Every mobile app gives you something. It could be not only something tangible like the pair of jeans you've ordered using the app but also a piece of work like waking you up in the morning. It could be a feeling, for instance, a feeling of enjoyment obtained from watching a video clip or a feeling of closeness flashed out after receiving an old photo from a loving person via some instant messenger. That "something" is actually the reason why you use the app, it is the heart of the product, and in this course we will not talk about it. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. There are always two sides of a coin. There should be a person who makes that "something" accessible. It is astonishingly important because the use of the product loses its meaning if users can’t get what they want. The main objective of the course is to teach you to shape mobile products and services for people’s use. To do that, you’ll need to learn: - Interaction design activities and their place in the whole product design process - User research methods with a focus on the qualitative ones - Usability inspection and empirical usability evaluation methods - The process of design creation and best practices from interaction design, information architecture and visual design fields of study with a focus on the former Interfaces of handheld devices and tablets are in the spotlight. However, the processes and techniques covered by the course can be successfully applied to design interactions with mobile web apps and wearables. It should be noted that this course does not cover topics such as design management and mobile development, and it will as well not teach you how to use wireframing and prototyping tools. What makes the course unique is a focus on the way of thinking during a design process, the representation of a designer’s decisions in the form of design questions that make the continuous reflection on the design process possible and leads to the growth of the number of proposed design alternatives. The second unique thing about this course is a focus on the explanation of the concept of usability problems, and the processes of discovering and analysing them. Upon completion of the course, you will be able to: - Improve designs by eliminating different kinds of interaction problems - Design huge chunks of user interfaces in the case of adding a new feature to a product - Redesign a complete app by a given set of functions (e.g., extending an existing product to a new platform) The practical part of the course will require you to discover and eliminate interaction problems of a chosen mobile app. You will go through running guerrilla usability study, analysing gathered data, and making evidence-based design changes, which will enable you to create your first case study.
How to Become Better in User Research
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Del curso dictado por National Research University Higher School of Economics
Mobile Interaction Design: How to Design Usable Mobile Products and Services
6 calificaciones
National Research University Higher School of Economics
6 calificaciones
De la lección
WEEK 4: Guerrilla Usability Testing & Field Visits
This week is solely dedicated to two methods: Guerrilla usability testing and field visits aimed at evaluating usability. It examines how to plan and conduct them in detail. You’ll apply the knowledge acquired through this week to develop a test plan and submit it as a part of the second graded peer-review assignment.
Conoce a los instructores
Pavel ManakhovAssociate Professor
School of Software Engineering
Hello. Courses like this one is just the first step.
Further learning is no less important.
During work days it's very easy to forget that what we do can be done better.
Often there are thoughts that there isn't enough time or energy for self development.
It's unclear how to get feedback if you are
one of most experienced researcher on the team.
However, there is always room to grow.
And for this there are a number of possibilities that we are about to discuss.
The model that allows you to incorporate learning into
your practice consists of four basic principles.
Tips that constitute each of these principles as applied to
user research will be examined in detail on the following slides.
Now it's important to discuss the principles themselves.
The first principle is rather simple and obvious.
Do not stop learning new things.
The second principle is related to the first,
apply what you have learned in practice.
I will draw an analogy with a study of a foreign language.
Perhaps you have tried to learn a language
and noticed that if you do not use it for some time,
the communication skills are lost.
So, it is here.
Let me put it this way.
If you do not apply new knowledge in practice,
for example a new moderation technique,
consider that you learn it in vain.
I'm aware that the second principle is obvious too,
but if only you knew how many great professionals make the same mistake.
The third principle is concerned with professional reflection.
And going a little ahead of time,
I will say that it includes such steps as watching video recordings where you moderate
a session authority and higher level analysis of your practices, writing case studies.
The purpose of this step is to get feedback on
the basis of monitoring your own professional practices.
It's extremely important to understand that the application
of the first two principles without the third is pointless.
For example, if you apply the think aloud
protocol in practice and did not compare it with
your favorite moderation technique then you simply do
not understand what each technique is better suited for.
It is clear that the conclusions drawn on
the basis of the application of the technique only once is rather doubtful.
But that is why I state that the reflection is a constant process,
note the arrows from this cycle.
Observance of all three principles is in some way a fire proof [inaudible].
One of the joint application will allow you to develop constantly.
The fourth principle, share findings with a community essentially, completes the cycle.
You can share the conclusions that you have made by applying something in practice.
For example, by writing an article about it.
This will be useful for your colleagues and the community as a whole.
The described approach has a drawback. It takes time.
How much? It depends on you.
The most effort is taken away by the reflection.
However, in my opinion, it's worth it.
This approach allows you not to stop in your development
and benefit from even apparently routine activities and projects.
Let's drill down into each principle starting from the first one, learn.
If you have an experienced user researcher near you,
you can learn from her.
I'm not talking about the school of mentorship here.
To learn, you might start from shadowing the researcher.
Just ask her to allow you watch a couple of sessions she moderates.
Then suggest to take notes for the researcher.
It will distract you from observe how she moderates the study.
Take notes about everything that interests you;
techniques, her behavior, ways of asking questions, etc.
That's the great way to learn what works and in which circumstances it works firsthand.
Also for a deeper study of the field of field research,
I recommend that you refer to this week's list of references.
If you want to expand your knowledge on a specific topic,
courses, workshops, and seminars are the best option for this.
They combine theory and practice which allows you to quickly master the material.
These and subsequent sources need time to search.
Periodic local and international conferences,
local meetups and articles in periodicals are
a great way to keep a breath of the latest developments in the field.
The conferences and meetups are excellent places for
communication on the sidelines and establishing professional contacts.
I would like to note some different periodicals.
For example,
the International Journal of Human Computer Studies
and the Journal of Usability Studies among many others.
They are not very popular among industry professionals.
However, they are an excellent source of advanced research in the field.
I highly recommend that you make your own overview of
such periodicals and subscribe to several of them.
In addition to best practices and techniques,
you also need to keep track of the emergence of
new tools and the development of existing ones.
Various services for most started such as optimal workshop,
type form, and context map.
Data anaysis software like ATLAS.ti, MAXQDA,
mobile analytics services as Flores,
Google Analytics for mobile apps, APSI and more.
As I already said,
it's tremendously important to incorporate what you
learned into practice and do not be afraid of doing this.
Start with the right attitude.
Use the new tools in your practice,
the learning of which we've just discussed.
I'm not repeating myself here.
I just want to emphasize that if you do not apply new knowledge in practice,
consider that you have wasted it.
If an opportunity presents itself,
work with an experienced researcher.
This option is much more effortful to the researcher through shadowing her.
But it's also way too effective for you.
Getting feedback on deliverables such as research plans,
topic guides, feasibility evaluation reports,
etc., and your performance,
I mean you moderating a study session or presenting its results, is invaluable.
Recordings of the study sessions can be used
not only in data analysis but also to review your own performance.
Take time to watch yourself on tape.
As Jeffrey Rubin and Donald Chiasson advice,
take notes of what you are not good at yet while watching.
That will help you to remember to work on
those aspects the next time you moderate a study.
The next step is a higher level analysis of
your own professional activities and
detailed analysis of how the project went when you applied something new.
A great way to accumulate knowledge within the team.
In order to give it some form,
you can make an internal presentation for
the design team and colleagues from another department.
Something that works for you can also work for other teams.
If you feel the strenght to share your practices with the community,
you can write an article,
make a podcast, or speak at a professional conference.
This requires a little more preparation for the design of
the material and a little modularization than for internal presentations.
However, the increase in costs brings its own advantages in
the form of increasing your publicity as a professional by teaching,
I mean the creation of courses, workshops,
etc., in addition to your daily job.
It may seems strange that I'm talking about
speaking at conferences and teaching in the lecture are about learning.
However, I can't emphasize this enough.
This activities will allow you to develop
yourself by rethinking what you seemed to know well.
In the course of the preparation on the pieces of the puzzle
come together and you begin to see the picture more fully.
I emphasize that this process should not stop in order to be effective.
Thank you for being here all this week.
See in the next one.
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