====== Usability/User Experience Design - Theory ======

Author: Michelle McCausland

This page contains the notes taken from the UX training course "UX Foundation Online" provided by [[http://uxtraining.com|UXTraining.com]]


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===== UX Theory  - What is UX =====

What is user experience:

	* What it feels like to use a product or service
	* The emotional response to using a product or service

3 Types of Design:
	1. Functional -  What a product is built to do
	2. Aesthetic - How does the product look?
	3. Experience - What does it feel like?


Product Integrity
- It is easy for the voice of the product or user to become lost amongst stakeholders, developers, PR, etc.
- The user experience designer's role is to represent the user and the product

Product Desirability
	* Viability - money - how viable is it to produce the product or service?
	* Feasibility - technology/dev - how feasible is it to create this product using current tech/dev?
	* Desirability - customer - how desirable is this product to the customer / end user?


How do I identify desirability?
Ask the following questions:
	1. Is there a problem to be solved with this product/service?
	2. Is our product going to solve this problem?
	3. Is the experience good


Product Design Process - continuous improvement cycle - Agile
	* Research - define the problem
	* Design - define the solution, sketch and wireframe
	* Build - build the product
	* Test 


Essentially:
	* Define the problem
	* Solve the problem
	* Build the problem
	* Test

Benefits of this design process:
+ High fidelity output
+ A clear vision is defined from the start
+ Defined process structure
+ Ideas can be iterated cheaply with "throw away" prototypes

It may be tempting or pushed upon the team to skip phases such as research and design due to time / money constraints:
- You would not build & design a building at the same time!
- The goals are not clearly defined and may not be understood

UX Exists to solve a problem!
If technology was easy to use then UX would not exist.

Consider Computers Vs Humans
	* Computers are logical, humans are not

The danger of features
	* Features are not always a good thing
	* Simple interfaces are easier to understand
	* Additional features involve trade-off as they increase complexity, cause clutter, become less intuitive

Ask the following questions when considering features:
	1. Does anybody need it? Prove this with research
	2. What is the trade off / impact of implementing this?
	3. Is it worth it, in terms of cost / time / resources?


__**FACT - 80% users use 20% features**__

Features Vs Goals
     The number 1 reason why start ups fail is there is no market need for the product or service!

Can you guess the product?
	* Four wheels with rubber tires
	* Internal combustion engine
	* Suspension system
	* Transmission connecting engine to drive wheels
	* Transmission and engine mounted on metal chassis
	* Break mechanism
	* Steering wheel
	* Seat in line with steering wheel
	* >>>>>> Cuts grass quickly and easily. Consider the goals before you consider the features


Prioritize features based on main use cases over edge cases
	* Not all use cases are equal (80 20 rule)
	* Edge cases are seldom used features
	* Adopt progressive disclosure - provide what the user wants as it is needed


Rules for prioritizing:
	* Top priorities - Things most people do most often
	* Medium priorities - Things some people do, somewhat often
	* Edge cases - Things few people do, infrequently

List the features of the ems and prioritize features!

Design target:
  * Goals - what the user is trying to do / the problem they are facing
  * Behaviors - Things people will do
  * Context - social, physical environment where the design is used
     
Paradox of specificity: the more specific your goals the better the product / the wider the audience

**Mental model** - how I think it works based on my previous experience e.g. driving in US vs in Europe

**Design model** - how it works