In Johnny TV Features we’ll share with you interesting videos that we come across, enriched with our healthy opinion. This time we have ‘The Domestic Gubbins’, a video by Microsoft Research. … »

All research methods have their pros and cons, the problem comes when you rely on just one method. I’m often disappointed when UX and IxD practitioners describe the research they do, and it’s obviously very one dimensional. They only do surveys, for example. Or they only do usability testing at the end of the project (it’s quite alarming but this practice does continue). … »

This time around we will look at videos that hardly involve any prototypes or scenarios. In these examples, designers are using video as a tool for research, inspiration and cultural probing. This article will probably be the thinnest in the series because examples like these are hard to find. But they needn’t be as these videos are technically less complex than all the rest we have seen. … »

The ability to “play with the data” is a critical capability in analysis. We utilize this technique in many situations: searching for patterns or trends in our observations; or as another preparatory stage for further analysis. Sorting data in some way – alphabetic, chronological, complexity or numerical – is a form of manipulation. … »

When looking at a product have you ever heard yourself saying “why would anyone buy this?” or “why would people use this?” – I have. Unfortunately, there have been many times when I look at products and experience the “I don’t get it moment”. I mean, I understand the functions being demonstrated but I don’t understand what problem the product team is trying to solve. So we put our doubts aside and start working on the product anyway as you know at some point you can help simplify, redesign and make usability improvements. But something still niggles at you. What is missing? … »

Over the last years I have noticed that many books and articles talk about the usefulness (or not) of personas, delving a little into the actual production and design of the persona as well as defending it’s usage. Very few explicitly define some of the activities that occur within the design research phase. It was Jared Spool that mentioned the real value of personas being the actual process of engaging with users and developing empathy towards their circumstances and experience interacting with a product.1 The following article grew out of a conversation with Nathan Curtis of Eight Shapes (author of “Modular Web Design“) when I offered to contribute what I called a “Mood Map” to the Unify Documentation System. Let’s start.

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Being open-minded when conducting user research is almost the definition of the activity. In reality many people find it difficult to fully conceal their hypotheses, and the way they both ask questions and listen to answers ultimately limits what they’re able to learn from the research. Recently we interviewed a young man who had moved back to the US from working overseas and was now back in school. My colleague asked a question that was based on the framework of “old Alex” and “new Alex.” But of course Alex (not his real name) hadn’t told us that he viewed his transition in those terms. And Alex didn’t dissuade us from that framework until I explicitly asked him if he thought of himself as having a new and old version. A lack of open-mindedness can also impact how research data is analyzed. … »

Did it ever happen to you? Having a client that based his decisions upon the wrong research data, which made the project go in the other direction? I bet it happens to a lot of design teams. Today I came across a very funny video that illustrated this perfectly. … »

Over the last few years I’ve become more and more sceptical on the value of personas. I know they’ve always been a popular part in the user centred design methodology, which kind of means that they are holy. But I also believe that from the moment they were introduced they were also misused or based upon the wrong data. For me this was the moment to call in the help of a few experienced UX friends. Why should I still use personas? … »

We should feel ashamed of ourselves. According to a recent research people get angry and frustrated by the complexity of modern mobile phones. We, experience designers, are stupid… We’ve got the greatest job in the world, full of endless posibilities to make people’s lives better, easier and happier. And we still manage to only make things worse. … »