97 Things Every UX Practitioner Should Know: Collective Wisdom from the Experts [1 ed.] 1492085170, 9781492085171

Table of contents :
Cover
Copyright
Table of Contents
Preface
Permissions
O’Reilly Online Learning
How to Contact Us
Acknowledgments
Part I. Career
Chapter 1. Boost Your Emotional Intelligence to Move from Good to Great UX
Priyama Barua
Chapter 2. Your Worst Job May Be Your Best Learning Experience
Taylor Kostal-Bergmann
Start Small and Focus on Building Trust
Diversify Your Skill Set
Get Organized and Say No
Chapter 3. You’re Never Done Learning
Andrew Wirtanen
Make Time
Be Selective
Refine Your Routine
Share
Chapter 4. So You Want to Be a UX Consultant
Eva Kaniasty
Chapter 5. Master the Art of Storytelling
Reena Ganga
Chapter 6. Understand and Speak the Language of Business
Dwayne Hill
Chapter 7. Expand Your Network Through Community Involvement
Jen McGinn
Chapter 8. Amplify Your Value by Finding Advocates Outside Your Team
Catherine Dubut
Chapter 9. Design Mentorship Is a Lifelong Commitment
Kristian Delacruz
Remember that Past Experience Is Valuable
Be a Cheerleader
Build a Lifelong Relationship
Reach Out First
Be Human
Chapter 10. Create a Design Portfolio that Gets Results
Shanae Chapman
Part II. Strategy
Chapter 11. User Experience Extends Beyond the Digital Realm
Frances Close
Chapter 12. Know the Difference Between Experience Mapping and Journey Mapping
Darren Hood
Let’s Level Set
Alignment and Challenges
Takeaways and Reminders
Chapter 13. Design Customer Experiences, Not Features
Gail Giacobbe
Chapter 14. Create a Truly Visible UX Team
Sonia V. Weaver
Chapter 15. Thinking About the Future Is Important for Any Design Process
Liz Possee Corthell
Chapter 16. Implement Service Design in Your Practice
Eduardo Ortiz
Research
Plan
Apply
Part III. Design
Chapter 17. Don’t Forget About Information Architecture
Joe Sokohl
Chapter 18. When Prototyping, Consider Both Visual Fidelity and Functional Fidelity
Chris Callaghan
Chapter 19. See Beyond the “Average” User
Hillary Carey
Chapter 20. Work Together to Create Inclusive Products
Al Lopez
Chapter 21. Advocate for Accessibility
Holly Schroeder
Chapter 22. Design for Universal Usability
Ann Chadwick-Dias
Chapter 23. Inclusive Design Creates Products that Work for Everyone
Christopher S. LaRoche
Chapter 24. Define What Your Design Does Not Do
Georgiy Chernyavsky
Chapter 25. Use Design Goals to Make Design Decisions Explainable and Defendable
Helmut Degen
Chapter 26. Think Synthetically to Design Systematically
Drew Condon
Chapter 27. Best and Last Impressions Are Lasting Impressions
Andrea Mancini
Chapter 28. Follow These Principles of Gestalt for Better UX Designs
Erin Malone
Chapter 29. Use Visual Design to Create an Eye Track
Kevin Lynn Brown
Chapter 30. Use Object Mapping to Create Clear and Consistent Interfaces
Tim Heiler
References
Chapter 31. Remember the Four Questions of Critique
Adam Connor
Chapter 32. Turn Poorly Constructed Criticism into Actionable Feedback
Jesse Nichols
The Big Bad Stakeholder
A Simple Misunderstanding
Tips for Success
Chapter 33. Improve Communication and Encourage Collaboration Using Sketches
Anna Iurchenko
Chapter 34. Learn the Difference Between UX and UI from a Bicycle
Joe Wilson
UI: User Interface
UX: User Experience
Chapter 35. Sell Your Design Ideas with Trust and Insights
Benson Chan
Chapter 36. Align Your Team Around Customer Needs via Design Workshops
Shipra Kayan
Chapter 37. Embrace a Shared Cadence to Avoid Silos
Christy Ennis-Kloote
Chapter 38. Learn to Think like a Missionary, Not a Mercenary
Scot Briscoe
Pitfalls of Mercenary Work
Becoming a Missionary
Stay on the Path
Chapter 39. Not All Interfaces Need to Be Simplified
Morgane Peng
Get Familiar with Enterprise Products
Differentiate Business Expertise and Interface Expertise
Find the Sweet Spot
Chapter 40. If You Show Something Shiny, They’ll Assume It’s Done
John Yesko
Chapter 41. You Can’t Always Help Who You Want
James McElroy
Chapter 42. Make Learning a Part of Your Design Process
Michelle Morgan
Chapter 43. Design Meaningful International UX
Yingdi Qi
Chapter 44. Legacy Product? Imagine You’re Restoring an Old Farmhouse
Christopher Coy
Chapter 45. Be Your Own Project Manager
Tripta Kumari
Chapter 46. Design for Users, Not Usability Studies
Aaron Parker
Chapter 47. Frame the Opportunity Before Brainstorming the Solution
Brian Sullivan
Chapter 48. Be Wrong on Purpose
Skyler Ray Taylor
The Wrong Answer
The Right Time to Be Wrong
Don’t Stay Wrong for Long
Chapter 49. Create a Lasting Design System
Lara Tacito
Make Your Design System Easy to Use
Create a Process, Not a Project
Chapter 50. Your First Idea Is Sometimes Your Worst Idea
Audrey Bryson
Chapter 51. Question Your Intuition and Design to Extremes
Navin Iyengar
Chapter 52. Design Thinking Workshops Will Change Your Process
Theo Johnson
Chapter 53. Visualize Requirements During a Workshop
Kristina Hoeppner
Leave the Spreadsheet Behind
Prepare for and Run the Workshop
Be Brave and Break Away from the Spreadsheet
Chapter 54. Put On Your InfoSec Hat to Improve Your Designs
Julie Meridian
Chapter 55. On-Brand Whimsy Can Differentiate Your Mobile App
Martha Valenta
Chapter 56. Don’t Perform a Competitive Analysis Before Ideating
William Ntim
Part IV. Content
Chapter 57. Design for Content First
Marli Mesibov
The Content-First Mindset
Content-First as a Methodology
Speak to Your Audience
Chapter 58. Align Your Tone, Voice, and Audiences
Marino Ivo Lopes Fernandes
Chapter 59. Mind Your Error Messages
Jennifer Aldrich
Chapter 60. A Shared Vocabulary Can Increase Team Efficiency
Matthias Feit
Coming to Terms with Terminology
Chapter 61. Break Your Lorem Ipsum Habit: Sketch with Words!
Emily Roche
Why Lorem Ipsum Doesn’t Help
Here’s How to Sketch with Words
Stronger Starts and Smoother Finishes
Part V. Research
Chapter 62. Always Go for the Why—the Immutable Basis of Great Design
Andy Knight
Chapter 63. The Participant’s Well-Being Is Your Responsibility
Danielle Cooley
Pay Attention to Physical Needs
Mental and Emotional Factors Affect the Research, Too
Don’t Be Afraid to Stop the Session If Necessary
Caring for the Participant Is in Everyone’s Best Interest
Chapter 64. Diverse Participant Recruiting Is Critical to Authentic User Research
Megan Campos
Chapter 65. Build a Culturally Reflexive Professional Framework
Monet Burse Moutinho
Chapter 66. Know These Warning Signs of Information Architecture Problems
Kathi Kaiser
Chapter 67. Bring Themes to Exploratory Research
Shanti Kanhai
Degrees of Control
The Power of Themes
Define Your Themes
Chapter 68. Embrace Your Ignorance
Jon Robinson
Chapter 69. Get Past Fear with Users and Design Teams
Julia Choi
Chapter 70. Data Alone Does Not Create Empathy—Storytelling Is Key
Kyle Soucy
Like It or Not, You Must Get Comfortable with Public Speaking
What’s the Secret to Being a Great Presenter and Storyteller?
A Word of Caution
Chapter 71. Personas with Emotions and Behaviors Are More Valuable
Cindy Brummer
Avoid Weak Personas
Step 1: Start with Data
Step 2: Provide Context
Chapter 72. Educate Your Product Team for Successful User Research
Rachel Young
Educate on What Research Can and Cannot Answer
Explain What Research Is and What It Is Not
Encourage Observation with Specific Guidelines
Chapter 73. Design Isn’t Just About the Happy Path
Drew Lepp
Why Does This Matter?
Examples of Worst-Case Scenarios
Practical Advice
Chapter 74. Deliver Successful Products Through Common Success Metrics
Martina Borkowsky
Chapter 75. Bring Rapid User Research Methods to Agile Teams
Bob Thomas
Traditional UX Research Methods
Lean UX Research Methods
Chapter 76. Scale Research Through Stakeholder Advocacy
Matt DiGirolamo
Identify Current UX Maturity
Foster Awareness
Set Up Research Frameworks
Push Maturity Forward with Team Ops and Quantification
Research Democratization
Chapter 77. Know When and How to Build a Usability Lab
Rich Buttiglieri
When Would I Need a Lab?
How Expensive Is It to Build?
Physical Space Considerations
Chapter 78. Talk to Customer Support to See What’s Tripping Up Users
Dave Connis
Renaming a Feature
Practical Application
Chapter 79. Be Prepared When Practicing Ethnography
Meena Kothandaraman
Chapter 80. Always Do a Test of Your Test
Jacqueline Ouifak
Chapter 81. Observed Behavior Is the Gold Standard
Kaaren Hanson
Chapter 82. Assess Usefulness and Desirability Early in Product Development
Michael Hawley
Chapter 83. Know the Core Elements of Usability Research
Amanda Mattson
Chapter 84. Don’t Underestimate the Power of Coworkers as Usability Participants
Daniel Diener
Chapter 85. Include Nonusers in Your User Research
Becca Kennedy
Nonusers Can Help Uncover Gaps
Nonusers Can Supplement User Research
How to Include Nonusers
Chapter 86. Plan User Research with the Customer Question Board
Julia Cowing
Chapter 87. If Designing Survey Questions Were Easy, There’d Be No Garbage Data
Annie Persson
Creating Questions
Wording Questions
Creating Response Options
Chapter 88. The Right Screener Sets Up Your Recruit and Research for Success
Katelyn Thompson
Define and Outline Your Criteria
Determine the Method for Asking Your Questions
Write the Screener Questions
Select Your Participants
Chapter 89. Know Best Practices for Working with a Recruiter
Ellen Finn
Timeline Management and Recruiter/Client Communication
Participant Confirmation
On-Call Duties
Study Aftermath
Chapter 90. You Don’t Need a Lot of Money to Recruit Participants
Thomas Yung
Representative Users and Screeners
Sample Size
Incentives and Compensation
Posting Ads and Screener
Build a Panel Yourself
Final Thoughts
Chapter 91. You Need Good Planning for a Diary Study
Mac Hasley
Align Research Questions with a Diary’s Structure
Set a Timeframe that Gathers Insights Before Participants Lose Interest
Choose the Right Tool for Your Goals, Budget, and Timeline
Be Strict in Your Recruit
Decide How Participants Will Log
Chapter 92. Improve Usability Testing with Task Cards
Todd Zazelenchuk
Chapter 93. Apply the Butterfly Approach to Interviews and Testing
Stephen Denning
Chapter 94. Don’t Ask Users to Predict the Future
Ingrid Cruz
Hypothetical Scenarios Produce Unreliable Feedback
The Importance of a Good Research Question
Chapter 95. Ask Participants to Tell You What You Don’t Know to Ask
Amanda Rotondo
Chapter 96. Leverage Your “Psychologist Voice” for Effective UX Research Moderation
Dan Berlin
Chapter 97. Tell the User’s Story via Effective Research Reports
Susan Mercer
Background
Goals
Executive Summary
Methodology
Detailed Findings
Summary
Recommendations
Contributors
Aaron Parker
Adam Connor
Al Lopez
Amanda Mattson
Amanda Rotondo
Andrea Mancini
Andrew Wirtanen
Andy Knight
Ann Chadwick-Dias
Anna Iurchenko
Annie Persson
Audrey Bryson
Becca Kennedy
Benson Chan
Bob Thomas
Brian Sullivan
Catherine Dubut
Chris Callaghan
Christopher Coy
Christopher S. LaRoche
Christy Ennis-Kloote
Cindy Brummer
Daniel Diener
Danielle Cooley
Darren Hood
Dave Connis
Drew Condon
Drew Lepp
Dwayne Hill
Eduardo Ortiz
Ellen Finn
Emily Roche
Erin Malone
Eva Kaniasty
Frances Close
Gail Giacobbe
Georgiy Chernyavsky
Helmut Degen
Hillary Carey
Holly Schroeder
Ingrid Cruz
Jacqueline Ouifak
James McElroy
Jen McGinn
Jennifer Aldrich
Jesse Nichols
Joe Sokohl
Joe Wilson
John Yesko
Jon Robinson
Julia Choi
Julia Cowing
Julie Meridian
Kaaren Hanson
Katelyn Thompson
Kathi Kaiser
Kevin Lynn Brown
Kristian Delacruz
Kristina Hoeppner
Kyle Soucy
Lara Tacito
Liz Possee Corthell
Mac Hasley
Marino Ivo Lopes Fernandes
Marli Mesibov
Martha Valenta
Martina Borkowsky
Matt DiGirolamo
Matthias Feit
Meena Kothandaraman
Megan Campos
Michael Hawley
Michelle Morgan
Monet Burse Moutinho
Morgane Peng
Navin Iyengar
Priyama Barua
Rachel Young
Reena Ganga
Rich Buttiglieri
Scot Briscoe
Shanae Chapman
Shanti Kanhai
Shipra Kayan
Skyler Ray Taylor
Sonia V. Weaver
Stephen Denning
Susan Mercer
Taylor Kostal-Bergmann
Theo Johnson
Thomas Yung
Tim Heiler
Todd Zazelenchuk
Tripta Kumari
William Ntim
Yingdi Qi
Index
About the Editor
Dan Berlin