Archive
10/01/15 by holden
Give yourself enough time
Ensure you have enough time to recruit the right people for their opinions, collect and analyse their feedback and reflect on your insights. You’ll probably need to refine your ideas at various stages of the deign process, so factor in time to test your ideas and make the necessary changes. http://www.computerarts.co.uk/Archive
10/01/14 by holden
Collect multiple perspectives
Choose research participants carefully. Don’t just target potential users for feedback – ask extremes of the user population too, as this is where the really useful ‘workarounds’ can appear. Frequently, the things that happen in an extreme situation will also be of great benefit to the majority of users. Don’t just rely on friends or [...]Archive
10/01/13 by holden
Keep it intimate
Don’t use use camcorders or dictaphones to record user feedback in discussion groups. It can be intimidating to be watched while you’re expressing your thoughts and people will clam up about their controversial or irregular views – and that’s just the sort of feedback you really want. Use photos and notes instead and allow people [...]Archive
10/01/12 by holden
Encourage useful, meaningful feedback
Show people things that encourage meaningful conversations – props, storyboards, videos and working prototypes, for example. Finished-looking artifacts can make observers reluctant to comment, so show early designs as will and help people to express themsleves Ask thought-provoking questions to tease out ‘hidden’ needs. If you work in an office, try leaving Post-it notes around [...]Archive
10/01/11 by holden
Get things out there
Share your ideas with as many people as possible and encourage feedback. Send emails; post ideas to blogs and forums; talk to potential users; show people early prototypes. Interacting with people like this enable a cross-fertilisation of ideas and can lead to solutions you may not have otherwise thought of. http://www.computerarts.co.uk/Archive
10/01/10 by holden
Adopt a user-centred approach to design
Take the time and effort to understand the usage contexts and motivations of your target users. Analysing their needs, desires and opportunities in the early stages of development is critical to ensuring your design is both useful and desirable and will help you create a positive user experience. This approach can reveal opportunities that simply [...]Archive
10/01/07 by holden
Enjoy Being A Listner
when it comes to meeting the needs and aspirations of your target users, you need to be a listener. So much in design culture reinforces an ideology that we are in the explaining, persuading or enlightening business: “We tell, they listen.” This may be true in some situations, but listening to what people are saying [...]Archive
10/01/06 by holden
Profile Your Users
It’s very easy to forget who your target market is when you’ve been cranking away on the same project for weeks. One way of keeping you end user at the heart of your thinking is to make a few highly visual fictional character boards, depicting the people you are designing for. These will help you [...]Archive
10/01/05 by holden