Usability – Todd Chambers

June 25, 2015 — No Comments

Content Strategy is Tedious. Let Me Count the Ways.

A Content Strategy Project Update

The design team and I just finished a two day workshop that found us digging out the scissors and tape. Yep, we went old school. If you've happened to read some of the past posts documenting our ongoing content strategy project, you may have noticed we've been employing some high tech solutions to our tasks. We've explored software for completing site inventories and cataloging content. We've employed spreadsheets, word docs, open source online collaboration tools (much to the chagrin of our IT team) and even new cloud based site mapping tools like slickplan.

But in the end, we've found ourselves returning again and again to the old ways. If we were to look at the process thus far through the lens of the Pareto principle (80/20 rule), my guess is that the 20% of our efforts that have driven the most insight, or provided the greatest thrust toward client deliverables will have come from tried and true analogue methods. Whiteboard sessions, standup meetings, and of course the cutting/pasting and red-pen markup of printed pages.

I'm encouraged by the myriad tools that are coming online to help us UX folk hone our skills. And while it feels a bit odd to dig so deeply into the old bag of tricks, I'm quite relieved to know that so much our craft can be accomplished via bootstrap tactics. As a leader of a small UX team housed within a small digital agency it's reassuring that high budgets and fancy office infrastructure aren't required to produce quality products. What's really needed? Good people, genuine concern for the client and the product evolution. And of course a sharp pair of scissors.

Published by Todd Chambers in Content, Creative Process, Marketing, Uncategorized, Usability, UX

June 2, 2015 — No Comments

Are Flat Wireframes a Thing of the Past?

Earlier this week I spent the entire morning and the better part of the afternoon (sigh) in a client meeting. I'm sure you're familiar with this kind of gathering. The client drives or flies in from the other side of the state (or country) for the big milestone meeting that's been months in the making. The agency's design and content team has spent the preceding weeks getting all the deliverables ready for the big reveal. The day has finally come. Each client-facing document is printed in color, collated, kept under lock and key and eventually (with some fanfare of course) handed out at the appropriate time during the marathon meeting. The PowerPoint slides are micro-managed and double-vetted. They're routed, proofed, approved. A dry run of the presentation is enacted to ensure proper visibility in the conference room (unexpected light can be a killer when looking at nuanced marketing charts). And then quickly the whole thing is whisked away to be securely placed on a server, two laptops and at least one flash drive just to ensure absolute redundancy. The presentation itself is meticulously timed, using the industry standard 2 minutes per slide rule, and of course bio breaks and the occasional disruptive phone call or technical hiccup are all planned for to ensure that once the meeting starts there are no surprises.

Don't get me wrong, Contrary to the hyperbole I just spewed, I actually like these big shindigs. I think most creatives do, deep down. Agency folk have been having meetings like this since the day of Mad Men and for a host of good reasons. Who doesn't like a bit of dog and pony show? Client's are paying good money to have agencies create the magic, why not make a fuss over the unveiling of the deliverables? Plus, big meetings allow agency & client teams valuable face time. Time set aside to roll up sleeves and dig into the details of a project in a way that weekly status calls and Basecamp updates just can't approximate. Still I can't help but lament a missing element in the afore-mentioned paradigm. Namely, collaboration.

As a UX professional I thrive on the collaborative process. The client is the domain expert. That should go without saying. The client has the most acute awareness of the challenge needing a solution. The agency on the other hand knows how to craft experiences, showcase storytelling, leverage market trends and buy media. It only makes sense then, that the creative process capitalize on the synergy of the client/agency dynamic. Two teams aiming leading with their strengths working together for a shared outcome.

In the meeting I mentioned moments ago this bridge between stakeholders and agency became painfully obvious as the design team began presenting the wireframes we'd created for the meeting. I just couldn't shake the feeling that we were missing a level of buy-in. While everyone in the room we're nodding in agreement and conversation remained generally positive, it wanted something more. If only we could facilitate realtime feedback and incorporate it directly into the deliverables so that everyone in the room became a part of the solution. So that everyone felt a level of ownership over the product we're creating. It didn't take long once the meeting was over for me to begin my search for a collaborative wireframing tool.

I know, I know, I'm not the first to lament over the lack of collaboration in the UX process. And truth be told, I probably should have explored these particular solutions before now. But you know what they say recognition of the problem is the first step toward recovery. So the search for a new mousetrap begins.

Below are a few of the standouts I uncovered in my initial search:

HotGloo
Gliffy
MockFlow
Wireframe.cc
UXPin

Each solution has their own advantages of course and I'm still in the process of sharing these product options with our design team (remember, it's all about collaboration). I'd love to receive your feedback as well. If you or your team have successfully implemented a tool and workflow like this please, by all means, share the details. Nothing beats a recommendation form a fellow pro. I'm a marketer so I know the real value of testimonials. And for what it's worth, once my team and I have made a decision on which product or process to use, I'll pass along the update.

Published by Todd Chambers in Creative Process, Marketing, Resources, Uncategorized, Usability, UX

May 5, 2015 — No Comments

UX Audit Update & Resource Sharing

I'm several weeks into a lengthy project for a new client. We're prepping for a big redesign and so we're taking a big step back and looking at where we are and how we got here prior to charting the next leg of the journey. It's a smart approach to a redesign, but sadly not one taken by many brands due to the cost and effort. Seems lots of companies have bought into the idea that movement equals progress, and therefore stopping, if only to gain perspective, is counter productive. If you've visited my site recently you may have stumbled across other updates like this one. I understand that reading through other practitioners list of resources isn't the sexiest kind of content but hopefully you'll find the links and summaries below useful in one of your upcoming projects.

Storyscaping. I picked up this gem recently while doing research on the art and science of storytelling as a marketing strategy. I've not been disappointed. Focused identifying your customer segments, fully realizing your brands unique purpose and organizing and crafting a compelling story, this book is sure to set some board rooms on fire.

Identify and define your core desired consumer segment.
Unlock or define your brand or organization's Purpose.
Understand the emotional desires of your consumer.

Paul Boag is a designer and UX professional hailing from the UK. I always find his perspective fresh and his writing actionable. Here are two recent articles that helped me as I was digging for inspiration and process clarification on web accessibility and site reviews.

And finally I've been digging into some great resources from Colleen Jones. She the Founder and CEO of Content Science and the author of Clout_TheArtAndScienceOfInfluentialWebContent and Does Your Content Work?
If you're interested in optimizing your content and crafting a strategy that resonates with your customers, you need to make sure both books make it to your shortlist.

So, there you go - what are you waiting for - dig in. I hope these resources prove as helpful to you as they have to me.

Published by Todd Chambers in Content, Creative Process, Marketing, Resources, Uncategorized, Usability, UX

April 24, 2015 — No Comments

Finding the Right Heuristic Evaluation Tool

Just minutes ago I completed a very long and tedious heuristic evaluation. Several weeks in hibernation, a couple dozen cups of coffee and more than a few headache powders later and I'm all done. Earlier this evening I actually threw my hands in the air as if I had crossed some imaginary marathon finish line. Nope, not kidding, I really did. Right there at my desk for all to see. Sometimes you've just gotta celebrate.

Recently, a client asked us to help them review their current digital collateral. They needed assistance working through a brand update and website redesign. The project was to include UX evaluations, brand inventories, competitive analysis, site architecture, the whole nine yards. Just my kinda gig. However I realized once I began prepping for the evaluation that I hadn't updated my processes and documentation in a while and I wasn't fully satisfied with them after their last use. So, I was faced with the evergreen question of recycle, refine or retool. After much hand-ringing and more than a few dozen glances at the timeline and milestone documents, I bit the bullet and decided to retool. It was time for a new approach, new processes and while I was at it I might as well see if another format afforded better outcome.

In the past I've used Word documents, Fireworks files, PowerPoint, Excel spreadsheets and other software mash-ups to perform and document my heuristic evaluations. All of them have their place, but each has shown some major drawbacks. I've struggled with retaining control of formatting, operating system tug-o-wars and version control. This time I was looking for something different. I wanted something scalable, something I could easy edit remotely and most importantly it had to be easy for other team members to access and contribute. So, I decided to go with Google docs. And so far, I've been more than pleased with my decision.

First thing I had to do was port over all my heuristics into the new format. Quite frankly, I thought this might be the worst task I'd taken on in a while. I've died the death of a thousand spreadsheet cells in the past, and as I'm sure you're aware, it's a torture like no other. Surprisingly, once I jumped in and begin nudging those columns and color coding the rows, it came together quite nicely, thank you. As a matter of fact I think Google's minimal design esthetic and my penchant for removing cruft work well together. Here's a screen grab of one of the sections.

Screengrab of evaluation

I'm happy to report that we shared the first draft of the audit with the client earlier this week and it was a huge hit. I credit the simple layout and the document's high level of readability (even as a screen grab) for the warm welcome the presentation received.

Now the next test comes into play. I'll route the document this week internally for final contributions from other team members and for the all important proofing stage. Usually my heuristic reports route as flat copies for old school style redlining (for those not in the agency world, that means someone actually taken a red pen to mark up my spelling and grammatical gaffs). I'm guessing that being able to edit the document directly is gonna be a big hit. Fingers officially crossed.

I'll post updates as the project continues. And in the spirit of sharing, if we decide to adopt this process, I'll explore the idea of providing access to a google doc template of the evaluation so those of you searching for a new form of documentation can give it a test drive for your next project. So, stay tuned.

Published by Todd Chambers in Content, Creative Process, Marketing, Usability, UX

November 6, 2014 — No Comments

10POINT Optimization – Make it Usable

I bet you're a lot like me – you've probably visited a truck-ton of websites over the years – and more than likely most of them left little or no lasting impression. Don't worry, it's not your fault, your memory's not failing, most websites just aren't that good. There, I said it. Most websites are lackluster attempts at mediocre marketing. As of this writing there were 1,107,074,500 websites live online. Yep, that's over a billion, and currently the number grows at the rate of about 600 per minute.

Let's face it, these days it takes a great deal of effort to design a website that breaks through the clutter and gets your brand noticed. And, brace for it, it takes even more to satisfy the customer once they've found you. But that's exactly what you're gonna have to do if you want to make it in todays digital marketplace. So let's embrace the challenge and determine to be a cut above the rest. In my last post I introduced the idea of the 10POINT optimization plan. This week we're gonna take a quick look at the first of those 10 points, Usability.

Now let's not kid ourselves, usability is not a single blog post kind of topic. Many folks have spent their entire careers trying to crack this nut. Volumes of books, dissertations, white papers and marketing plans have been devoted to the subject. But while we can't do such a topic justice in short order, burying our heads in the sand in hopes it takes care of itself won't get us very far either. What I'll attempt to do here is to lay some actionable ground work and point you in the right direction for more information so you can approach your own project well armed.

So what is usability? The working definition reads: "The ease of use and learnability of a human-made object." Seems simple enough, right? But what does that really mean when it comes to evaluating your website design? How do you know if your site is usable? Over the course of the last decade I've performed more than my share of usability evaluations. And while many of them took the form of complicated spreadsheets, graphs, charts and PowerPoint decks, what I'm going to recommend here is a bit more direct. If you really want to get a good sense of your sites' state of usability, simply ask yourself these few basic questions:

Is my website easy for my customers to navigate? Can they get where they want to go without frustration?
Do my forms and purchase platforms operate seamlessly?
Am I providing the content my customers need and want in order to make a decision?
Do my customers recommend my site to others?

If you answered 'no', or even 'I'm not sure' to any of the above, then you're probably going to want to invest some more time digging into your site's details. Small things like broken links, dead-end pages, images that do not render, slow page load times and a dozen other seemingly small details easily derail customers from their online journeys. If you've determined that your site needs a little help and want to dig in and make changes, let me share with you a few resources that can help.

Usability Professional Association: Usability in the Real world
Nielsen Norman Group: Usability 101
UserEffect: 25-Point Website Usability Checklist
Design for Usability: Usability Basics

But what do ya' do if you're still not sure how their site's stacks up to their customer's expectations. Maybe you fall into that group. Truth be told I've worked with Fortune 500 CMOs who, if being honest, couldn't adequately answer the above questions. It's just the nature of the beast. Most folks are just too busy or focused on some other aspect of the business to have a real sense of how their website is performing. So, I'm going to offer another simple solution, One that is often overlooked or dismissed as being too costly or time-consuming (neither, by the way need be true). Ask your customers. That's it. Take the time to seek the opinion of those who matter most, the ones you're trying to serve.

Published by Todd Chambers in Creative Process, Marketing, Uncategorized, Usability, UX