Don't preach. Listen to the users. Learn, assimilate, analyze, and respond. Make informed decisions based on the various elements surrounding a project. Always consider the users, technology, team resources, time-frames, vision and apply the right formula. The processes are dynamic and flexible. There is no "one size fits all.”
The JOURNEY
Our key elements for collaboration:
user centric . Flexible . Lean . Iterative
“If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to far go together…”
design for happiness
We design to make users feel happy. That is our goal. A happy user is a loyal user who will cheer for a good product. We want to create efficient tools and avoid challenges that produce pain for the users. The design for happiness methodology helps us alleviate pain points and turn them into bliss points. This is how we are able to engage users and award them to what they need.
XEROX DESIGN WORKSHOP
THE UXD WORKSHOP
The UX Workshop is the step where we will learn about the system’s mechanics by interviewing end-users through working sessions. The UXD workshop enable us to understand the users and their interactions with the system. From this step, we are able to create flows and visualize the information architecture of the system.
Storyboarding & Ideation
Hand drawn composites are created to storyboard the user's journey interfacing with the system.
1. An easy fun way to visualize the user's journey
2. A good story to tell to everyone involved
3. A method to relate to a story and bring emotions afloat
INFORMATION & CONTENT FLOW
This is a KEY step. Our first line of attack is to create a system flow to understand all the moving parts. This is an audit of screens, information, and functions. From here, we are able to see what can be optimized, consolidated, augmented at a higher level.
1. The bird view of the system
2. See areas to consolidate
3. Reduce extra steps
4. Augment features accurately
5. Identify pain points
UI BLUE PRINTS
The blue printing step is where we start creating the skeleton where all the content and UI widgets will reside and provide interactions with the user. Blue prints help us create the framework for the content and can be stored as interface templates.
AR/VR AUGMENTED UX
We are constantly looking ‘out there’ in the UXD world for trends, cues, and new information that help us mitigate a challenge. New devices, and technologies pushes us to study and create the experiences of tomorrow, today.
AR experience for a large national Mexican groceries retailer.
UI PATTERNS
Many UI colleagues have experienced challenges they were able to solve and have documented their solutions for the world to see. We are not shy to use effective UI patterns, and metaphors when we see fit. We also store UI best practices we have created in the past to solve similar future problems easily.
communication language:
The Visual UI
We go in layers understanding one step at the time what we need to design and add to the canvas. Harmony of all parts is crucial to achieve a great design experience.
Our UXD Communication Language
All the UXD steps taken lead to the creation of an interactive prototype. This prototype is the summary of all learning, ideating, architecting, sketching and designing. This is how we visualize ideas, and communicate our efforts. A prototype is the best way to express our design language and get feedback. It is an ever evolving asset.
We collaborated with the RiteAid team to enhance the app’s user experience:
1. Login
2. Notifications
3. Menu hierarchy
4. Easy prescription ordering, refill, and pickup
Our Testing
The UX hallway user test is mainly targeted to collect brief and essential feedback about the system’s experience comprised of architecture, flow, layout, UI content, and interaction. We want to gauge and see how diverse users navigate, interact, and respond to the system design.
Goals:
a. To get raw feedback on the user’s difficulty to achieve instrumental tasks on the system
b. To gauge and see how easy it is for users to solve problems on their own
c. To observe user’s assimilate and react to the content displayed by the system
d. To understand if users are able to retain navigation, flow, and information of the system.
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS:
Largest Grocery Chain of Texas
The UX Workshop is the step where we will learn about the system’s mechanics by interviewing end users through sessions. The workshop will enable us to understand the users and their interactions with the system. From the completion step, we will be able to create flows and visualize the information architecture of the systems.
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS:
Navistar
The UX Workshop is the step where we will learn about the system’s mechanics by interviewing end users through sessions. The workshop will enable us to understand the users and their interactions with the system. From the completion step, we will be able to create flows and visualize the information architecture of the systems.
THE HALLWAY TESTING
The most dynamic, un-scripted, and raw way to catch user’s feedback. We use this method to get user’s immediate reactions about a designed experience. We measure time, log reactions, and observe interactions in a quick, fun, and spontaneous testing session.
H-E-B POS DESIGN WORKSHOP
Users INTERVIEWS
Dynamic questions, Active Listening, applying Empathy is the way to understand users from all walks of life. Capturing their ideas and reactions are key resources to see the world in their eyes.
ADDITIONAL TESTS:
ERGONOMICS
We are always immersing into different ways to provide the best experience possible. This includes ergonomic analysis and understanding how comfortable, efficient, and safe users are when interacting with the system.
