What is a GOOD alternative to the ubiquitous hamburger menu? Ahh… It’s difficult to find a mobile site that doesn’t use it.
By alternative to the hamburger menu, I don’t mean what icon is a good replacement.
Continue reading “An Alternative to the Hamburger Menu?”There is a customer journey mapping detail that no one seems to freely share… How in the world do you get the data from hundreds of sticky notes into an editable, digital document?
Here’s how I did it.
Continue reading “Digitizing the Output of a Customer Journey Map Workshop”Whenever you go to a baseball stadium or other sports arena, do you ever complain because the seats are broken up into sections?
Sections make it easier and faster to find your seats. Imagine having to carry your hot dog and beer past 400 people who are already sitting in their seats.
Continue reading “UX Word of the Day: Chunking”To uncover deeper and more nuanced customer insights, one of my go-to research methods is the diary study.
When conducting a usability study, phone interview, or online survey, I can only capture a specific point in time in the participant’s life.
Alternatively, a diary study captures a richer view into what a customer is thinking and doing in the moment (or at least close to the moment) over several days or weeks.
Continue reading “The Pros + Cons of Using Google Docs for Diary Studies”When a crowd forms around a street performer, you become immediately curious, too. You slow down. You stand on your tip-toes to see over people’s heads.
To get someone to be curious online—to scroll or to click—you have to first catch their attention.
Continue reading “UX Word of the Day: Information Scent”I see the question “How do you find usability participants?” a lot on Quora and Slack.
The simple truth is, there is no secret place to find participants. But, there are many places to find willing volunteers.
Continue reading “How I Find UX Research Participants”People only see what they’re looking for.
Unless it’s car keys.
Or my eyeglasses.
Getting people to see what’s right in front of their face is a universal problem. Both metaphorically and, in the case of websites, quite literally.
Continue reading “UX Word of the Day: Banner Blindness”Having a baby changed everything about the way I conduct usability studies.
In the first 6 weeks after returning to work from my second maternity leave, I conducted 4 concurrent usability studies. Four sets of everything: Four sets of participants to recruit. Four sets of test materials. Four sets of client stakeholders.
Before that, I had usability documents here, usability files over there. I didn’t have a system and I was needlessly recreating test materials from scratch each time. It was terribly inefficient. And I was stresssssed.
No more. It was time to get serious.
Continue reading “Usability in a Box (My Usability Toolkit)”You are here.
If you’ve ever traveled to another city, then you immediately understand the importance of knowing where you are relative to other things.
And you probably know very well the anxiety — or fear — of feeling lost, confused, or disoriented in a strange city.
Where is your hotel from where you’re standing? Is it 3 blocks or 30 blocks away? Where is the baggage claim or airport bus shuttle? Do you need to find a tram or an escalator to get there?
Continue reading “UX Word of the Day: Orientation”Before conducting any type of user research—whether a usability study or phone interviews—it’s best to start at the very beginning. (Though probably never a UX researcher, Maria von Trapp had it exactly right.)
Creating a user research plan is a very good place to start.
My first step in writing a research plan is to conduct one or more discovery discussions with my client stakeholders as well as review any supporting documentation they provide.
Continue reading “UX Research Toolkit: How I Plan User Research”