'm sure you've come across a parking sign where you've
01:32stood in front of if for 10 minutes, trying to decipher if
01:35you can park there or not?
01:36Or how many times have you been into a store where you've
01:39tried to swipe your credit card in the credit card
01:42swiping machine, just to be told, sorry, your card must be
01:44the other way around.
01:46Have you ever seen a door handle where you've pulled
01:48where, in effect you had to push?
01:51And finally on the online space, how many times have you
01:54seen an error message where you just don't know what it
01:57means, and you don't know what to do next?
01:59Those are all bad examples of usability.
02:03Now, the most effective way of improving the usability of a
02:06product or service is involving users, There's a
02:09methodology known as user centred design, which is all
02:12about putting the user at the centre of the design process.
02:16That's what I'm going to talk about in the next topic.

Pop Quiz 3:

Option A
Topic 4: User Centered Design
In this topic, I'm going to talk to you about
00:11user centred design.
00:13In the previous topics, we've covered off user experience,
00:16and we talked about usability being a subset of user
00:19experience.
00:20So in this topic, I'm going to talk to you about how you
00:21actually drive user experience design, and improve usability
00:25of interfaces.
00:27There's three core elements to user centred design.
00:34The first element, or the phase, is about research.
00:42The second phase, which is a core phase, is design.
00:49And the third and final phase is evaluation.
00:57Just before I talk about these elements, though, let me
00:59mention a few things.
01:01The benefits of user centred design is that it's scalable,
01:06it's flexible, and it's repeatable.
01:09And you can actually repeat it throughout the life cycle of
01:13the project.
01:14It's also worth noting there's also an ISO standard for human
01:18centred design.
01:19It's 9241 Part 210, and it comprises of six key
01:24principles.
01:25It's about being a user the task, and the environment.
01:29Users are always involved in the process.
01:31The fact that the design is driven and refined through
01:34evaluation, it's an iterative process, it addresses the
01:39whole user experience, and the team is multidisciplinary.
01:45Now, going back through the three elements of user centred
01:47design, what you see is that each of them have a set of
01:51activities.
01:52So within the research phase, and understanding user needs,
01:56there's a few techniques that you can use.
01:58Same with business needs.
02:01The idea here is, in the research phase, for you to
02:04really understand the needs of the user, and also understand
02:07the objectives of the business, and what they're
02:09trying to achieve.
02:10But also, don't forget, you need to be able
02:12to prioritise both.
02:14It's a balancing act.
02:16In the design phase, there's three core design elements.
02:20There's information design, which is all about designing
02:23the information and content; interaction design, which is
02:27about how the user actually interacts with the content;
02:31and the visual design, putting the layer of the look and feel
02:34of the website together.
02:35And finally, there's the evaluation phase.
02:38Your design might be finished, and you might feel confident
02:41about it, but unless you evaluate the design to ensure
02:43it's fit the purpose, you haven't finished the process.
02:47So you can actually bring users in to test the design,
02:51or bring in usability experts or user experience experts to
02:55review the design for you.
02:58Imagine you've got an organisation.
03:01They've got about 30,000 staff, and the website is
03:04large-- about 10,000 pages.
03:07Now, a user centred design project might involve almost
03:11every one of these activities within every
03:13one of these streams.
03:14But at the same time, a small organisation with a very small
03:18subset of users could actually use some of
03:21these techniques only.
03:23So they might decide to use two of the techniques with
03:26their user needs.
03:26They might talk to the business once.
03:29They might do their own final prioritisation.
03:32When you come to the design phase, they might only want to
03:35concentrate on the interaction design, because they already
03:37have a look and feel, and are looking to actually improve or
03:40tweak the design of their website.
03:42And finally, regarding evaluation, they might not
03:45have the luxury of accessing their users, so they might
03:48just want to do a quick review to make sure
03:51it's fit for purpose.
03:53In this topic, I've talked about user centred design.
03:56I hope now you have a clear understanding of the three
03:59elements of the user centred design process, and the fact
04:01that user centred design puts the user at the centre.
04:05In the next topic, I'm going to talk about what affects the
04:08design of an interface.

Pop Quiz 4:

Option B
Topic 5: Factors Affecting the Design
00:10In this topic I'm going to talk about what effects the
00:12design of an interface.
00:15There's five core elements, although it is not a
00:18definitive list.
00:20So one of the factors is users.
00:23The sort of things I mean by that are who are the users,
00:26where are they, what are they doing, and
00:28what are their goals?
00:30The next one is about their tasks.
00:32So why are they performing those tasks?
00:35Why are they visiting the website?
00:37What task are they performing, and how often?
00:40The third factor is environment.
00:42So where is the user and what context are they in?
00:45Are they in a public transport or are they in a busy office
00:49completing their task?
00:51The fourth factor is platform.
00:53For example technology.
00:55What device are they using to complete their task, a tablet,
00:59or a mobile phone or maybe they're at a kiosk?
01:02And also, what technology is actually being used to deliver
01:05that product or service to the user?
01:08And finally the business need.
01:10It's about the business's objectives and goals.
01:12So are they trying to generate revenue.
01:15Are they delivering a service?
01:17Are they to increase engagement with the user.
01:21Now these are just some of the factors, although they're
01:23core, that influence an interface and deliver a
01:26product or service to the end user.
01:29So, on this topic I've talked about the factors that
01:32influence the interface.
01:34In the next topic I'm going to talk to you about business
01:36needs, users needs and the key being that
01:39you to balance both.

Pop Quiz 5:

Option A
Topic 6: Users, business and balancing the Needs of Both
So far I've talked about user experience, usability, and a
00:13user centred design process.
00:15In this topic I'm going to talk to you about user needs,
00:18business needs, and the fact that you need to balance both.
00:22Let's talk about users first.
00:24The key to the user centred design processor is all about
00:28observation.
00:33Let's talk about why observation is so important.
00:35This is a true story.
00:37Back in the day when Sony was producing their first Walkman
00:41they had a dilemma about which colour the first
00:43Walkman should be.
00:45They couldn't decide between yellow or black.
00:48So the thought they'd actually bring in some participants and
00:51talk to them.
00:52Almost every participant said yellow, because they thought
00:55it was fun and exciting.
00:57As a thank you gesture Sony then decided to offer a
01:01Walkman for the customers, at the end of the exit they had a
01:05bag with yellow Walkmans and a bag with black Walkmans.
01:09Everybody but one participant took the black Walkman home.
01:13So this really highlights the point of what users say is not
01:17necessarily what they do.
01:19We've talked about user needs, let's not forget about the
01:22business needs.
01:23In order to follow a consistent and successful user
01:26experience and user centred design process we need to
01:29understand what it is that the business wants to achieve.
01:33Do they want to generate revenue?
01:35Are they there to engage their costumers?
01:37Are they there for political reasons, or is simply about
01:41providing a service to the end users?
01:44A good user experience essentially balances the needs
01:47of both business and the users to provide the best outcome.
01:53Now, I'm going to talk to you about a real story.
01:54A real project that I worked on where there was a big
01:57conflict between user needs and business needs.
02:00The project was all about designing
02:02a new tourism website.
02:04The tourism website was owned by the marketing department.
02:08Now, from the users perspectives that website was
02:10all there for them to be able to look at offers, look at
02:13places to go and visits and accommodations where they
02:15could stay.
02:17So the users had clear tasks they wanted to perform.
02:20However, from the marketing perspective, they pretty much
02:24wanted to highlight all the visual elements and the
02:28marketing material, just to highlight the sort of work
02:30they were doing.
02:32Now, there's a big conflict here.
02:34The user doesn't care about the marketing information.
02:37They just want to complete their tasks.
02:39Whereas for the marketing department, it's all about
02:42highlighting their glory.
02:44So how did I go about resolving that?
02:46I tried to bring the business along the journey.
02:49I try to highlight what the users' tasks were and give an
02:53idea of what they wanted to achieve on the website.
02:56I also try to understand why the marketing department
02:59wanted to have the website the way they did.
03:01Maybe there was a reason that I wasn't familiar with or
03:04didn't understand.
03:06End of the day, the conflict was resolved by me bowing
03:08down, and that's actually OK.
03:11The whole idea is that you can't ignore what the business
03:14wants even though you're putting the user in the centre
03:16of the process.
03:19I now hope you have a really good understanding of why it's
03:21important to understand users needs and the business needs
03:24and the fact that you sometimes
03:25need to balance both.
03:27In the next topic, I'm going to talk about user experience
03:30and some other disciplines.

Pop Quiz 6:

Option B
Topic 7: UX versus Similar Disciplines
00:00[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:10In this topic I'm going to talk about user experience as
00:12a discipline, and the fact that it overlaps with many
00:15other disciplines you may be already aware of.
00:18So web design, or website design is definitely a
00:21discipline that overlaps with user experience.
00:24Advertising.
00:25A lot of advertising agencies are starting to see the
00:27importance of user experience and factoring that into the
00:31methodology.
00:33Business consulting and analysis.
00:36That's an industry where people are constantly talking
00:38to business, end users, and prioritising.
00:41And also strategy.
00:43The whole idea being to help an organisation create a road
00:47map of where they want to go to.
00:50Social science.
00:51It's all about researching, researching humans.
00:53And therefore user experience and social science
00:56have a lot in common.
00:58Market research.
01:00A lot of organisations use market research to get some
01:03insight into what's happening in the market and potentially
01:06what the behaviours of the consumers are.
01:08Graphic design, which overlaps with web design to a certain
01:11extent in the online space.
01:13Also makes use of user experience and visual design
01:16to communicate the product or the service, or in this case,
01:19the website to the end user.
01:21And finally, front end and back end website system
01:24development.
01:26That's another area where user experience is helping to
01:30ensure the product that's being built-- the website or
01:32the system-- is fit for use, and also engaging.
01:36User experience is all about insight-driven design.
01:39So in fact, any discipline can make use of user experience
01:42and its methodologies.
01:44Now, there's another word that's come into the market,
01:49and it's called customer experience.
01:53Many use that interchangeably, but there's a slight bit of
01:56difference between the two.
01:58User experience is about all aspects of an experience a
02:01user has with a single product or service.
02:05However, customer experience goes up one level.
02:09It's about the customer, about the consumer, and all their
02:12experiences with the service or product that the
02:15organisation [INAUDIBLE].
02:17And finally, service design.
02:24Here's another discipline that's overlapping with user
02:27experience and customer experience.
02:29And service design is about looking at the holistic
02:32service an organisation provides to their customers.
02:36So anything from the website to a mobile phone application.
02:41In fact, anything that a customer uses that engages
02:44them with the organisation can fall under the bucket of
02:48service design.
02:49Now, one final thing.
02:51I've got a background in industrial design, and that's
02:53all about designing products.
02:55So I can see that industrial design is coming to overlap
03:00with user experience.
03:01The fact that now you have products that have one big
03:04interface means that user experience and industrial
03:07design need to form together to design the product to give
03:11that end user experience to the user.
03:14I hope now you have a better understanding of what user
03:17experience is as a discipline, and how it overlaps with other
03:20disciplines you may already be aware of or you might be
03:23working within.
03:24You now also understand that user experience, customer
03:27experience, service design, and potentially industrial
03:30design are other disciplines that are working very closely
03:33with the notion of user experience.
03:35In the next topic, I'm going to talk about some of the
03:38characteristics you need to have to practise user
03:41experience.

Pop Quiz 7:

Option B
Topic 8: Characteristics of a UX-er
In this topic, I'm going to talk to you about the
00:12characteristics that make up a user experience practitioner.
00:15Now, we like to call them a UXer, but at the same time,
00:20they're known by many different titles--
00:23information architect, graphic designer, designer, experience
00:28architect, usability practitioner, human factors
00:32specialist, and also customer experience designer.
00:36So as you can see, the role of the title
00:39doesn't really matter.
00:40Having worked with these people, it's clear that we're
00:43all following the same methodology.
00:46Some of the key characteristics a UXer has
00:48include obviously if you need to communicate clearly about
00:53your research, about your design, and about your
00:55findings from your evaluation.
00:58Having an open mind.
01:00As a designer you will often sit between the business and
01:02the user, so you need to make sure that you look at every
01:06perspective before you make a decision.
01:08It's important to understand the design in the technology.
01:11If you're designing websites it would be goo if you
01:14understood how websites are put together, and some of the
01:17limitations and opportunities that come
01:19with designing a website.
01:21and being a problem solving some of the day you're looking
01:25for problems designed to go to school also
01:29putting the users first.
01:30You should always think of the user first and foremost before
01:33you actually put any designs to paper or make any decisions
01:37that would impact how they will use your product.
01:40Many people ask me how I got into user experience.
01:44Well, it was accidental.
01:45Most people tend to fall into user experience.
01:48However, there's a few things you could do.
01:50Considering it's multidisciplinary, you could
01:53consider marketing, web design, market research,
01:58anthropology, psychology, or some of the other disciplines
02:02I talked about earlier in the topic.
02:05The most important characteristics that I think a
02:07user experience practitioner should know and
02:10have is being flexible.
02:12For me, it's all about the soft skills.
02:14Because often you'll find yourself in between the user
02:18and the business and it's a balancing act.
02:24And as a practitioner, you will always end up finding
02:27yourself being stretched and pulled on either side.
02:30What I mean by soft skills is the things to do with
02:33communication, understanding behaviours, rather than some
02:37of the harder skills like technique.
02:39End of the day, techniques are easy to understand.
02:42However, if you can't communicate clearly, or you
02:45can't rationalise your thoughts, you're going to
02:47struggle to be fitting in to this middle position.
02:50As the discipline evolves, I'm seeing more and more that UX
02:53practitioners are starting to take on other roles,
02:56specifically around coding of websites as well as doing the
03:00graphic or the visual design.
03:02But one thing you need to be aware of is that as a
03:04practitioner you will sometimes be working alone,
03:07but at the same times you may be working in bigger groups.
03:10So being able to work within a team is key.
03:14So, in this topic I've talked about some of the
03:16characteristics of a UX practitioner.
03:18Hopefully, you have some idea of the sort of things you
03:21need, and hopefully you're already doing some of the
03:24things within your workforce that can allow you to
03:26transition into UX as a discipline.
03:30So this is the end of the module.
03:32We've covered quite a bit, so let's do a quick recap.
03:36So I've talked about user experience, what it is.
03:39I've talked about usability and user centred design.
03:43I've talked about what effects design of an interface.
03:46I've highlighted the importance of knowing the
03:48users, their needs, and business needs and sometimes
03:51you have to balance both.
03:52We've also discussed where user experience fits within
03:55other disciplines and the overlap between them.
03:58And finally I hope you have some idea of the
04:00characteristics of a user experienced practitioner.
04:04Hope to see you in Module 2.

Pop Quiz 8:

Option A
Assessment 1: Module 1













Ques 6: True
Ques 7: All of the given responses
Ques 9: True