UX For Dummies

UX For Dummies

by Donald Chesnut, Kevin Nichols
Released April 2014
Publisher(s): For Dummies
ISBN: 9781118852781

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Book description

Get up to speed quickly on the latest in user experience strategy and design

UX For Dummies is a hands-on guide to developing and implementing user experience strategy. Written by globally-recognized UX consultants, this essential resource provides expert insight and guidance on using the tools and techniques that create a great user experience, along with practical advice on implementing a UX strategy that aligns with your organisation's business goals and philosophy. You'll learn how to integrate web design, user research, business planning and data analysis to focus your company's web presence on the needs of your customers, gaining the skills you need to be effective in the field of user experience design.

Whether it's the interface, graphics, industrial design, physical interaction or a user manual, being anything less than on point can negatively affect customer satisfaction and retention. User experience design fully encompasses traditional human-computer interaction design, and extends it to address all aspects of a product or service as perceived by users. UX For Dummies provides comprehensive guidance to professionals looking to understand and apply effective UX strategies.

  • Defines UX and offers assistance with determining users and modelling the user experience

  • Provides details on creating a content strategy and building information architectures

  • Explores visual design and designing for specific channels

  • Delves into UX testing and methods for keeping your site relevant

    • The UX field is growing rapidly as companies realise that meeting your business goals requires a web presence aligned with customer needs. This alignment demands smart strategy and even smarter design. Consultants, designers and practitioners must all be on board if the result is to be cohesive and effective. UX For Dummies provides the information and expert advice you need to get up to speed quickly.

    Table of contents

      1. Introduction
        1. About This Book
        2. Foolish Assumptions
        3. Icons Used in This Book
        4. Beyond the Book
        5. Where to Go from Here
      2. Part I: Getting Started with UX
        1. Chapter 1: Defining UX and the Process
          1. What Is UX, Really?
          2. The Promise of Good UX Design
          3. UX Components
            1. Information architecture
            2. Content strategy
            3. Interaction design
            4. Usability
            5. Visual design
          4. UX Is a Big Deal
          5. How UX and Usability Work Together
            1. The basics of usability
            2. Comparing UX to usability
          6. Necessary UX Inputs
            1. Business objectives
            2. Competitive landscape
            3. Technology architecture
            4. Design inputs
            5. Content inputs
          7. Considerations before Beginning UX
            1. Understanding your target users
            2. Deciding on a new project or redesign
            3. Identifying the technology
            4. Maintaining the experience
            5. Ensuring consistency
            6. Determining your level of comfort
            7. Understanding what makes a good UX designer
          8. How a Typical Project Works
            1. Define phase
            2. Design phase
            3. Build phase
            4. Test and launch phase
            5. Maintain phase
        2. Chapter 2: Examining Why You Should Use UX
          1. Realizing UX for All Channel Benefits
          2. Understanding How UX Benefits Your Business
          3. Understanding How UX Impacts Your Users
            1. Seamless information discovery
            2. Ability to accomplish desired tasks
            3. Fashions the experience around the user
        3. Chapter 3: Determining Your Users
          1. User Experience versus Customer Experience
          2. Gathering Data
            1. Online surveys
            2. User interviews
            3. Focus groups
            4. Ethnography and contextual inquiry
          3. Analyzing the Data to Create User Profiles
            1. UX: Why is behavioral segmentation so critical?
            2. Putting the data into action
          4. Prioritizing Who’s Most Important
          5. Bringing Users to Life through Personas
            1. Using personas
            2. What should a persona contain?
            3. Keeping it simple
            4. Introducing Phyllis
          6. A Final Example
          7. Building Upon Your Understanding
        4. Chapter 4: Modeling the Experience
          1. Creating User Scenarios
            1. Defining the user in the user scenario
            2. Defining the user’s goals
            3. Defining user expectations
            4. Identifying why the user engages here
          2. Understanding and Designing User Journeys
            1. Identifying the goals for your journeys
            2. Identifying the tasks within the journey
            3. Understanding how personalization can impact your journeys
            4. Identifying the tasks for a purchase decision
            5. Developing user journeys for omnichannel experiences
        5. Chapter 5: Understanding UX as (R)evolution
          1. Figuring Out Your Strategy
          2. Defining a Sustainable Model
          3. Advancing the Future with a UX Process
            1. Responsive design
            2. Adaptive design
            3. Considering channels
      3. Part II: Components of Design
        1. Chapter 6: Taming the Beast: Understanding What You Do and Don’t Have
          1. Assessing Your Current and Future States
            1. Understanding UX as an iterative approach
            2. Performing an assessment
            3. Getting an expert opinion: heuristic assessments
            4. Assessing your current-state analytics
            5. Understanding what’s happening — not why it’s happening
            6. Conducting a visual systems audit
            7. Using scenario-driven assessment
            8. Completing a contextual interview with a user
          2. Surveying Your Competitors to Build a Better Experience
          3. Defining and Prioritizing Features and Requirements
            1. Ascertaining fundamental requirements
            2. Prioritizing features
        2. Chapter 7: Developing Content Strategy
          1. Defining Content and Content Strategy
          2. Making Your Content Work
          3. Understanding the Content Inventory and Audit
            1. Completing a content inventory
            2. Completing a content audit
          4. Interviewing Stakeholders for Content Requirements
          5. Creating the Content Strategy Audit Report and Future-State Point of View (POV)
        3. Chapter 8: Designing the Content Strategy
          1. Getting Started with Content Strategy
          2. Identifying the Necessary Content Types
          3. Creating Experience-Level, Section-Level, and Page-Level Content Strategy
          4. Creating a Content Model
          5. Creating a Taxonomy
          6. Identifying Content Life Cycles for Each Type of Content
          7. Creating a Governance Model
          8. Creating an Editorial Calendar and Production Tools
        4. Chapter 9: Building the Information Architecture
          1. Benefits of Good Information Architecture
          2. Creating a Sitemap as the Framework of Your Experience
            1. Assessing your content
            2. Creating a high-level sitemap
            3. Creating a sample browse path
            4. Templates versus pages
            5. Templates as part of the design system
            6. Template inventory
          3. Constructing a Blueprint with Wireframes
            1. Examining components of a wireframe
            2. Annotating your wireframes
            3. Maintaining sitemaps and wireframes
            4. Wireframing navigation
            5. Limitations of wireframing
        5. Chapter 10: Designing for Specific Channels
          1. Changing Trends in UX
          2. Preparing Your Design for Multichannel
            1. Considering content for multichannel
            2. Ensuring a multichannel approach
          3. Designing for Home Desktop, Laptop, and Large-Screen Computers
          4. Designing for Mobile Phones
            1. Mobile website design best practices
            2. Special functionality for mobile sites
            3. Accounting for feature phones
          5. Designing for Tablet Experiences
          6. Designing UX for Other Channels
            1. Other digital experiences
            2. In-store kiosks
            3. E-mail and SMS
            4. Print materials
          7. Considering the Role of Social Networks
        6. Chapter 11: Diving into Visual Design
          1. Wearing a UX Hat for Visual Design
            1. Layout: Information architecture versus visual design
            2. Defining the benchmark based on screen sizes and platforms
            3. Starting with brand guidelines
          2. Understanding the Basics of Visual Design
            1. Master template and grid
            2. Grids in action
            3. Using color appropriately
            4. Leveraging the power of type
            5. Other key components of the visual system
          3. Conceptualizing Visual Design
            1. Mood boarding
            2. Creating a page comp
          4. Validating the Visual Design
            1. Replacing placeholder text with actual content and copy
            2. Validating visual designs with stakeholders
          5. Creating and Using Style Guides
            1. Common components of a style guide
            2. Guidelines for voice and tone within content and copy
            3. The bigger picture
      4. Part III: Your UX in Action
        1. Chapter 12: Testing: How It Can Save Your UX
          1. Eight Common Testing Myths in UX
          2. The Power of Prototypes
          3. Deciding on Your Testing Strategy
            1. Identifying what to test
            2. Choosing a testing method
            3. Identifying research participants
            4. Selecting a location for testing
            5. Incorporating stakeholders into the process
          4. Using Participatory Design Testing Methods
          5. Conducting a Card Sorting Exercise
          6. Usability Testing Primer
        2. Chapter 13: Measuring Your UX to Keep It Relevant
          1. Measuring UX Performance as UX Strategy
          2. Understanding Goals, Objectives, and Metrics
          3. Putting the Performance Approach to Work
            1. Considering goals and objectives for your experience
            2. Defining specific metrics to measure
          4. Understanding Channel-Specific Requirements
            1. Desktop experiences
            2. Smartphone experiences
            3. Tablet experiences
            4. E-mail/SMS experiences
            5. Social media metrics
          5. Capturing and Reporting on Metrics
        3. Chapter 14: Making It Past the Finish Line
          1. Determining When You Should Consider Bringing in Additional Assistance
          2. Supporting Large-Scale UX Projects with Additional Information Architects
          3. Bringing in Visual Design Experts
            1. Sources of visual design talent
            2. Developing specific visual assets: Photography, illustration, and video
          4. Assisting with Content and Copy
            1. Content strategy assistance
            2. Written copy and copywriting assistance
          5. Supporting User Testing Activities
          6. Enabling the Technology Architecture through Expert Help
            1. Complex technology architectures
            2. Platform-specific technology assistance
            3. Rich media asset development
          7. Where to Find UX Help
            1. Browsing great web resources
            2. UX Magazine
            3. Smashing Magazine
            4. UX Booth
            5. LinkedIn
            6. UX Books
            7. Attending UX conferences
      5. Part IV: The Part of Tens
        1. Chapter 15: Ten Reasons Why the User Is Your Most Important Consideration
          1. UX Is Based on User-Centered Design
          2. UX Focuses on How Services Are Used
          3. Users Vary in How and What Content They Consume
          4. Users Share Their Experiences — Positive or Negative
          5. Users Change Over Time
          6. User Experience Trumps Brand Messaging
          7. Your Competitor Is Only a Click Away
          8. Your Users Are Not You
          9. Experience Is Personal
          10. Experience-Focused Companies Out-Perform the Market
        2. Chapter 16: Ten Ways to Ensure That Your UX Is Best in Class
          1. Ask Your Users
          2. Conduct a Heuristic Assessment
          3. Monitor Your Analytics
          4. Focus on the Enjoyment Factor
          5. Keep the Experience Fresh
          6. Structure the UX to Reflect User Needs
          7. Reuse Components
          8. Support Multiple Platforms
          9. Don't Lose Your User
          10. Create the Experience That Competitors Copy
        3. Chapter 17: Ten UX Principles That Never Change
          1. The User Is Rarely Wrong
          2. Usability Is an Absolute Requirement
          3. Content Is King
          4. Don’t Underestimate Visual Design
          5. Prototypes Are Powerful Tools
          6. UX Is an Art and a Science
          7. Good UX = A User’s Approach
          8. Less Is More
          9. Consistency Is Key
          10. The Experience Is the Brand
      6. Glossary
      7. About the Authors
      8. Cheat Sheet
      9. More Dummies Products

    Product information

    • Title: UX For Dummies
    • Author(s): Donald Chesnut, Kevin Nichols
    • Release date: April 2014
    • Publisher(s): For Dummies
    • ISBN: 9781118852781