Presented at Product Camp Austin 18. Best practices and what I've learned being a UX Army of One.

1. Janna Hill
www.jannahill.com

2. Definition: User Experience encompasses all aspects of
the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services,
and its products.
User Research & Testing
Interactions &
Information Architecture
(UX)
Visual
Design
(UI)
Design is where art and science meet.

3. Product
Owner SCRUM Master Developer
Quality
Assurance
Decides what to focus on
and defines the product
Helps the team follow the
process
Decides how the user
stories & designs will be
realized
Decides how acceptance
criteria will be tested
Writes user stories &
explains the voice of the
customer
Removes impediments for
the team
Creates code to realize
the user stories & designs
Creates tests for stories
using the criteria as a
guide
Prioritizes the product
backlog
Helps the PO maintain the
product backlog
Seeks clarifications when
needed
Tests code and
communicates the
outcome
Accepts all user stories
when criteria has been
met
Helps the team to run
itself
Collaborates with
designer when possible
Seeks clarifications when
needed
Explains work done to
other devs and QA
Demonstrates successful
products to PO & designer
No silos! Create your team structure first.

4. Combine Agile & Lean UX methods

5. Develop a process that integrates UX throughout

6. User Research & Testing

7. Research Tools and Methods
• Personas
• Google Analytics
• Eye Tracking Heatmap
• A/B Testing
• Surveys
• Contextual Inquiry (Give it a friendlier name like, “ridealong”)
• Working Group – meet every other week with a group of users, between 3-
7 is ideal, during a project cycle. Use conferencing software like WebEx. Use
cameras, get to know the real people. Look at designs together before they
reach development, sketches are fine! Iterate and come back with updates
for the next session. Create-Burn-Learn
• UAT Testing / Beta / Sandbox environments
• Don’t live by a script, invite organic conversation into an interview
• Great crash-course article here: UX Research
*Find what works for you and your product but don’t rely strictly on analytics
and metrics. You have to get in the field and meet the real users. Cultivate
relationships=creating real empathy.

8. Interaction Design

9. Tools
• Pen & Paper should always be your first weapon
• A whiteboard is perfect for iterating with developers and
helping them understand they are designers too! You need to
listen to everyone on the team; they all have good ideas.
• Adobe Creative Suite products
• Visio
• Omnigraffle
• Axure
• Balsamiq
• Sketch
• InVision
• Justinmind
• Keynote
*Look for free trials and if you can, buy a student license!

10. Application of the Gestalt principles to Interaction Design
©Troy Pickering

11. Figure out what type of deliverables you need and throw away the rest. Be lean, be
sketchy, and don’t waste time on pixel perfect without a damn good reason.

12. Information Architecture

13. Visual Design
Which is the best BLUE for a page title?
Which is the best BLUE for a page title?
Which is the best BLUE for a page title?
Which is the best BLUE for a page title?
Which is the best BLUE for a page title?

14. Common fonts to try:
• Arial
• Calibri
• Verdana
• Helvetica
• Helvetica Neue
• Gill Sans
• Futura
• Impact
• Times
• Times New Roman
• Georgia
• Bodoni
• Baskerville
• Rockwell

15. Google Fonts
Font Awesome icons

16. www.ColorHexa.com

17. But what if, after creating all that…

18. You need a Design Guide
At minimum:
• Company info
• Product info
• Logo
• Iconography
• Color palette
• Typography
• Components
• Layout
• Any key screens or elements

20. Points to remember
• There are 3 main parts to being a UX Army of One – Research,
UX, UI
• You must have info about the end-user to make solid design
decisions. Otherwise, you’re just guessing and that’s dangerous.
• UX is the “how” of the thing. How will a user interact with my
product, how will it flow, how is the info structured.
• UI is the “pretty,” but the pretty is powerful. Consider how the
look is translating your product/brand to the user and whether
you need to create a strategy with Marketing.
• Don’t be afraid to fail, just do it quickly.
• Share your ideas/deliverables as soon as possible. I’d rather have
a user tell me the sketch I spent 3 minutes on is all wrong than
the mockup that took an hour.
• You will need a team and a process to succeed. No silos! You must
be the one to get everyone to collaborate together. Candy helps.

21. Sponsors
Advocates
In Kind
Supporters
Thank you!