Have you seen those beautiful websites that you can't use? Or the super-cool ones that make it hard to actually accomplish your tasks? There's a better way. Duane Degler joined the DC Web Mavens to cover the landscape of understanding goals, users, tasks, content, and, particularly, context.

1. www.designforcontext.com
Duane Degler
@ddegler
duane@designforcontext.com
Website UX
Web Content Mavens DC
27 January 2015

2. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
WHAT IS A USER “EXPERIENCE”?
Anticipation and engagement
Social interaction
Expectations over time
Comparison with other experiences
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3. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
How people describe positive experiences
Engaging
Fun
Interesting
Unexpected
Successful
Productive
Smooth
Helpful
Reliable
Valuable
Easy
3
• Immerse in the experience
• Support discovery and delight
• “Sticky”
• Achieve goals
• Support them through actions/tasks
• Remove barriers to progress
• Provide the right level of information
at the right time
• Maintain a trust-worthy authority
• Reduce puzzling / confusing moments

4. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
Dimensions of User Experience
4
USERS
Skills/experience
Needs
Expectations
Motivations
BUSINESS
Goals
Performance
Resources
Metrics
TASKS
Actions
Alternatives
Decisions
Outcomes
CONTENT
Relevance
Persistence
Standards
Clarity/focus
CONTEXT

5. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
GOALS: USER & ORGANIZATION
Understanding the bigger picture,
knowing what is valued
Balancing competing priorities
Vision and direction
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6. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
Identifying your goals and your users’ goals
• What are you aiming to achieve?
• Strategic
• Tactical
• How do you define success?
• Quantity – e.g. tracking usage, transactions, bottom line, citations
• Quality – e.g. feedback, secondary effects, or just the right thing to do
• How do your users define success?
• How to translate that into what you offer?
• Where you focus for impact and value
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7. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
UNDERSTANDING OUR USERS
Knowledge, experience, language,
goals, motivations.
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8. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
User profiles . . . Broad needs and expectations
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Group 1 Group 2 Group 3Group 1

9. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
User personas . . . Distinct characteristics
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Marsha Emily
Goals
Interests
Experience
Skills
Knowledge
domain
tech
Abilities
Location
Language

10. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
SITUATION AND CONTEXT
What triggers the need for content
and interaction with your site.
Context awareness considers
who, what, when, where, why,
and how often…
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11. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
My meeting
starts in 5
minutes!
What will
give my class
paper a fresh
idea. . . today?
People frame an experience within a situation
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I need to
confirm my
hypothesis for my
book . . .

12. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
Interaction with content is dialogue
?!
!!
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13. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
Meet you
at the Picasso
in the South
gallery!
Context frames tasks, particularly when mobile
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Dinner next
Saturday?
At the harbor?
Liu’s work
seems relevant
to my research.

14. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
USER TASKS
An experience has multiple steps.
Even reading a single page of content
has a sequence of mental steps.
And you want users to do more than
engage with a single page of content!
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15. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
Framing a task
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Task
Inputs
Next steps
User
group
OutcomeTrigger
Context
Information
& Data
Interruptions

16. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
Flows can change with platform and triggers
Request
approval
View req’d
course list
Search for
a course
View
description
Confirm
selection
Set
reminder
Read
message
View req’d
course list
View
description
Confirm
selection
Browse for
a course
Search for
a course
Finish
looking
View
course list
View
description
View pre-
requisites
Filter
required
Request
approval
Confirm
selection
View
related
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17. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
CONTENT & DATA
“Content is king” – and a user’s overall
experience with content and data involves:
• Finding and recognizing
• Understanding
• Synthesizing and managing
• Using, sharing
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18. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
Consider the whole navigational picture in your IA
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19. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
Content as a navigational center for experience
Search
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20. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
Seek
Type in the box
Evaluate
Assess results
Review
Assess content
Formulate
Strategy
Tactics
Activity
Refine
Adjust criteria & tactics
Seeking is an experience, often over time
Situation
Info Task
Achieve in the
search space
Goal
Achieve in the
world
Use
Apply what you
gained
Keep
Persistent
resource
Outcome
Degler/Phua 2011. Searching: How One Box Can Mean Different Things to Different People
http://www.designforcontext.com/files/jp-dd_search-mental-models_userfocus_20110916.pdf
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21. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
SITUATIONSIGNALS
Location
Co-occurring events
Date / time
Conditions
Devices / connectivity
USERSIGNALS
Usage patterns
Experience
Interests / profile
History
Community
CONTENTSIGNALS
Link relationships
Text patterns
Categories / keywords
Metadata
TASKSIGNALS
Outcomes / goals
Rules / requirements
Criticality
Sequence / status
Frequency for user
Relevance
has many
dimensions
Degler 2013. Supporting Relevance for
Users: A Design Challenge
http://www.designforcontext.com/publication
s/supporting-relevance-for-users
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22. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
PRACTICING UX
Getting started with research,
design and evaluation.
Techniques you can use today.
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23. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
Practicing UX
1. Answer key questions about goals & users RESEARCH
2. Define a plan and build out a design framework DESIGN
3. Get feedback early and often EVALUATION
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24. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
Practicing UX
1. Answer key questions about goals & users
• Interviews
• Feedback collection & review
• Site visits
• Facilitation (internal and external)
• Roadmap development
• Content analysis
• Data model/pattern analysis
• Reviewing other documentation in the organization
RESEARCH
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25. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
Practicing UX
2. Define a plan and build out a design framework
• User-centered design
• Information architecture
• Interaction design
• Graphic design
• Development and developer support
DESIGN
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26. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
Practicing UX
3. Get feedback early and often
• Quick expert review & recommendations
• Usability testing
• Analytics from use
• Longitudinal assessment
• Facilitated conversations
EVALUATION
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27. UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context UX for Content Sites 27 January 2015@design4context
LOOKING AHEAD
Visual and interactive “language” evolving
Mobile app / web evolving
Platform-relevant interaction
Pervasive and ubiquitous information
Collaborative creation with your users
Information as a shared asset –
valuable, but with responsibilities
Deeper context / user awareness mapped
to content, modeled as linked data
27
http://hubblesite.org/gallery/spacecraft/28/large_web

28. www.designforcontext.com
Duane Degler
@ddegler
duane@designforcontext.com
Website UX
Web Content Mavens DC
27 January 2015