User Experience

Persuasive User Experience

Posted by Brian

This was my undergrad technical communication capstone project. Since I had an interest in both user experience and persuasive technology, I proposed writing a white paper explaining the methodology behind some of the techniques that could be used to enable website owners and administrators to establish credibility, build trust, and influence user behavior.

The paper would also introduce a specific type of consulting service, which would be a comprehensive heuristic evaluation designed to analyze a website’s user experience and determine how that site might best meet its persuasive goals.

The result was The Persuasive User Experience: Design and content strategies that establish credibility, build trust, and influence user behavior.

Course: Documentation Development and Completion

Project PDF: The Persuasive User Experience White Paper

Usability Test Report

Posted by Brian

This report describes the purpose, objectives, and methodology of a usability test of Google Translate. Participant profiles and details of test procedures and tasks are included. Task performance and survey data are presented and discussed, and recommendations for improvement are proposed and rated for severity. Copies of the test script and participant satisfaction questionnaire are included in the appendices.

The project requirement was to plan, create, and run a usability test of three users based on a product or service of my choice and approved by the instructor. In addition to the usability test, the project needed to include details about the issues and their severity, as well as recommended improvements.

Course: Usability and User Experience

Project PDF: Usability Test Report for Google Translate

Garrett’s UX Planes

Posted by Brian

In his book The Elements of User Experience, Jesse James Garrett provides a conceptual framework for user experience design that encompasses five planes:

  • Surface (images and text the user sees)
  • Skeleton (placement of elements)
  • Structure (interaction design and information architecture)
  • Scope (range of content and features)
  • Strategy (organizational goals and user needs)

There are dependencies between these five planes, and these dependencies impact design choices.

I’ve always liked Garrett’s framework. I think he captures the essential components of UX, and organizes them into a visual structure that can be used to drive the design process. Easily understandable frameworks are always helpful.

There is a wide range of heuristics, methods, and techniques that can be applied to the design process within any given plane of Garrett’s model. But his framework allows practitioners who may have different specialties (graphic design, content production, marketing, IA, etc.) to develop a shared understanding of the overall process and an appreciation for the interdependencies of their work.

I also enjoyed Garrett’s discussion of different architectural approaches to structuring content. I thought he made some important points about the distinctions between top-down and bottom-up architectures. He explained that top-down approaches are driven by strategic concerns, and can sometimes gloss over important content features. Bottom-up approaches, on the other hand, are tailored to site functionality or content, but can make it difficult to accommodate future changes.