Round 2 of Houston Experience Design. A presentation and workshop on quick, grounded, user interface critiques.

1. HOUSTON STARTUP DESIGN
WORKSHOP
Quick, grounded user interface critiques
Houston Experience Design, Tue, Oct 11 @ Caroline Collective
http://houstonexperiencedesign.wordpress.com/
http://www.slideshare.net/austingovella/ux-critiques-the-houston-startup-design-workshop

2. AGENDA
MIND GAMES
how to think when giving and receiving critiques
GOALS & CONTEXTS
Modelling the user, the interaction, the interface, and
comparisons
ACTIVITIES
Documenting and critiquing interfaces

3. MIND GAMES

4. MINDGAMES
Designers don’t design anything. Organizations design
everything. Always remember it’s never about you. It’s
always about the TEAIM.
Everything has GOALS & CONTEXTS. Goals are the
point, contexts the constraints. Nothing else matters.
Identify what achieves the goal and what doesn’t.You
want to evaluate OUTCOMES, not identify solutions.

5. GIVING CRITIQUES
TEAIM:
It’s not about right or wrong. It’s about “us”
succeeding.
GOALS & CONTEXTS:
Ask questions about context and what the goals are.
OUTCOMES:
Identify what may work and what may not.

6. RECEIVING CRITIQUES
TEAIM:
Remember it’s not about you. It’s about “our” goals.
GOALS & CONTEXTS:
Focus on goals and contexts. Judo aesthetics and
preferences.
OUTCOMES:
Note what works, what doesn’t, and open questions.

7. GOALS & CONTEXTS

8. GOALS & CONTEXTS
Model the user
Model the interaction
Model the interface
Compare and evaluate

9. MODEL THE USER
Who is the user?
Young? Old? Busy? Relaxed?
Why is the user here?
What’s their goal? What are they trying to do?

10. MODEL THE INTERACTION
When will the user use this interface?
Just once? Once a day? A week? A month? A year?
Where will they be?
At home? Work? In the car? On a tablet?

11. MODEL THE INTERFACE
What kind of interface is it?
Words, lists, galleries, infographics?
(Usually evident at first glance)
How will they use it?
Browse? Click? Drag? Select? A wizard?

12. COMPARED TO WHAT?
What’s a similar interface or experience we can
compare this to?
Compared to that interface or experience, how good
is this one supposed to be?

13. EVALUATE
Not as good as our comparison, but still usable.
As good as our comparison.
Better than our comparison.
Better than any other experience out there.

14. QUESTIONS?

15. ACTIVITY TIME!!!
DOCUMENT YOUR
SCREENS

16. ACTIVITY TIME!!!
CRITIQUES

17. FOR MORE INFORMATION
Our speaker: Houston Experience Design:
AUSTIN GOVELLA A user experience community for information
architecture and interaction design
Information Architect + UX Designer
houstonux@gmail.com
ag@agux.co
@houstonux
@austingovella
http://houstonexperiencedesign.wordpress.com
http://www.thinkingandmaking.com
http://facebook.com/groups/
houstonexperiencedesign