The Users Experience Gets a Makeover

To all who've dropped by and clicked through TUX (The Users Experience) I just wanted to say Thanks. There is so much to do within the field of UX and I really want to make sure that I continue to evolve and grow within it. So, I've upgraded the Blog a bit with a newer skin. I may keep this post to continue personal jots about UX, or run test to see how measure analytics between the two. Either way, this has really raised my interest in digital marketing and branding. The world of UX is vast and there are more than enough problems for us to help solve. Feel free to Come by the new virtual residence here http://theusersexperience.com

Cheers,
Doc Wheeler, owner of TUX (The Users Experience)

Is your user faking it?

When it comes to creating wireframes in the initial phase of most projects, the level of effort is pretty simple. Sketch a line here, place a box or button there, drop in some lorem ipsum and your done. As your project progresses, your the level of detail and fidelity should follow suit. As a result, a functional wire is conceived to personify the scenarios initially framed within the components of the requirements.

But, who provides the content or data? Where does the content come from? Gathering the assets for such an endeavor can be a pain. Lorem Ipsum can only take you so far with detailing the users experience. Last, testing with real data can be dangerous.

Allow me to introduce a resource that has been a big help in creating content needed for such testing. It's called Fake Name Generator.

Here are a few examples of how the Fake Name Generator can be used for user experience purposes:

• Quality test data can be hard to come by, especially with laws (such as HIPAA) preventing use of real data. 
• Get ideas for names to use for personas.
• Generated credit cards can be used to test basic client-/server-side validation techniques without accidently processing a real card.
• Generated national identity numbers can be used to test basic client-/server-side validation techniques without risking disclosure of real information.
• Generated test emails can be sent to fake names to test confirmations and email deliveries

The great thing about this tool is that there is no need to create an account. It's a proven "thumbs up" for me when using it for e-commerce or member centric data intense prototypes. They also have other freemium tools like the Smiley Generator used to create your own unique smiley by picking a head, eyes, and a mouth.

iPhone meet myPhone Some day

Google's Modular Phone Platform, Project Ara a.k.a. Phonebloks, Makes Progress

The smartphone is one of the most empowering and intimate objects in our lives. Yet most of us have little say in how the device is made, what it does, and how it looks. And 5 billion of us don't have one. What if you could make thoughtful choices about exactly what your phone does, and use it as a creative canvas to tell your own story?- Project Ara

It's Google's ambitious plan for modular smartphones that have interchangeable pieces. The idea is to create phones whose individual components, like the processor, display, or camera, can be swapped out individually so users have more ways to customize their devices at a lower cost.

Moreover, Google created this platform to give users the ability to interchange modules and completely customize the look and enhance the functionality of their device.

Here's Phonebloks ... explained Thanks Marques Brownlee

Though Google showed off a prototype that was technically functional at I/O back in June, it froze moments after booting and its design was far bulkier than the sleek designs Google had previously teased.

Google promises the next prototype, Spiral 2, will be even better thanks to new custom chips from Toshiba. Google will unveil the prototype at its next Project Ara developer conference in January.

Imagine the possibilities of customizing your own device. With good intentions this device will be able to solve or accommodate the users needs. Imagine this concept applied to tablets as well. Moreover, one may also be able chose the operating system the device runs on... not; but one can dream. :)

Resources:

Project Ara - http://www.projectara.com/
Mashable - http://mashable.com/2014/10/30/new-project-ara-prototype-works/
Wired - http://www.wired.com/2014/10/day-with-project-ara/?mbid=social_twitter#slide-id-1616277

The Users Experience reaches 1500+ visitors

To some this post will seem like "So what!" you got 1500 views, big deal. But for me, it's a huge mini-milestone. I don't have a long drawn out story. There's no twisted plot to cause an emotional stir. It's just a "note to self" and to the "1500+" visitors out there that you can do it!

My goal was to write continuously to help strengthen the communication efforts in UX related projects. Telling a "clear" story in seconds rather than minutes was the goal. However, with Fragmented and run-on sentences being the major pitfalls, getting motivated to write has been disastrous. But, with any major hurdle in life you can either go under or eventually get over it and keep it moving. This is the mantra of my life now.

There's soooo many resources online, to help with writing and technique. But I'll list a few that's helped me. 

20 Ways to Improve your Small Business Writing Skills
Thanks AWeber

A quick list to keep me focused during the writing process

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Writing for the Web
FREE Course from our friends at Open2Study.com (currently taking this in tandem with the UX course)

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Docstoc has tons of great resources on writing - try not to get lost.

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Last, Udemy.com has a few great FREE courses that rocks.

Thanks to all who've visited. I hope to bring value to the User Experience Craft.
- Doc Wheeler

UX and a Tampon Video Game

Image credit: Tampon Run

This is a little unusual to feature here on The Users Experience, but when it comes to finding unique ways to educate people about "normal" subjects, like ...Menstruation, these two teenage girls from New York have invented a dynamic approach. Andrea Gonzales and Sophie Houser, high school students in NYC, met this summer at Girls Who Code (@ IAC), an organization trying to close the gender gap in tech, and developed this as their final project. Their game Tampon Run brings awareness to

"a problem in Western countries and around the world. People don’t want to talk about periods. In other countries, women have to isolate themselves.”

The Intro to Tampon Run's reveals the scenario to a common issue in which the girls highly related to [see below]. The simplistic, yet effective, approach the girls took to provide a solution should spark UX professionals to push the boundaries in fundamentally innovating our craft. 

This unusual video game challenges social norms through gamification ultimately bringing awareness and education to subjects deemed unpopular to the masses. The game has been played more than 100,000 times online and has received droves of positive feedback. The motivation and execution behind Tampon Run can be widely adapted to spark dialogue on topics such as racism, sexism and other societal taboos we tend to shy away from. This game is personally significant to me because I am also a dad of a lovely teenage girl who just "transitioned." Playing this game together would have made our "talk" much easier. Explaining it to her younger brothers will be a much harder challenge. [smile]

Well without further ado lets the games begin. Play Tampon Run Here.

One Solution to Bike Theft

Sooooo, many of my colleagues bike to work and so did I in my earlier days, sans wife and kids. The biggest problem I hear is theft. The pain of having anything stolen is annoying in itself. But when your sole mode of transportation vanishes due to the coveting nature of your fellow man, or woman (let's be fair ) it causes utter discomfort and is just downright inconvenient. From purchasing expensive locks to the quasi-disassembly of the frame. My poor co-workers have been forced to add a bike seat or front/back tire to their corporate attire. Well, in this post The Users Experience wanted to share a product currently in development with the avid biker in mind. 

Introducing the Yerka Project  developed by 3 chilean students,  Juan José Monsalve, a student at Adolfo Ibáñez University in Chile, who designed the bike along with fellow students Andrés Roi and Cristóbal Cabello. It's a bicycle that can´t be stolen without breaking the frame.

The key aspects of the project involved:

• Safety 

Every lock can be broken leaving the bike intact. That’s why we decided to make a lock out of the frame. The only way to steal it is to break the lock, which implies breaking the bike.

• Design

Unlike any other solution to this problem, like foldable or rental bikes, the YERKA® technology maintains the slick design of an urban bike and it’s applicable to any frame shape. It sure looks like a traditional bike to the naked eye, but it’s the safest bicycle you’ll find!

• Comfort

We know you're tired of carrying the lock everywhere you go. With a bike with YERKA® tech you won’t have to anymore.Securing it takes less than 20 seconds, equivalent to tie your shoelace.

Some of the feedback shared on Fast Company Exist

The bike in the opening picture CAN be stolen when some uncaring thief saws through that tree and just lifts off the bike. I've seen many stumps of trees/saplings cut through because of ignorant bike owners. Please, save your bike, and save a tree. Don't lock to tree's at all!

Also, check so that the parking meter your wrapped around isn't short, or can twist out of the ground.

Free UX Course

Free UX Courses

Hi fellow colleagues, I wanted to share yet another resource surrounding UX. Open2Study.com offers a few.

User Experience for the Web (WebUX): FREE

In this course:

Amir Ansari, principle consultant at Stamford Interactive will talk about 

• user experience for the web
• what user experience is, where it's come from and where it's going
• the importance of user needs and balancing it with the business needs
• techniques, tools and tips that will help you build engaging user experiences for your website.

The Users Experience also recommends the course - Writing for the Web in addition to this course also provided on Open2Study.com

How Google Works

A look in How Google Works

I was first exposed to this word [Google] in fifth grade, Thanks Mr. Holstein. I could never imagine how this word would be integrated into my lifestyle. Whether work or play I've used a google product to complete a daily task, specifically in my "responsible" adult years. In it's beginnings, I have to say I wasn't a fan of Google anything. There are still some things I still don't "agree" with in my experience with their products,  (look on a post regarding the user experience of google products coming soon.) But, would I've noticed is that they are great adapters and they learn quick. They offer products to consumers to play with and build accordingly. So most times than often they build products with me, the user, in mind.

As UXA I appreciate the level of effort brought forth in openly fashioning the journey of questioning big business overall and most importantly their existence within. This abstract provides great incentive and insight on the process of user research and ux strategy. The book, I'm sure, goes much more in depth, but as a teaser this sparks the conversation of how other mammoth corporation will pivot there business models in this everchanging information age. But, enough of my thoughts check it out yourselves.

In this post TheUsersexperience shares this visual preview of How Google Works.

How Google Works from Eric Schmidt

You can pick up a copy of How Google Works here or www.howgoogleworks.net

Free Human Centered Design Course

Design Kit: The Course for Human-Centered Design (FREE)

G'day All in the UX world and beyond. Today I bring you info about another great resource from the people at +Acumen and IDEO.

Human-Centered Design for Social Innovation from IDEO.org on Vimeo.
Interested in learning more about the human-centered design process? IDEO.org is proud to announce Human-Centered Design for Social Innovation, a seven-week course that we've created in conjunction with Acumen. This free course will get you started using the human-centered design process to create innovative, effective, and sustainable solutions for social change in your community. Register at http://bit.ly/1fPOkId.

Sign up for the Human-Centerd Design for Social Innovation Course via +Acumen's site.

Thanks to Lisa Moran of Project Osmosis for sharing this with me. Support Project Osmosis here in Chicago. The Project Osmosis Philosophy is beautifully expressed is 3 words: dreams, self expression, and community. Dreams can come true. Self expression matters. The community benefits from creativity. The result is a generation of minority youth who believe in if “I can create, I can improve.” Please support this Awesome group.

UX guide on Process and Documentation: free ebook by UXPin

Hey there everybody Doc Wheeler here with a short Post today. Just wanted to share another great link from the people over at UXPin [see previous post ]. As you know I'm a big fan of documenting the process. Many UX blogs, mags, and publications often theorize and fashion discussions with no grandeur to "the story." Well, I hope to change this culture by featuring a more behind the scenes approach to how an intended result was brought to fruition. So onto the goods. 

What better way to segue into most recent FREE ebook. 

The Guide to UX Design Process & Documentation

• • real-life examples of 25+ documents across 7 product stages
• • advice on utilizing deliverables in lean and agile environments in large and small companies
• • experts' take on the strengths, weaknesses, and ways to think about each design stage and related deliverables

So How do I get The Guide to UX Design Process and Documentation?

They request an email and you're good. So far I haven't received any spammy messages from them so that's a plus.

Here's a complete list of all of UXPin's ebooks here.

Enjoy and share your thoughts about any of the material you've read at "The Users Experience." ... where the user is also you.

User Experience Tools - A look at UXPin

Hey there fellow UX compadres, wanted to feature a great resource I've found to be quite useful in my user experience journey.  UXPin as a software, blog and epub has been quite a valid go to source. The online app, is quick and very easy to use and packs a lot power. In using UXPin I've been able to design prototypes faster, discuss design concepts easier, collaborate and iterate with teammates efficiently-er ( I know... more effiently). None the less, overall it's a great tool to transform roughs into refines, when the client can't quite visualize process, click throughs, and flows.


UXPin Blog
Topics in their blogs are pretty spot on and full of meat. As I grow in my UX profession I'm more prone to be engaged with all things "how-to". Process is very important in our profession. User Experience is about telling the story, clearly. Being concise in the ux narrative is the sweet spot of a great experience. Most of the post I've had to pleasure to read involved tons of process and step-by-step guides. The information about user experience and tutorials are top notch for the newbie to the snooty (let's be honest we can be "know it alls" sometimes)

The feature I like most is the collaboration feature:




This video shows both the collaboration setup and feedback and notifications:

  

UXPin Highlights:

• Create Clickable Prototypes & WireframesUse a simple drag and drop feature to include a variety of UI elements on your wireframe. 
• Collaborate in Real TimeWork with your peers or clients in real time, by using Google Docs-like features. You can show and share your entire design process with teammates or clients.
• Access From AnywhereYour project lives in the cloud, with unlimited storage space. So you'll have instant access to your project from any computer!
• Includes TemplatesYou won't need to start completely from scratch. Grab and modify one of the included templates such as Business Model Canvas, Project Canvas, Personas, and Project Kick Off
• Total FeedbackWith the very interactive toolkit, you can easily receive comments, reviews, and loads of other feedback. 
• Version ControlCreate multiple iterations with UXPin, so you'll have full control of every version of your wireframes, prototypes, and other documents. You can recover a previous version at any time.
• Turn Paper Sketches Into Workable PrototypesUse the UXPin notepad to take a scan of your paper prototype and convert it into a digital wireframe.

Look for more of my user experience with this tool and check out there social presence on Facebook + Linkedin

Are Products and Services really designed for their Users?

O.k. So I've been on a rant about one of my favorite tools used to help architect how "you," the user, will experience and interact with a product or service. However, with most things in life the intended target is at most not the target at all. So, I'm asking you for feedback regarding likes and dislikes of your experiences with common every products and services used regularly. In other words,

• what would you change about a particular product/service?
• what feature about this product/service gives you an unexpected or unwanted result
• what do you expect this product/service to do
• what product/service you wish could be developed to satisfy a common issue 
• what product/service provides the best service

Example:

O.k. Doc Wheeler, why don't you start us off. O.k.! Well since my wife says I spend lots of time on Facebook I found an article about how a UXA restructured the Facebook experience and got rave reviews. Good Job Mate! ... he's from Australia [I digress.]

My Feature Request: Extended Care Warranties on Electronics

I'd like to change the return/repair policies, better yet the procedure they have set in place to return items back to the stores for repair. Christmas season is around the corner and I buy lots of my electronics during that time. Last year I bought my 7 year old daughter a tablet, nothing fancy or over the top. With normal wear and tear of a 7-year old, with siblings, the power button got stuck and wouldn't power on. I was confident in just taking it back to the retailer and showing them my extended care warranty. They quickly side-stepped my request with "Sorry, you have to check with the original vendor first, your extended care starts when theirs end." Needless to say, I expect to have it all taken care of within the same flow as when I bought it... at the vendor's location.

I also have issues with Gmail, but it's been injected and endorsed "FREEly" into our lifestyle, that we've learned to adapt to it instead of the opposite.

So what products and services get on your nerves (disrupts your experience) . As a UXA, we hope to provide both insight and possible amicable solutions.

New Features in Axure RP 7.5/8.0

As a UXA (user experience architect), using the right tools for the job is key. Axure is one that is a main staple in my UX diet. Yes I sketch ... by hand mind you, but when it comes to presenting concepts to business owners, stake holders and those with three letter acronyms for titles; adding a bit of polish to rough comps bobbles their heads in more of a vertical motion when it comes to the "buy in". I say all this, to give kudos to Axure in helping produce the bodies of work that provides solutions to better experiences amongst the vast products we use. But sometimes the tools used in detailing solutions may also need a bit of UX treatment. Therefore, I'm lobbying for a few new [or updated] features to hopefully be released in Axure's 7.5 or 8 (wink wink). Combing LinkedIn and Axure's User Forum's here are just a few of them.

LinkedIn responses [See the post here: ]

I would love to be able to link an Axure file to a spreadsheet or database to generate more realistic prototypes for data heavy sites. 
Combined with the repeater widget it would enable much better prototypes for user testing.

I would like it to generate more usable HTML code. After creating a prototype, I shared the URL with the developers and got this request from their manager.

I'd like to be able to drag and drop layers/folders from one file to another or within the same file, similar to Photoshop/Illustrator.  

Incorporating a system that would allow users to incorporate a shared library of elements would be great also. Similar to CSS. Maybe there are techniques out there that do it well, but when working within shared projects some elements are "global" across all projects. When changes are made to logos or the like it's hard to maintain consistency across the board when the team is trying to stay on one accord.

The ability to generate directly to a Pdf format.

A tablet version so I can make update or drop annotations while commuting. 

The ability to update widgets styles or functionality that have been dropped on the canvas. 

Dummy android and iOs shells to drop in. It's nice having adaptive but we still have to see the shell.  

MUCH better support for prototyping on Mobile devices. Prototyping for android phones is just a nightmare 2. Simple out-of-the-box interactive graphs. 3. OnOverlap 

Modal or popup solution based on project style 

Putting all the adaptive flows together rather than having them right a base page then Landscape page. Collating all Landscape as the 2nd half of the document would make the document flow in a concise format. 

When checking in and out pages on a shared project, a cancel button would be awesome.

More to come. I hope Axure is listening.

-Doc

Axure Shared Projects

Axure Shared Project Feature: Share and Share Alike

Axure is one of many ux tools used by user experience designers today. One of many features that sets Axure apart from it cohorts is the "shared project feature. Doc, a UXA, and owner of docwheeler.net, has investigated this feature to aggregate and create a seamless voice in the tone of what his team delivers to Business owners at IRLabs in Chicago. He explains his experience in detail here: "The idea is spot on, however, the implementation is a bit clunky. As a user, I'd love to experience an unobtrusive flow in both the set-up and sharing of projects. My gripes are (currently) are:

1. You have to set up an SVN account through a third party vendor
2. When getting a shared project, you have to know the complete path, meaning the svn path + the project name, instead a user should be able to get the file from the directory 
3. There are small quirks within the check-in process ... I've encountered a few problems with check-in when importing pages from a stand-alone .rp file and incorporating it into a master file. Seems like the files imported are tied to it's original structure and dependencies, so if a user rearranges page flows and tries to check-in the pages it will give you an error. The work-around I found to work was to "Send all changes to the project" and then check-in the pages. 

There are a few others, but having only worked with this feature for a few months, I'm sure with time I'll be victorious in my pursuit to get things done as needed within Axure.

Axure 8.0 or 7.5

I'm not really sure if an upgrade is in the works, I sure hope to God there will be. If so I'm hoping for a new shared-projects experience. Possibly, Axure will create another facet of their business model that supplies a sub-versioning feature that companies can buy into. Lastly, their commenting and community feature is also behind the times. UXPin and Invisionapp have a better implementation of how it should be done in my opinion.

Here are some links to a few pages I've found helpful in getting my groups shared-project feature set up.

Axure
Axure video detailing the shared project feature

Collaborating With Your Team  Using Team Projects


Sharing Axure files via Beanstalk


If you have any likes and or gripes about the shared-project feature in Axure feel free to comment