All posts by Jennifer Blatz

Education, Uncategorized

Cal State Fullerton first class

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I enjoyed the first day of my first California State Fullerton Class: User-Centered Design for Web and Mobile Interfaces. Today, we learned about examining the goals of the customer and the business. In this class, we discussed four facets  of the goals for the customer and the business:

  • Purpose (Why) The reason for existence
  • Goal (What) What you want to accomplish
  • Mechanism (How) How to reach the goal
  • Metric (When/Where) Define what the accomplishment looks like

After brainstorming these possibilities, for both the customer and the business, then the UX designer can better determine a stronger justicification for creating the website or app.

After discussing the goals, we then worked on the taxonomy of the site. We brainstormed topics that could be on the website. In the class, the business we used was a small gym with five locations. We explored the topics that might be included on  the website.

IA Information Architecture for Cal State Fullerton class
IA Information Architecture for Cal State Fullerton class: User-Centered Design for Web and Mobile Interfaces.

 

Education, Uncategorized

d.modes from d.school

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Learned about this little process on “Design Thinking” on MOOC today.

  • Empathize
  • Define
  • Ideate
  • Protoype
  • Test
d.modes from d.school Empathize Define Ideate Protoype Test
d.modes from d.school: Empathize Define Ideate Protoype Test

This is one of many design process models, called the d.modes from the D.school in Stanford. It consists of five different modes

Empathize, the first mode, is about understanding people. It is the foundation of the entire design thinking process. You should try to understand and „feel“ the needs, hopes, aspirations of users, experts and stakeholders. Your thinking mode should be that of an psychologist.

Define is the second mode. Often overlooked, it makes sure the problem is understood by everybody in the team. Structure and analyze the data collected in the first phase, cluster your findings and map patterns. You focus on crafting the right questions and define what point of view you will take. Your thinking mode is that of an analyst.

The next step is called ideation. Starting from the focused position of define, it is about collecting many ideas, deliberately without judging. It allows you as a team to go beyond the obvious solutions by combining individual skills. It is about sharing stories about what could be. Think of yourself as an explorer. Des

The mode prototype is about creating a first impression. It derives from the greek protos = first and typos = impression. You can build a prototype for anything out of everything. By crafting something with your hands your brain switches into a different mode. Your thinking mode is that of a craftsman.

Test is the last mode. Get your prototypes into the real world, engage people to interact with it. Ask them and observe their behavior. Figure out what is not yet good about it and what could be improved. Your thinking mode is that of a critic.

Uncategorized

Design in one word?

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I am now watching week 2 of Design Thinking on MOOC viewable on iversity.org. One of the interviewees said something very intruiging:

  • Question: What is Design in ONE word?
  • Answer: Freedom.

Now this is a very interesting answer isn’t it?

Design is so complex, and so difficult to define with just one word. Some might say design is “art” or “creativity.”  Others might say it is “communication” or “planning.” But to think of Design in terms of Freedom is a very interesting approach indeed. There’s some food for thought.

Design thinking week two on MOOC through iversity.org
Design thinking week two on MOOC through iversity.org.
Uncategorized

Osborn’s Checklist, also known as “SCAMPER”

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A friend introduced me to a new (to me) brainstorming concept.  Alex Osborn, developed a brainstorming tecnique abbreviated as SCAMPER:

  • Substitute
  • Combine
  • Adapt
  • Magnify
  • Put to other use
  • Eliminate and
  • Rearrange

You can download the Manual Thinking Template to start this brainstorming exercise. Below is a visual example of the brainstorming session in use.

map-osborn-02

Education

Design theory on MOOC

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I just started the online course titled “Design Thinking MOOC” and so far it’s pretty interesting. I love new courses that challenge my every-day thinking and teach me something new.

In Chapter 4 , Week 1 of “Design Thinking,” I was introduced to the Trajectory of Artificiality Theory by Krippendorff. Here is the theory illustrated below:

Trajectory of Artificiality chart
The “Trajectory of Artificiality” by Krippendorff as presented via Design Thinking MOOC on Iversity.com
UX Deliverables and Assets

Competitive analysis is a valuable tool

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I recently took it upon myself to compare three online movie ticket purchasing websites: Fandango*, movietickets.com and Arclight Cinemas. By comparing the features, design, content and user flow of similar websites, one can gain invaluable knowledge about their own sites.

When you compare your website to what a competitive website is doing, you will learn:

  • What your website or experience is doing right
  • What your website or experience is doing wrong
  • What your competitors are doing right
  • What your competitors are doing wrong

This is a great jumping off point in improving your own website or experience.

This graphic only shows some some of the insights I discovered when comparing websites. My brief overview is below:

Comparative Analysis for movie sites as a User Experience learning tool and step in the process
Comparative Analysis is a valuable process for getting your website up to par. See what other websites are getting right and wrong, and you can modify your own website accordingly.
* At the time of publishing this post, Fandango had not yet released its redesigned website and mobile app. Therefore many of the specific features I discuss here will no longer be applicable. However, going this process was still a great learning tool.
UX Deliverables and Assets

Comparative Analysis: Fandango

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I know that Fandango will be launching a redesign very soon, so the shelf life of my analysis is ver limited. Still, I would like to share with you a few things I learned when analyzing Fandango.com website on the desktop:

  • If something looks like a button, then it should be a button.  The “Find Movie Times + Buy Tickets” looks like a button, but is not. Best not to confuse the user.
  • Movie posters can be too small and sometimes difficult to read the title. Maybe use a simpler image to illustrate film?  And therefore help me read the title of the film.
  • Use the user’s language, according to Jakob Nielsen’s “10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design.” On the Fandango site: Features> I thought that meant Feature films. This language could be confusing to some users. It was to me.

  • Fandango Comparative Analysis
    Fandango Comparative Analysis

 

UX Deliverables and Assets

Comparative analysis: movietickets.com

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When analyzing the movie tickets.com website on the computer/desktop, I discovered a few key points:

  • Highlight theaters where I can buy the tickets from, not just all of them
  • Make the CTA (Call to Action) button clear. I want to buy movie tickets. Make it easy for me. Just like Steve Krug’s book “Don’t Make Me Think.”
  • I found this to be a particular pain point: there is a long list of theaters with no address or map. How do I know how far away the theaters are?
    movie tickets.com Comparative Analysis of the computer/desktop version
    movie tickets.com Comparative Analysis of the computer/desktop version.

     

 

UX Deliverables and Assets

Comparative analysis: Arclight Cinemas

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Some take-aways I discovered when looking at the arclight.com website on the desktop:

  • After a failed search,  provided closest options rather than saying “no results found”
  • Indicate where I am in the buying process, Like Jakob Neilsen’s Heuristics: Visibility of system status
  • When I get an error message in a purchase, indicate what fields are required by an asterisk so I know I which fields I must fill out

    Arclight.com Comparative Analysis for desktop (computer) website.
    Arclight.com Comparative Analysis for desktop (computer) website.
Education

Text book number 2: The Web Designer’s Roadmap

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Well it’s official. I now have both text books for my “User Experience and Customer-Centered Design” certification class. I guess I’d better get off the computer and start reading my books for the course. The course lasts only three weeks, so I need to start reading ahead of time if I want to be on schedule.

The Web Designer's Roadmap
This is the second book for my CalState Fullerton course “User-Centered Design for Web and Mobile Interfaces.”
Education

My First class textbook: ‘Mobile First’ by Luke Wroblewski

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I received the first text book in the mail today for my first class at CalState Fullerton’s “User Experience and Customer-Centered Design” certificate program. I start my class in a couple of weeks, and I am very excited to be  learning a new topic. What is my first class?  User-Centered Design for Web and Mobile Interfaces.

Mobile First
‘Mobile First’ is my first text book for the CalState Fullerton User Experience certificate program I am enrolled in.
Uncategorized

Internet of things at Tech job fair

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I participated in the workshop “Physical, Digital, Human: Designing Experiences for Mobile and the Internet of Things” taught by Steven Hoober.  It was a mixture of instruction about technology and how it is creeping in to other devices in our lives. With technologies like Nest and Smart Watches, we are accessing the internet and using technology in more and more ways. In between lectures, we broke in to smaller groups and brainstormed a concept or two about our project: integrating all house-hold devices that control some aspect in our house, like turning off the lights or adjusting the temperature. We wanted to create a central location for all of these apps to make the experience more delightful.

Jennifer Blatz career information architecture
We organized our Post-It notes in to similar groups or categories to narrow the focus
Uncategorized

UXPALA event: Demystified

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Demystifying the UX Team

On Wednesday, April 2, 2014 I attended the UXPALA  event  “Demystifying the UX Team: Who are the players?” which was the first event held by our organization this calendar year.

Did I mention that I am a Chair of Strategic Projects for UXPALA? Yes I certainly am! That means I assist with the organizations newly established website and email newsletter. I’ll post more about our organization soon.

So of now, here’s a summary of last night’s event:

Demystifying the UX Team: Who are the players?

Almost every company, be it a UX/UI firm or any industry that has a UX team – all seem to have different team structures and working methods.

UX/UI/Usability is a relatively new field, so we’re getting 5 UX Directors and Managers together from various companies to form a panel and answer UXPALA’s questions and yours.

Want  to attend future events like this? Keep an eye on our Meetup page for more to come. http://www.meetup.com/UXPALA/

UXPALA panelist
One of the panelists from Huge Inc. talks about working for the agency in the UX field.
UX Deliverables and Assets

‘Healthy’ topic assigned, now get to work

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The day after WIAD (World Information Architecture Day) I participated in another day-long User Experience event. This time, I was not a passive observer who had organized the event. I was a hands-on, jump-all-in User Experience designer.

We were assigned the timely topic of Healthcare, so we chose to redesign the Covered California website.  We did not feel that there was a clear call to action, so we wanted to simplify the interaction of the website a bit.

We were very tight on time, so we banged through a lot of brainstorming sessions, mind mapping and creative flow to narrow down the scope of the project.  Just before the deadline, the team created a few valuable assets for our 3-minute presentation. Some are shown below:

Information Architecture

UX-health-board

User Flow

UX-health-userflow

Redesigned Homepage

Interrobang UX Hackathon 2-14

UX Hackathon was an exciting experience and I learned a lot about working in teams, working under very tight deadlines, lean UX and creating deliverables in less than a day.

Uncategorized

WIAD (World Information Architecture Day) participation was great

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About a month ago, I had the privilege to not only participate, but also help organize a global conference on a local level. It was an invaluable learning experience for me. I made new contacts, gained new skills and helped produce an event that would best be described as a success.

Takeaways:

  • Weekly meetings keep the group on track.
  • Always communicate with the group so everyone is on the same page.
  • If you think you are planning early enough, you probably are not. Work ahead of schedule.
  • Holidays and time off make keeping things moving difficult.
  • Anticipate problem and plan for them in advance.
  • Secure the venue ASAP because so many other factors are determined by booking the venue.
Work groups at WIAD
Organizing an event like WIAD taught me the value of collaboration and team work.

 

 

Uncategorized

WIAD: World Information Architecture Day

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World IA Day is about bringing the information architecture community together. Los Angeles was selected to participate in this global event that took place in 24 cities, 15 countries, spanning 6 continents. Our local event hosted over 170 attendees, and there were nearly 3,000 participants globally, all one the same day!

My role as Project Manager is the overall responsibility for the successful planning, execution, monitoring, control and organizing teams and over 30 volunteers, participating in the development of this conference. http://worldiaday.org.

As the part of Project Manager for WIAD, I organized the Los Angeles chapter of the world-wide event
As the part of Project Manager for WIAD, I organized the Los Angeles chapter of the world-wide event. Groups post notes as part of a brainstorming session.