How we carry out user experience design at EMBL-EBI, to deliver easy-to-use services for life science researchers.

1. User Experience at the
European Bioinformatics
Institute (EMBL-EBI)
Dr. Jennifer Cham
Lead UX Architect, Web Development
June 2016

2. QUICK TOUR
OF UX @ EBI
• Background
• User experience
• Why we do UX
• Who we are
• How we do UX
• 2 Examples
• Challenges & Outcomes
• Further information resources

3. EMBL-EBI
A trusted data provider for the life
sciences.
Part of European Molecular
Biology Laboratory, an inter-
governmental research
organisation
570 staff from 57 nations

4. OUR MISSION
To provide freely available data
and bioinformatics services to all
facets of the scientific community
in ways that promote scientific
progress

5. Services
Genes, Genomes & Variation
RNA, Protein & Metabolite Expression
Proteins & Protein Families
Molecular & Cellular Structures
Chemical Biology
Molecular Systems
Support
Training
Systems & Infrastructure
Web development & production
Administration
Research
Genomics
Proteins & Protein Structures
Chemical Biology
Pathways & Systems
Outreach
Industry Programme
External Relations/ Communications
OUR
ORGANISATION

6. MISSION FOR
INDUSTRY
To help disseminate cutting-
edge technologies to
industry

7. INDUSTRY PROGRAMME MEMBERS

8. WHY EBI
NEEDS UX
Big demand for our services
Complex data and
functionality
~12.1 million
requests to EMBL-EBI via
web browsers every day
Users at over
5 million
unique sites (IPs) use
EMBL-EBI websites each year

9. COMPLEX
WEBSITES &
SERVICES
Bioinformatics
resources suffer from
usability problems

10. UX, WHY
BOTHER?
Design the right thing
Understand who we are serving
– context of use
Design services & tools that
facilitate the science rather than
adding cognitive load
Testing and validating our
assumptions
Avoid costly reworks
Forge relationships (internal &
external)

11. UX @ EBI
Since 2009
5 UX FTEs (& now hiring more)
UX work for:
- web (free online services)
- process improvement/
business analysis projects

12. UX IN
PRACTICE
Three modes:
1. UX consultancy (Web Dev Team)
2. Embedded UX in specific service
delivery teams
3. UX mentoring: distributed UX via
individuals in other teams (via UX
people in Web Dev Team)

13. UX Development
Brendan Vaughan
Team Leader
Jenny Cham
Lead UX Architect
Galabina Yordanova
UX Designer
Nikiforos Karamanis
UX Designer
Liang Shen
Web Developer
Peter Walter
Web Developer
Luca Fumis
Web Developer
Miguel Pignatelli
JavaScript Developer
Joseph Rossetto
Web Developer
Kenneth Hawkins
Web Designer
1. WEB
DEV TEAM
Centralised support
function for the whole
institute
Expert UX consultancy
UX mentoring services

14. 2. UX IN OTHER
TEAMS
Dedicated UX support to a
specific service
UX may be specifically funded
by a research council grant
Literature
Services
+ Developers
+ Text miners
+ Manager
etc.Michele Ide-Smith
UX Architect
+ Developers
+ Managers
+ Bioinformaticians
+ Curators
etc.Sangya Pundir
UX Manager
Protein-related
Services

15. 3. UX GOES
FREE…
Empower individuals in other
service teams to do their own
UX research & design work
Mentoring & coaching
Provide practical support and
advice, templates etc.
Develop UX skills in others
Evangelise UX

16. HOW DO
WE DO UX?
We are independent, internal
UX ‘consultants’ managing
our own projects
Standard UX techniques with
a twist to cater for complexity
of the data

17. OUR
FAVOURITE
TOOLS FOR UX
We use these most often…
- not necessarily in this order
- not always all of them
- this is just a selection

18. DOUBLE DIAMOND MODEL FOR SERVICE DESIGN

19. OBSERVATION & INTERVIEWS FOR DEEP USER RESEARCH

20. USER PROFILES

21. INTERACTIVE WORKSHOPS

22. CARD SORTING

23. SPEED SKETCHING & RAPID MOCKUPS

24. VISUAL PROJECT PLANNING & COMMUNICATION

25. e.g. MAPPING UX AS PART OF FAMILIAR PROJECT PLANS

26. e.g. BENEFITS & SUCCESS METRICS OF UX IN PROJECT DOCUMENTS

27. PROJECT
EXAMPLES

28. EBI WEBSITE
2006
2007
2013

29. CTTV INFORMATICS PLATFORM

30. www.targetvalidation.org

31. INTERACTIVE GRAPHICAL
VIEWS ON COMPLEX DATA
SETS

32. HEART MODEL FOR UX SUCCESS METRICS

33. CHALLENGES
Measuring success of UX work
Wet lab user vs. bioinformatician – sweet spot?
Obtaining resources for UX when research grants
are designed to fund novelty
Getting UX recommendations implemented
Recruiting UX people + domain expertise
Culture of quantitative research may be unfamiliar
with qualitative approaches to UX research
Data viz expertise for complex data

34. SOURCES
Design Council (Double diamond model for service design)
http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/sites/default/files/asset/document/Desig
n%20methods%20for%20developing%20services.pdf
Cartoon “thinking the same thing” by Jeff Patton & Luke Barrett
https://uxmag.com/articles/using-proto-personas-for-executive-alignment
Bioinformatics usability issue references:
• Javahery et al. (2004) Beyond Power: making bioinformatics tools
user-centered. Commun ACM 47:59-62
• Bolchini et al. (2009) Better bioinformatics through usability analysis.
Bioinformatics 25:406-412
Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and
Changemakers Paperback (2010) Gray, Brown & Macanufo
‘HEART’ UX metrics article
https://library.gv.com/how-to-choose-the-right-ux-metrics-for-your-
product-5f46359ab5be#.xmsm6kvvn
Images sourced from EMBL-EBI External Relations & Web
Development Team

35. FURTHER INFORMATION
UX training module at EBI’s train online website
https://www.ebi.ac.uk/training/online/course/user-experience-design
Sketchnotes on UX & Science
Jenny’s https://www.flickr.com/photos/97823772@N02/
Francis’s https://www.flickr.com/photos/francisrowland
UX in science blogs
Jenny Cham’s blog http://jennycham.co.uk/
EBI interfaces blog https://ebiinterfaces.wordpress.com/
UX in bioinformatics journal papers list
http://www.ebi.ac.uk/about/people/jenny-cham
Slide share talks on UX & science
Jenny’s
http://www.slideshare.net/JenniferCham/presentations
Francis’s
http://www.slideshare.net/francisrowlanduk/presentations

36. THANKS
Nikiforos Karamanis
Francis Rowland
Dominic Clark
Brendan Vaughan
Mary Todd-Bergman
Spencer Phillips

37. QUESTIONS?