UX Team of One Panel (Unedited Notes from Presentation)

These are the unedited notes I took during the SXSW panel. Sub-lists aren’t indented so I’ll need to come back and format later. No guarantee I’ll actually do that so hopefully she’ll publish her presentation.

  • Put away the computer
  • Start with a six-up template:
    • A piece of paper with six thumbnail boxes
    • Designers tend to come up with only 1 or 2 ideas at first
      Usually influenced by tools and recent designs
    • Six-up template forces you past that wall
    • Don’t limit yourself to six
  • Conceptual frameworks:
    • Spectrums: explore 1-dimension of project
      Ex: Experience Level: Beginner to Expert

      • First timer: how-to guide
      • Intermediate: Choose template, step-by-step process
      • Expert: DB stuff with past evites, invitees, etc. (control panel)
  • 2×2: spectrum on top of a spectrum
    • First-Timer/Expert plotted against Manual/Automatic
      • Quadrant A: First-Timer/Automatic
      • Quadrant B: First-Timer/Manual
      • Quadrant C: Expert/Automatic
      • Quadrant D: Expert/Manual
  • Grids: plotting all the spectrums across x/y axis
  • Word Association:
    • accordian, auto-complete, bookshelf, breadcrumbs, carousel, cart, collapsible, comments, comparison, configurator, …, icons, …, modules, …
  • Inspiration Library:
    • Use screengrab tool for Firefox to grab screenshots of things that are interesting.
    • Use iPhoto to catalog them
  • Assemble an ad-hoc team:
    • Make sketchboards
      • Post sketches by group to a large board (like a mood board!)
        • Ex: requirements, home page, create invitiation, re-visit invitation
    • Run template-based workshops
      • Design the box: front, back
      • Concept Sheet: title, draw a picture, …
      • Design the experience: title, …

Decorate your space with your project sketches and materials while you are working on it (not after). Invite people into the process.

When someone starts describing something to you, give them a pen. Ask them to draw it out.

  • Have a black-hat sessions:
    • Get everybody together for a fixed period of time and play a game where everybody has to take a turn being a villian and they have to go through and point out every possible objection they could possibly have. Gets people who won’t shut up about their concerns and let them feel heard. Takes people who were too afraid to give you their criticisms and gets them to open up and voice their concerns.

Get rid of the idea of a genius designer (d’oh!)

  • Use design principles (5-7 pithy statements about the essence of the experience):
    • Tivo Ex:
      • It’s entertainment stupid.
      • It’s TV, stupid.
      • It’s video, damnit.
      • Everything is smooth and gentle.
      • No modality at deep heirarchy.
      • Respect the viewers privacy.
      • It’s a robust appliance, like a TV.
    • Google Calendar Ex:
      • Fast, visually appealing, and joyous to use.
      • Drop dead simple to get information

Quiddity (great Scrabble word): a statement of what you want the essence of the experience to be. You will not create a great experience unless you define what the quiddity is.

  • Evite was the case study used for the session:
    • Three step process:
      • Choose design from the design gallery
      • Add recipients
      • Send evite
    • How would you improve this process?
Posted on March 15th, 2009
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