book

User-Centered Design

by Travis Lowdermilk

March 2013

Beginner

154 pages

4h 2m

English

O'Reilly Media, Inc.

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Is This Book Right for Me?Conventions Used in This BookUsing Code ExamplesSafari® Books OnlineHow to Contact UsAcknowledgmentsPeople Who Helped Me Write This BookJulian WalkerJeff WeirBilly HollisRobby IngebretsenMark and LisaMary Treseler and the O’Reilly Media FamilyPeople Who Helped Me with LifeMy parentsMy brothersMy sisterMy good friendsMy coworkersMy boysMy wife
UCD Is Not UsabilityUCD Is Not SubjectiveUCD Is Not Just DesignUCD Is Not a Waste of Time or MoneyUCD Is Not a Bug ReportUCD Is Not a Distraction
What If I Don’t Have Access to Users?Knowing When to Listen to Users and When to NotDealing with Different Types of UsersThe Information OverloaderThe Control FreakThe Devil’s AdvocateDealing with Negativity
How Do I Know Which Plan Is Right for Me?Creating a Team Mission StatementDefining Your ProjectCollecting User RequirementsCreating Functional RequirementsDocumenting Data and Workflow ModelsDocumenting PrototypesReviewing Your Documentation
Exercising RestraintBuilding a NarrativeCreating PersonasCreating Scenarios
Having User-Experience GoalsCreativity Requires Courage and Hard WorkPick Up a PencilCreative FreedomUnderstanding Your GoalSteal (I Mean Borrow) from OthersCreativity Requires Questioning
Principle of Proximity (Gestalt Principle)Visibility, Visual Feedback, and Visual ProminenceHierarchyMental Models and MetaphorsProgressive DisclosureConsistencyAffordance and ConstraintsConfirmationHick’s LawFitt’s Law

How Many Users Will I Need?SurveysConducting InterviewsTask AnalysisHeuristic EvaluationStoryboardingUsing PrototypesA/B Testing
What Are Usability Studies?Creating a Testing PlanIntroductionReassuranceTesting GuidelinesTasksConclusionThanksWhat You’ll NeedStopwatchNotepadEnvironmentSpreadsheet or DatabaseCameras or Audio RecordingConducting the StudyDon’t Hesitate to PracticeCompiling Your Findings
It’s Impossible to Get It Right the First TimeBe Prepared to RebootFinal Thoughts
TwitterTools for PrototypingWebsites
TemplateProject TitleSoftware Development Life Cycle Project TemplateSoftware Development Life Cycle SummaryProject DetailsUser RequirementsSpecifications Sheet (Functional Requirements)Data and Workflow ModelsData ProcessesPrototypesMaintenance NotesExample PersonaDan WelksSample Script for a Usability StudyIntroduction to Study

Content preview from User-Centered Design

Chapter 11. Other Resources

In this book, I’ve written a lot about encouraging your creativity by following experts in the field. This section represents some of the best resources and tools I’ve found. If you find some that are missing, please email me at books@travislowdermilk.com.

Twitter

Twitter is an invaluable resource for all the latest happenings in the usability and user-experience (UX) world. Consider opening a Twitter account to follow these great resources:

Aarron Walter @aarron: Director of UX at MailChimp and author of Designing for Emotion (A Book Apart).
A Book Apart @abookapart: Publisher of some really great design and web development books. These books inspired me to write this one!
Dan Cederholm @simplebits: Co-founder of Dribbble, an online show-and-tell for designers, and SimpleBits LLC web design studio. Dan is an extremely talented designer and offers a great deal of insight into the world of usability and design.
Design Observer @designobserver: The group hosts an expansive website about the world of design. They also produce an incredible podcast series called “Design Matters,” hosted by Debbie Millman.
EffectiveUI @effectiveui: User-experience design agency based in Denver, Colorado, that uses Twitter to help folks stay abreast of leading design trends and shifts in the industry. It’s also behind the book Effective UI (O’Reilly), which I used to prepare the section on usability studies.
Human Factors International @humanfactors: A world leader in user-centered design that ...