UX where X is a kiss

IA demoPart 3: Content audit Next, I do a content audit to see...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:47:00 +1000

IA demo
Part 3: Content audit

Next, I do a content audit to see what I’m working with. Some huge projects would have content experts for this stuff, but for all of the projects I’ve worked on, it’s been part of my remit.

Usually I would just do a pen & paper sketch to get an idea about how I want to restructure everything, both for a good user experience and for the client’s objectives.

But in extreme instances (like this one) where I need to explain rationale, I put the sketch into Axure (my preferred wireframe software) so that I can visually explain WHAT R THE HAPS.

So:

1. Pen & paper sketch -

This is super messy, especially right this second, because I am not in a good mood about boys and that sort of thing affects my handwriting. But you can see in the sketch, I start to see a birds-eye view of how the site has been structured and where there are problems (for example, see how “Customer Testimonials & References” in the main navigation isn’t actually a page, but instead it links through to another page in the “About Us” section).

2. Axure site map -

This is good as a rationale. I did this for CityLink, I think, and it really visually explained to the client why there were problems with their site, and made them more comfortable with allowing complete structural changes to their site. Hopefully if you zoom in, you can read all the notes and see the diagnosis and opportunities.

3. Analytics -

This is also where I would also check the Google Analytics to see how people are currently using the site.

NEXT – Part 4: Competitors.

INTERLUDE Granted, I’ve been partying too much to update...

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:25:00 +1000

INTERLUDE

Granted, I’ve been partying too much to update this (partying is a significant aspect of the life of a UXer) but look, it turns out Bulletproof have updated their website design.

Maybe all I need to do is begin critiquing a website and it will change its design? Hooooooo. Anyway, I’ll still do the process on it.

IA demoPart 2: Current status OK, first things first....

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:02:05 +1100

IA demo
Part 2: Current status

OK, first things first. What’s the current experience?

In Google, the site name is: “Dedicated Servers and Managed Hosting - Powered by Bulletproof …”

And the description is: “Dedicated Servers Powered by Bulletproof Mission Critical Hosting now delivers dedicated servers and managed hosting to some of Australia’s largest …”

Well done. Both of those aren’t written properly.
(Aside: I didn’t know bulletproof hosting meant that.)

I click through to the site.

OI VEY.

What the hell? Where am I supposed to look?

The design looks like it’s from the 18th century. (It’s fixed and left aligned! That’s, like, the equivalent of Hammer Pants.)
Half the words are so small, even mice are scrambling for their monocles to read them.
The bulk of the real estate (see the blue box) is focused on new customers, without using their greatest assets (their recognisable branding), and on Bulletproof in the news (zzz).
Sorry, where are the products?
Where is Bulletproof located?
Why should I use Bulletproof?
What does a black and white photo of a finger pressing a keyboard really mean? Is it dirty?
Why is the website telling me, Overview, Customers, Overview, Customers, Overview, Customers? Is that a weird kind of tourettes?

OK.

NEXT – Part 3: Content audit.

IA demoPart 1: The brief Bulletproof, a hosting company, and my...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:02:06 +1100

IA demo
Part 1: The brief

Bulletproof, a hosting company, and my boss, Wes Anderson, have been in negotiation for weeks. “We want a new website. We’re willing to pay you in gold doubloons and this drawing my daughter did of a narwhal.”

Wes Anderson shrugs. He has enough gold doubloons, but the kid’s picture is intriguing. “I’ll do it.”

They shake hands.

Bulletproof writes up a brief. Or, if they don’t know how, Wes Anderson provides them with a template, to make sure we get all the information we need.

THE PRETEND BRIEF

Overview:

Bulletproof needs a new website becausezzzzzzz.

Target audience:

Technical leads / IT dudes, usually working for web agencies or working in-house at big businesses.

Business needs:

Sell our hosting services
Retain current customers

which is broken down into…

Get qualified leads (i.e. big businesses looking for serious hosting services, not the general public and their cat blogs)
Provide information on our hosting services, clients and company with sales in mind
Provide information on our support services with customer retention in mind

Brand needs:

Needs to imbue sense of trust, longevity, world class
Use brand colours (orange, black, grey, white)
Needs to be distinct and memorable compared to competitors

Customer needs - New customer:

Find overview of hosting services
Find technical detail of hosting services
Easy to see why to choose Bulletproof instead of competitors
Find current clients list for assurance
Be assured that support is excellent, with guaranteed response times
Able to easily enquire further via phone or email, with guaranteed response time
If Bulletproof seems right, may need assistance selling it into larger team or to my client, so a one-pager to show them would be good

Customer needs - Current customer:

Easy to contact support and know when they will respond
FAQs/support documents for common situations
If need to upgrade/downgrade, easy to find info and enquire
Can keep up to date on hosting service status for my services (when there are issues, get alerts, etc)

Objective:

900 Gigawatts of new customers in 2012.

Competitors:

Bruce Willis, turtles.

Analytics:

(Analytics login would go here, so that Wes and I could see how people are currently using the site, finding the site, etc.)

HELLO ARE YOU STILL THERE.

Ok, so we’ve read the brief. Wes Anderson is smoking a tobacco pipe. It smells nice.

Next, I go and look at the website (screenshot above). Oh. Yeah. This could do with some improvement.

NEXT – Part 2: Current status.

IA demo

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:50:09 +1100

OK, Ima do an IA demo for a fake website project. Over several posts.

Forgive me if you get bored, but 1) some of this stuff is boring, 2) I am using a simple website to begin with because I’m tired (moving house), and 3) your face.

Test pattern

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:04:22 +1100

I’m looking for a site I can use to demo an IA overhaul. If you see any lame websites, send them my way.

Imagination & empathy I used to think that empathy was the...

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:54:00 +1100

Imagination & empathy

I used to think that empathy was the key to UX. And I still think empathy is super-duper-robot-spaghetti important. But my latest theory is that the key is wild imagination.

Wild imagination is a must when you’re checking whether something is error-friendly or not. Let’s look at Boris Yeltsin, an indecisive, bumbling old fool, in comparison to Tilda Swinton, a developer who lacks empathy.

Dog: Build me a way to send email.
Tilda: Done. You write in this box, press send, and it sends the email to that person.
Dog: Have you thoroughly tested it?
Tilda: Yes. It sends an email.
Boris: Uh… well… I accidentally sent it to the wrong person, can I stop it from sending?
Tilda: No, no one will want to do that.
Dog: Tilda, you suck.

Let’s look at a real example: a survey from SoundCloud.

You might want to glance up at those screenshots, to get a feel for the thing. Then read on:

1. “Which of the following audio platforms have you seen or heard of?”
Boris has only heard of YouTube. He ticks YouTube.

2. “Which platforms have you tried?”
Boris has only heard of YouTube. He ticks YouTube.

3. “Which of the platforms do you currently use?”
Boris has only heard of YouTube. He ticks YouTube.

4. “Which platform do you use most often?”
Boris is confused. Boris has only heard of YouTube. He thinks this is a dumb survey. He’s tempted to go and play with his fluffy grey cat, Raphael.

5. “Which of the platforms would you consider using in the future?”
BORIS HAS ONLY HEARD OF YOUTUBE.

6. It goes on. The next questions are things like, “Please check which of these statements best match which platforms.”
Boris has only heard of…

There are so many instances of this jerkish behaviour in surveys. Pay close attention the next time you get one. Use your imagination to answer the survey as Boris Yeltsin.

I’ll leave you with one common example: the multiple choice jerk. What can you find wrong with this survey question? Think Boris.

Q: How do you usually listen to music?

A) iPod
B) iPhone
C) TV (digital channels)
D) Radio

Focus on the living Look. Companies slave away to get new...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:03:00 +1100

Focus on the living

Look.

Companies slave away to get new customers. Blood, sweat, tears.

Now let’s take Telstra as an example: a big telecommunications company with about 4 bazillion customers (official stats). Do you know what happens with Telstra, once you are a customer? Glad you asked.

You receive a monthly email. It’s your bill. It is the most boring thing you’ve ever seen. It reinforces that you have the type of relationship with Telstra where they are really unsexy, but you keep them around because they give you good internet. (But if someone sexier came along… oh boy!)

Also: it doesn’t look like they’ve tried receiving the bill themselves, because if they did, they’d see that it looks retarded. The HTML table is 1220 pixels wide.

Even my dog knows that emails are best around 600 pixels.

And this is your relationship with Telstra, for the rest of your life. Unsexy monthly emails, skewing off-screen like your drunk mother.

So.

One of the sayings I live by (oh come on, as if) is this ancient Spanish saying, “rhubarb rhubarb”, which basically translates to: “Focus on the living, not on the dead.”

And you know what that means? Focus on the living. Focus on the people you’ve got. It doesn’t matter where. You have a restaurant? Focus on the people IN your restaurant and think about getting new customers as your next priority. Because if you don’t give your living customers a great experience, they’ll never come back, they’ll never love you or feel any loyalty, and they’ll never promote you.

I don’t understand why acquisition is always #1 for companies, and retention is this tragic afterthought that gets pushed to the bottom of every priority list until it curls up into a ball and dies. Focus on the living, man.

Test pattern

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:08:00 +1100

Cuss, I don’t know how baby to make this.

That first post was awfully baby. I can’t bear to look at it. “Do you think I’m an idiot,” you say & frown, as you lead a protest campaign to black out my face.

Have a heart. I will try different things and you (friends of Bruce Willis) need to tell me how they make you feel.

Do not reply Ok, here’s an easy one, so that I’m not...

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:39:00 +1100

Do not reply

Ok, here’s an easy one, so that I’m not staring at a blank blog:

How to be entirely mean to your customer in their sweet, cuddly inbox? Use “Do not reply”.

This poor person, let’s call them Bruce Willis, poor Bruce Willis, he’s just read your email and realised that he needs to update his information, because it’s all wrong, he’s living in Melbourne now, not Sydney. (Why are you living in Sydney, Bruce?)

But Australia Post says NO. DO NOT REPLY. Poor Bruce. Unlike “I’m a Mac”, he’s not whiz-bang with computers, so he opens up a new browser window and types “google”. He goes to Google and types “australa pots”. Google is error-friendly, and serves up the website. Oh my god, he finds the Contact link and this is what he sees.

At the very bottom of the page, small, crouching, fearful, with a blanket over its head, the “email” link shivers and whispers, “don’t click me don’t click me don’t click me”.

Bruce Willis clicks. And I’m telling you, Bruce Willies almost cries. He wanted to go downstairs and have KFC with his daughter. THERE ARE 14 MANDATORY FIELDS. He has to name his favourite football team, the colour of his knickers, and whether he’d rather sleep with Ashton or Demi, before he can tell Australia Post that he needs help.

I could go on. So many things go wrong with this tale.

Poor Bruce.