Inside the UX Studio - Lifetime Achievement Award for Nigel Bevan, PhD

INSIDE THE UX STUDIO
UXPA Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient Nigel Bevan, PhD
Hosted by UXPA International, Moderated by Chris Hass
1

NIGEL BEVAN, PHD
Rest in Peace, Memory, & Legacy
2

LIFE & UNEXPECTED DEATH
➤ Nigel Bevan was born on 18th July 1946 in Essex in the United Kingdom but lived
in London for the major part of his life. He died suddenly and unexpectedly in
Sarawak, Malaysia on 26th March 2018. He leaves behind a wife, Anne, two adult
children, Nikki and Dave, three grandchildren, and an industry’s worth of friends
colleagues, students and hikers who miss him.
➤ His accident and unexpected death took us all by surprise, and as word of his
untimely death moved through the internet and international media channels,
there was a rapid outpouring of surprise and sorrow. In the days that followed
news outlets wrote about Nigel’s death with emergent details that at times
inadvertently overdramatized the accident itself.
➤ His family wanted his friends and colleague to know that the original stories of
Nigel’s accident and subsequent death gave a more dramatic impression than what
actually occurred. In their words he was hiking with three companions and a native
guide when he “banged his head and slid a little down from the path, before being
brought back up by the group he was hiking with.
➤ Above all, it made a big diﬀerence to us to know that he was never alone (he was
with his group until the rescue team arrived), and also that it was not a long
drawn-out death as we had feared, as it seems that the change from his condition
seeming quite stable to his death happened quite suddenly.”
3

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
ISO and Beyond
4

CURRICULUM VITAE
➤ Nigel was the very deﬁnition of a man of letters. He held degrees in
physics and psychology, and a PhD in man-machine interaction.
➤ He was Professional Usability Consultant through his company
Professional Usability Services, a National Expert for UXQB,
Research Manager at Serco Usability Services, Head of Usability at
the National Physical Laboratory, and a Research Associate at the
University of York.
➤ He participated in several international standards groups and
contributed to the development of ISO 13407 and ISO 9126. He was
responsible for developing the new Common Industry Format
standard for usability requirements. Nigel has given tutorials on
usability, web evaluation and user centered design around the globe.
➤ Nigel was a member of the US National Academies Committee on
Human-System Design Support.
5

CURRICULUM VITAE
➤ Nigel was technical co-ordinator of the EU MUSiC (Measurement of
Usability in Context) project that produced methods for usability
measurement. These methods have since been widely applied commercially.
➤ He was manager of the INUSE and RESPECT projects that set up a network
of Usability Support Centers around Europe, the TRUMP project that
incorporated user centered design into the development processes of two
large organizations, the PRUE project that trialled use of the Common
Industry Format for usability test reports, and the UsabilityNet project that
has established a website of usability resources.
➤ Nigel has an international reputation for his work on usability and user
centered design. He has numerous publications, and has given tutorials on
usability, web evaluation and user centered design at international
conferences including the Usability Professionals’ Association, CHI, Interact,
HCI International and software quality and software engineering conferences.
➤ He was a Board member of the User Experience Professionals’ Association
(then called UPA) and a council member of the UK UPA.
6

JUREK KIRAKOWSKI
“I know I speak for all when I say that Nigel's death comes as a sudden
shock. He was one of those people that you thought would live forever,
tracing long voyages through the skies in first class compartments to
critical scientific meetings, visiting friends, or going on hiking
expeditions - often, all three. A constant wonder and a delight. 
 
I have known Nigel since our early days (circa 1985) in CEC-funded projects
when he was a reviewer on the ESPRIT - HUFIT project Nr. 385. We struck
up an immediate friendship because we both shared aims and also the
curiosity to argue between ourselves, sometimes extremely vigorously,
as to how best these aims could be achieved. It was in the ESPRIT MUSiC
Project, of which he was the director from 1990 - 1994 that I was able to
develop the SUMI questionnaire as part of the MUSiC Usability Evaluation
toolkit. MUSiC had the ambitious aim of turning usability from a broad
aspiration into a quantifiable objective, which under Nigel's leadership, we
succeeded in doing. We demonstrated some of our achievement at the first
CUE workshop in the UPA conference at Washington, 1998. 
 
Nigel was not only a great intellectual opponent, he was also a very
close friend.
7

IN ADDITION
➤ From the mid-1980s Nigel was involved with the
development of international standards as a national
expert for the UK in both Systems and software
engineering, and Ergonomics becoming the founding
convenor of ISO TC159/SC4/WG11 Ease of operation of
everyday products in 2010.
➤ He was a member of the TC13 (on Human-Machine
Interaction) committee of the International Federation of
Information Processing societies (IFIP) and was involved
in the creation of the first of the ongoing INTERACT
conferences in 1984. In the 1990s the Usability Forum
with which he was involved made a significant difference
in industrial engagement for the practice of usability.
8

SARAH BLOOMER
“Nigel and I met at CHI in the mid-90's and became conference
friends. Little did I know he’d play an important role in my
professional life.
I lived in Melbourne, Australia then (today I'm in Boston). Nigel
worked at NPL (National Physical Laboratory, the UK's National
Measurement Institute) where he staked out his role as an important
contributor to ISO and usability standards. He explained why NPL
included usability - because we needed a standard way to measure
usability. Those were the years when we called ourselves "usability
engineers,” and we were seeking ways to demonstrate our value.
Measurement was Nigel’s approach. Like others, I had many
conversations where we did not always agree and those conversations
with Nigel were part of my education.
Nigel taught me a thing or two about standards and measurements.
He had a unique and major impact on my professional life. Whilst we
lost touch over the past 15 years, I'll never forget him.”
9

ISO STANDARDS
Decades of Advocacy
10

ENVISIONING ISO HCI AND ERGONOMICS STANDARDS
Nigel was an important contributor to national and
international standards through his involvement with
the International Standards Organization (ISO) from
early in his career until his untimely death.
He specialized in the standardization process for the
developing ﬁelds of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
and Usability and contributed to the 1999 ISO 13407
standard, “Human-centered design processes for
interactive systems.”
(This has now been superseded by ISO 9241-210:2010,
“Ergonomics of human-system interaction -- Part 210:
Human-centered design for interactive systems” to
which he also contributed.)
11

CONTRIBUTIONS TO ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7/WG6 STANDARDS
➤ ISO/IEC 9126-1:2001 Software engineering - Product
quality - Part 1: Quality model
➤ ISO/IEC 9126-4:2004 Software engineering - Product
quality - Part 4: Quality in use metrics
➤ ISO/IEC 14598-1:1999 Information technology - Software
product evaluation - Part 1: General overview
➤ ISO/IEC 25010:2011 Systems and software engineering -
Systems and software Quality Requirements and
Evaluation (SQuaRE) - System and software quality
models
Systems and software quality requirements and evaluation
(SQuaRE) - Measurement of quality in use.
12

ROLF MOLICH, UXPA LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENT
“I have known Nigel since at least 1998 where
he participated in the first CUE-study. After his
retirement, I have been in regular contact with
him at ISO-meetings. He was a highly esteemed
advisor to our European certification effort. I
have always known Nigel as a kind, helpful,
enthusiastic and very knowledgeable person in
our field. ”
13

LEADER OF THE FOLLOWING ERGONOMICS PROJECTS
➤ ISO 9241-11:1998 Ergonomic requirements for oﬃce work
with visual display terminals (VDTs) - Guidance on usability;
➤ ISO 20282-1:2006 Ease of operation of everyday products -
Design requirements for context of use and user characteristics;
➤ ISO/TS 20282-2:2013 Usability of consumer products and
products for public use — Summative test method;
Systems and software product Quality Requirements and
Evaluation (SQuaRE) - Common industry Format for Usability:
Context of use description;
➤ ISO 9241-11:2018 Ergonomics of human-system interaction —
Usability: Deﬁnitions and concepts;
➤ ISO 9241-230 Ergonomics of human system interaction —
Human-centered design and evaluation methods (in progress).
14

CAT HERZON
“I met Nigel at the 2007 CHI Conference, after he
had presented on ISO 9241-11. Having learned
about ISO standards from working with engineers,
I was so excited that someone ﬁnally understood
that HCI needed an ISO code because much of
what we do is engineering related.
I conveyed this to him after he spoke, and found
him to be very approachable, open, and warm,
which was lovely to experience.
He was such a pioneer to have accomplished an
ISO code for the ﬁeld of usability.”
15

CONTRIBUTIONS TO ERGONOMICS EDITORIAL TEAMS
➤ IEC 62508:2010 Guidance on Human Aspects of
Dependability;
➤ ISO 9241-220 Ergonomics of human–system interaction –
Processes for enabling, executing and assessing human-
centered design within organizations (in progress).
“In addition to assigned responsibilities Nigel Bevan was
diligent, thorough and perceptive in commenting on
standards on behalf of both the UK and UXPA. His
tireless work in this area without doubt improved very
many standards for both ergonomics and software.”
16

COMMON INDUSTRY
FORMAT
A Personal Aside
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CONTRIBUTIONS TO ERGONOMICS EDITORIAL TEAMS
He was responsible for developing the new Common Industry
Format (CIF) standard for usability requirements.
His standards work extended to the “Quality in use” and CIFs
standards from JTC1.
18

PERSONAL ASIDE
Early in my career I was hired by the American Institutes for
Research, where I had the privilege of working alongside Joe
Dumas, Michael Wiklund, and Beth Loring. AIR’s standard practice
for Usability test reporting was the CIF. CIF was complicated,
tedious, and amazingly thorough. I was advised as I used it for
government and commercial projects, that learning how to “do it
right” in long form (CIF) would serve me well in the future. And it
did. Despite its rigors, turning a one week study into a juggernaut
100 page single-spaced MS Word document, it gave me a
framework and respect for proper scientiﬁc documentation
processes. And later, when I joined other consultancies, I boggled
at how they used PowerPoint, sometimes fewer than 40 slides, to
communicate ﬁndings. How amateurish! Imagine my surprise to
learn from Nigel of his involvement in CIF. This was my reaction;
19

PERSONAL ASIDE
Quickly followed by this:
21

PERSONAL ASIDE
All that work was YOUR fault?!
23

PERSONAL ASIDE
Then the realization of how I had beneﬁtted from being able
to “do it right” when it counted- on government projects,
medical device evaluations, and more. Perhaps all that hard
work had a lasting and profound. . . payoﬀ?
25

PERSONAL ASIDE
And ﬁnally: Respect, Nigel. For leading the way.
27

UXPA
UXPA Board Member, Friend
28

UPA / UXPA LEADERSHIP
➤ Nigel served on the UXPA Advisory Board as a Director
from 2002 - 2007
➤ As the UXPA Director of Professional Development he led
the Usability Body of Knowledge initiative.
➤ He served as Regional Director for Europe, the Middle East,
and Africa in 2012.
➤ Since 2014, Nigel has served as UXPA's liaison to the
International Standards Organization (ISO)
29

NARRATIVE (SPOKEN DURING PRESENTATION)
Nigel served on the UXPA Advisory Board as a Director from
2002 - 2007
As the UXPA Director of Professional Development he led the
Usability Body of Knowledge initiative.
He served as Regional Director for Europe, the Middle East,
and Africa in 2012.
Since 2014, Nigel has served as UXPA's liaison to the
International Standards Organization (ISO)
I had the pleasure of working on the UXPA Advisory Board
with Nigel. I’m not certain what those who aren’t on the
board imagine being on the board is like, but if I had to guess,
it would look something like this…
30

When in actuality. . .
32

. . . it looks like this. A LOT of this. Nigel’s expertise and
expectations for collaboration, professionalism, and
occasional complete baﬄement at how his colleagues saw the
world, made him a tireless and passionate advocate for the
betterment of the organization, and helped safeguard its long-
term intellectual legacy.
34

CAROL SMITH, UXPA BOARD MEMBER
“I was honored to have had deep, spirited
debates with Nigel on the UXPA board and
while we worked on the Usability Body of
Knowledge I cherished his wonderful hiking
stories and his passion for our industry.
His tireless eﬀorts and energy were inspiring. I
will greatly miss his spirit and catching up with
his escapades.”
35

JAMES R. (JIM) LEWIS, PHD, CHFP
“I met Nigel at the IBM lab in Boca Raton -- I think it
was in the late 1980s -- when he was consulting with
the people in my Human Factors department who were
involved in international standards (e.g., Pete Kennedy).
Over the years we would run into each other from time
to time at conferences, and for a long time one of the
highlights of attending the HCII conferences was getting
together with him for dinner after tutorials were done
for the day.
His work has been so inﬂuential, and it has been good
to see how he as a person has had such a positive
inﬂuence on others. I will miss him.”
36

A photo of Nigel and his cohorts after one of Rolf Molich’s
CUE studies. From the look on Rolf’s face, at the end of the
CUE study.
Nigel also was instrumental in starting World Usability Day.
In her own words, here’s former UXPA President Elizabeth
Rosenzweig to describe the origins of World Usability Day:
38

TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEO
Video location: https://youtu.be/42jpUdtLaUs
I remember ﬁrst meeting Nigel in 1998 at a CIF (Common Industry
Format) workshop organized by NIST to add some rigor to our user
centered design work. Nigel talked about the ISO standards he was
working on and it made a huge impression on me, think that what I
had been working on the last 13 years would actually become a
legitimate ﬁeld of study was so inspiring.
I went on to serve on the Usability Professionals’ Association
(UPA) Board with Nigel for several years, culminating in our joint
appointment in 2004 as the Co-Directors for Outreach. Many years,
after the conference or before/after a Board meeting he would
organize a hike, sharing his love of adventure with the rest of us. As
a life long hiker, I naturally was drawn to the hikes where many of
us would solidify our professional relationships over the years.
40

TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEO (2)
I remember one hike in Arizona, the group was on a trail in the desert and I noticed
many cacti and stickers. One in particular, the jumping choli also known as the hanging
chain cholla, which is basically a cholla cactus . And they were so sticky, I made sure to
stay away from them. Nigel on the other hand was never deterred from a goal and he
wanted to explore off trail a bit. The group agreed to meet him in a nearby location
where we were going to have some water and snacks. Nigel came hiking to us and
sounded like he was chuckling. When get got nearer we saw jumping cholla all over his
legs below his knees. He was not complaining but simply asked if anyone had a
tweezers or pliers. I had my swiss army knife and we got to work pulling the jumping
cholla out. Nigel could be heard saying…”careful, ouch..”and then “lovely” as soon as
we pulled one out.
Nigel was in Boston for a professional meeting and was staying at my house, as he did
occasionally in those years. The time was Fall of 2004, which happened to be a big one
for Boston (my hometown). The Boston Red Sox were playing the New York Yankees
in the playoffs- the American Championship League Series, the run off to the World
Series. Red Sox had a long-standing rivalry with the Yankees, going back over 80 years.
I was raised a die-hard Red Sox fan and had been paying attention to the series. Nigel
and I had planned on going to dinner one night during a very critical and contentious
game. We were eating in a restaurant that was attached to a bar that was airing the
game, and from which screams and cheers kept erupting. Nigel asked me what was
going on, should we be concerned there was so much commotion. I explained that it
was an important baseball game, perhaps the game of the century for age old rivals.
41

Nigel completely understood, although confessed he knew
more about cricket then he did baseball. We compared the
merits of baseball and cricket, each agreeing we liked our own
version of that similar sport. A few times I had to excuse
myself to run and see what was going on. A turning point
had occurred in the game and it looked like the tide had
possibly turned for the Red Sox. Although Nigel and I were
talking about how we could change the world with better
designed products, I was distracted by the game. After the
third time I jumped up and ran into the bar after I heard the
crowd cheering- I clearly remember Nigel asking me with that
twinkle in his eye “is this a big match?” referring to the
baseball game that was distracting me.
42

I laughed, just at the way he asked, as if, of course, he knew how
big it was. Despite my jumping up every now and then and
running into the bar, Nigel and I brainstormed about the ways
we could help the world by making products and services easier
to use, and how that could help people become the best that they
were. It was an inspiring conversation, fueled partially by the
great wine he always knew how to pick, but also, because Nigel
asked me great questions, posing them as explanation of
obstacles we would face. I was not afraid of challenges and was
fueled, no doubt on my end, by the exciting baseball series I was
following.Nigel stayed a few more days at my house and during
the time the Red Sox went on to beat the Yankees and win a
chance to play at the World Series. I was so inspired by my
hometown team ﬁnally beating the Yankees and getting to the
world series, and my conversation with Nigel that I felt
invincible, like we could aim high and have a shot at our dreams.
43

So, I suggested we put together a plan to start an annual day, modelled
after Earth Day, in which we could raise awareness and motivate
companies to create products that were more usable. That plan help
launch World Usability Day(WUD)- which Nigel helped start. WUD has
now been run 13 times, on the second Thursday in November all around
the world. We have reached over 40 countries, with hundreds of events
and as such, helped launch a ﬁeld that is strong today- with many
diﬀerent titles-User Centered Design. User Experience, Interaction
Design and more.
I don’t think World Usability Day would have been possible without
Nigel’s enthusiasm, support, insight and positive outlook.
I last saw Nigel almost a year ago at the SIGCHI 2017 conference in
Denver. It was great, as always to see him. He had invited me to a hike
but I had to leave to attend my middle son’s graduation from university.
Nigel and I caught up and at one point he remarked that he was amazed
World Usability Day was still around and going strong. I am glad that I
remember to tell him that he was part of the reason it was so successful.
44

I am glad to report that his legacy will be remembered as this
summer during the User Experience Professionals’
Association Annula Conference where they will award Nigel
the lifetime achievement award, the ﬁrst time that they will
do that posthumously. I am only sorry this did not happen
while he was alive but am proud that it is happening now.
I can imagine that if he did get this award while he was alive,
he would have received with the modesty and good humor he
did all his great work. I think these qualities are what helped
him be so successful in moving our ﬁeld forward and bringing
rigor and thus legitimacy.
Thank you Nigel and I will miss you.
45

TOM MCCANN
“Nigel and I had the occasional intense Skype
discussion when involved in the early days of the
Body of Knowledge project but no matter the
level of intensity he was always relaxed and
convivial. One of nature’s gentlemen. RIP Nigel.”
DANIELLE COOLEY
“He was an enthusiastic partner in much of the
preliminary work for the UXPA conference in
London in 2014. I will miss his humor and levity,
and the ﬁeld will be worse oﬀ without his
intellectual contributions and his energy.”
46

NARRATIVE, SPOKEN ALOUD
If you were ever at a conference with Nigel, this was a
common way to see him:
47

TOM TULLIS, UXPA LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENT
“Nigel obviously touched many lives-- perhaps more
than he realized. I've known him through conferences
(UXPA and CHI) for many years, plus the CUE exercises
. . . He was one of those people who spoke with quiet
authority. At conferences he would ask questions of
speakers because he was genuinely interested not
because he was trying to show to everyone how smart he
was. And, of course, he was a very smart guy. But more
importantly he was a very nice guy. I'll miss him.
I've assembled some of the photos I have of Nigel from
UXPA conferences over the past several years. One of
the things that you'll see in those photos is that Nigel
didn't just attend a conference, he engaged with people
at the conference.”
48

BORDERLESS CONTRIBUTIONS
Helping Bring UX Practice to China and Japan
49

Nigel is credited with broadening the reach of Usability
standards and practices to Asia, speciﬁcally China and Japan.
50

ZHENGJIE LIU
“Nigel is my good mentor and friend for more than 20 years. It is him who
led me into the field of usability around 1996-1997 and helped found Sino-
European Usability Center in 2000 as the first usability engineering center
in China.
I still remember vividly that a sunny afternoon in autumn 1997, I received a
big plastic envelope mailed from him at a meeting that contained a bunch
of printed materials on usability and user-centered design.
We met each other for the very first time at INTERACT’1999 in Edinburgh,
where I attended a tutorial offered by him on usability and he invited me
for dinner and introduced me to try Scottish haggis. Soon after that he
visited us in Dalian and Beijing later the same year. He helped us involved,
as a non-EU partner, in UsabilityNet (http://www.usabilitynet.org/
about.htm) - an EU Fifth Framework Program project coordinated by him,
which led Sino-European Usability Center founded in 2000.
This made a great contribution to the start and dissemination of user
experience practice in China.”
51

Vampire?
WORLD TRAVELER, HIKER
52

DAVID BEVAN, SON
“Dad was always an adventurer. Apparently at age two he took advantage
of a few minutes unattended to ﬁnd his way through a gap in the garden
fence - our granny was horriﬁed to see his little bobble hat left caught on
some wire! - and he made his way down to the marshes behind the house.
And it seems like he lived like that from then on, always curious, never
scared, living life to the full. At primary school he managed to escape a
school trip and, intrigued by a giant 'KEEP OUT' sign, ended up on a
military base.
As a young teen he cycled on his own around Germany - something he
still talked proudly of as an older man - and later made his way solo
through Eastern Europe.
I like the the story of the time he ran out of cash and, having read in a
guide book that travelers could make good money by selling blood to local
hospitals, he went around asking in the local language "where can I sell
blood?" It was only after a number of startled looks and a careful check of
his little dictionary that he realized he had been asking to *buy* it!”
53

DAVID BEVAN, SON
“I think one of the reasons he was such a happy traveler was
that he was profoundly non-judgmental. He had many strong
opinions and preferences of course, but he somehow seemed
to never fall into the trap of blaming or judging - a wonderful
and rare quality, especially in a dad!
That made him a fantastic listener - someone we could talk to
about anything, but it also meant he could be very direct: he
saw no reason why expressing a view would be problematic
because he didn't have those hang-ups himself. When he was
younger this led to the occasional moment of agonizing social
faux pas, but it happened less and less as he got older.
He was profoundly rational and clear-thinking, but also
fascinated by people and the endless ways in which we are
anything but rational.”
54

DAVID BEVAN, SON
“Even though dad wasn't sentimental, he always found ways
to express love and aﬀection. Every trip would lead to some
sort of gift or memento - often bizarre foods in
indecipherable packaging that we would sit around and try,
with trepidation but also joy. When our mum became ill, he
looked after her with utter dedication, but also didn't fall
into the trap of giving up on his own life and interests. So
he would spend hours researching the most ergonomically
eﬃcient (is that a tautology?) products for mum to use,
from non-slip trays to automatic lighting, and would take
mum out to see family - which she still loves to do - even
though the logistics of the journeys could often be highly
challenging. ”
55

Speaking now for myself, Nigel’s travel habits took me a little
while to hone in on. He was singularly quiet and task focused and
in an Advisory Board context we would ﬁrst talk shop. But as I
got to know him better, he would show up looking a little extra
tired to a meeting and I’d say “up too late?” thinking he was a
little worse the wear as we all get on these junkets- up too late,
perhaps a little too much to drink the night before. Instead, as if it
was the most normal thing to oﬀer, he’d shrug and say “noisy
coyotes in the campsite.” Invited to elaborate, revealing that while
I was tiring myself out swapping stories with colleagues at the
end of a long, patient day he had driven several hours out into the
wilderness, hiked a mountain, camped all night, and decamped in
time to get back to the boardroom in the morning. Alone or with
friends, Nigel was an inveterate hiker, and a seasoned world
traveler. He casually let on one time that he was a multiple
million-mile traveller on British Airways. As a traveller myself, I
asked him for some tips. About an hour later, this was my brain:
57

I’d go away, bewildered, marveling at advice like: “Always try
to go through Bulgaria, you might need to hike across the
border to the next airport, and pick up your ﬂight there. It
takes some hours, maybe an overnight, but you get double the
miles for that leg. Maybe more if it’s raining or a Thursday.”
Weeks later I’d think “I’m misremembering, it can’t be that
complicated.” And we’d repeat this conversation again. And
weeks later, again. To his credit, it was never clear if Nigel
remembered that we had discussed this before, or was merely
being polite, but I never managed to get it, and he never
evidenced frustration at my confusion. But I think as far as
British Airways is concerned, they probably need to retire a
plane in his honor or something.
59

TIMO JOKELA, PHD
“As we know, Nigel was a keen hiker. Nigel organized his
meeting trips so that he had one or two days for hiking.
I hiked with him in Crete, California and Finland, my home
country. When he visited Helsinki (Finland) in 2013 he proposed
hiking near Helsinki after the meeting. I proposed the national
park ’Nuuksio,’ thinking, of course, that it would be new
experience for him. As we headed for the hike, he, for my full
surprise, took an old map of the park from his back bag. He had
been hiking there by himself years back.
Unfortunately I do not have picture from that hike. But I attach a
picture from California, before the CHI conference 2007: Nigel
together with David Siegel and my son Erno Jokela in the Big Sur
area.”
60

GINNY REDISH, UXPA LAA RECIPIENT
“The ﬁrst time I heard Nigel’s stories of his travel
adventures was sitting next to him at dinner at a
conference sponsored by Hermes Software in
Ljubljana, Slovenia, in about 1998.
Wow! The places he went to and the challenging
treks he undertook were amazing. I was impressed
(and a bit jealous knowing I would never take on
challenges like Nigel did).”
62

LYLE KANTROVICH, UPA BOARD 2006-2008
“There's a great and funny story Nigel told me once. Unfortunately I don't remember the specifics
well enough to get all the funny parts right, but I'll give you the gist of it in the hopes that someone
else might've heard it more recently and can help flesh out more of the details.
Anyone that knew Nigel much at all knew he loved to travel. He'd take flights with multiple layovers
in order to get more airline miles...so he could travel more in the future. He of course loved hiking
and mountain climbing, and would seek out destinations near conferences and universities to enjoy
those activities. So on one trip to a another country (I believe in Asia), he decided to go on a hike.
He was teaching a course or workshop at a university and arrived a day early and took an afternoon
hike. He took a train (or monorail?) up the mountain and went on his hike which was to be a couple
of hours. (Long story short...) He took a wrong turn, missed a sign or something and ended up
taking the wrong trail on the mountain...a much longer trail. About halfway around the mountain he
realized his mistake and knew he'd miss the last train.
He arrived back at the train depot after the last train. It was getting dark and colder with the sun
going down at that altitude. He realized he was in a bad spot, and (if I recall correctly), hiked down
the railway for some distance until it got dark.
He ended up sleeping in a little train depot hut during a very frigid night, then at dawn (or some
early hour) hiking further down the mountain via the railway tracks. He ended up arriving quite late
to teach his course, wearing the clothes he slept in on the side of the mountain, without benefit of a
shower or shave. I guess he was quite a sight...and he had a great and funny story to tell that
morning and for years afterwards.
For me, this story perfectly exemplifies Nigel's passions and personality. Many people would think
"never again will I do something like that" - for Nigel it was just another great, humorous adventure
he could talk about while traveling the world evangelizing the great cause of usability.”
63

DAVID SIEGEL, PHD
“Lyle got that story mostly right. The venue was Tokyo and the hike was in the Japanese Alps. He
reached the start of the hike by cable car from the little town that he had reached by train from Tokyo.
At the upper station of the cable car, there was a terrace with a snack bar and maybe other little
shops. According to his map, the hike was a loop.
He began to wonder if he had deviated from the route. He couldn’t decide if he should just keep going
ahead—maybe he was already close to the end point if he was on the right route—or retrace his steps,
which was more sure but possibly much longer. He eventually chose the latter.
By the time he got back to the cable car station, all was shut down for the night. He slept on the
terrace, and, at dawn, crashed his way down the mountain through the brush under the cable car
route. He reached the little town in time to catch a fast train to Tokyo, and went straight to the
conference. He rushed in at the last moment. He said the host was trying to stall. He must have had
twigs in his beard.
I hiked with him in the Sierras, the Smokies, the North Cascades, the Escalante Canyon area of
Utah . . . and in the mountains over Big Sur.
Because of the Japan story, and MANY others like it, Susan was always worried about these hikes. On
our first, in the Sierras, we were on our way back down from an 11 mile hike up to the 11,000’ level,
and just as I was telling him how, clearly, Susan’s worries had turned out to be unfounded, the trail
came to an abrupt end at the lip of a vertical cliff several hundred feet high. We had missed a fork
about a quarter mile back. We just laughed about it.
If you are adventurous, stuff like this actually happens all the time, and you just deal with it, ideally
with a laugh. The reason he had so many funny stories was not because he was ill fated, but because
he was so adventurous.”
64

“Thank you, thank you David! I knew you'd be likely to have
the full story - and get all the little details right too...they
make it a much better story.
I'm grateful just to have it documented so I can read it over in
the future and share it with my kids. It's the richness of
adventures (i.e. challenges, mishaps, mistakes, goofs, travails
and accomplishments) that make them memorable, rewarding
and fun.
I hope to have even just a fraction of the adventures Nigel
experienced.”
65

JUREK KIRAKOWSKI
“…If anyone richly deserves that award, it's Nigel. He'd
have been so embarrassed to receive it in his
thoroughly English way but I know he'd have also
reckoned it was his due - because men of that stature
always know their worth. I can't tell you how much I
miss him still!!!
Nigel’s passion was hill walking, mine is diving, which I
am doing oﬀ the coast of Crete every day this summer.
Of course we are all experienced hands at our game and
all of us are immortal! But Nigel's death gave me pause
for thought and a check with my buddies that we were
still going by the book.”
68

CARL MYHILL
“He was always the one to try a new thing on a menu and a new wine, rating the latter.
I knew him through his work and through [LIST THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED] of course. We
didn't always agree on things like standards for practitioners but clearly he made an impressive
contribution to usability and this community. 
 
I'm glad we finally met properly in 2006. At UPA 2006 in Colorado the Practitioner session was full,
so I organized a practitioner hike instead. Nigel was one of the people that signed up and we had a
very enjoyable and sociable hike. Nigel had arranged to spend a few days in Colorado after the
conference but didn't have specific plans so he joined Trent and me for some white water rafting on
the Colorado River, if I recall the river correctly. I remember the briefing for the rafting trip being
terrifying.
If we fell out of the boat we were told to not stand up on any account because the rocks could move
around and trap your foot. I was pretty pleased when Nigel immediately volunteered to sit in the
front! 
 
Nigel also joined Trent and me and a couple of my old friends from the area, Sue and Carla, to go on
a hike up Quandary Peak (it's an odd peak with nothing but loose rock all over it - perhaps that's why
it has that name). We had an awesome day. Despite not knowing us very well we had a very relaxed
day out. Nigel was an easy going outdoor enthusiast and a pleasure to spend time with. 
 
I'm very sorry Nigel's left us too soon. I hope it's some comfort that he died doing what he loved. I'm
glad I got to know him in person a bit whilst hiking.”
69

Carl continues: I’m very sorry Nigel's left us too soon. I hope
it's some comfort that he died doing what he loved. I'm glad I
got to know him in person a bit whilst hiking.”
71

ELIZABETH BUIE
“My ﬁrst substantial in-person experience of him occurred at
CHI '96, when for some reason we found ourselves walking
around central Vancouver at night, partly I think just to walk
and partly to choose a restaurant.
I had been warned that at group dinners he had a habit of
ordering the most expensive wine on the menu and assuming
that everyone would share the cost, but when it was just the
two of us that didn't happen: we had a decent wine that wasn't
outrageously expensive. :-)
I was delighted to have Nigel as one of the authors of the
chapter on standards for the book that Dianne Murray and I
edited on usability in government systems. 
 
I will feel sad for a good while, I think.”
74

A map displayed at Nigel’s funeral showing all the places he
visited in his life.
76

DEBATE
Staunch defender of positions
77

To work with Nigel was to, at times to ﬁnd yourselves on the
opposite sides of a position. As UX-ers we are a brilliant,
passionate, and at times socially awkward and dramatically…
unique group of people. With the utmost respect, I submit
the following remembrance of Nigel as perhaps the most
“UXPA” thing you’ll ever encounter.
78

TIMO JOKELA, PHD
“As a professional, he was a great contributor, but also a kind of
’stubborn’ person. One of the Nigel’s most important
contributions in the field is the definition of usability, as stated
in ISO 9241-11. It is a committee result, but my understanding
is that Nigel was a key contributor (I was member of the ISO
committee later but not when the definition was made).
I discussed the contents of the definition many times with
Nigel, because I found the definition very good (although it has
some minor inconsistencies, too). However, it became evident
that my interpretation - e.g. the concept of ’user’s goal’ - was
different what Nigel originally had intended. So, my conclusion
was the the definition is better than Nigel originally intended.
We discussed the matter many times, in good spirit. He kind of
agreed with me. But, in the end, it always became evident that
he never gave up his original thoughts.”
79

“The ﬁrst adjective that comes to my
mind when I think of Nigel is
“irrepressible.” In discussions I found
him always engaged — both intrigued
and intriguing — whatever the topic.”
ELIZABETH BUIE
80

GINNY REDISH, UXPA LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENT
“How horrible that he is gone. He and I did
not always agree on our approaches to UX or
to standards, but I greatly appreciated Nigel’s
interest and passion for his work.
We will miss him in the UX community. ”
81

JEN MCGINN
“Nigel was a character - sometimes delightful, sometimes
frustrating - I had a funny relationship with Nigel. Even though
we worked together on projects, I'm not sure he actually knew
who I was. I'd say hi to him at UXPA international conferences,
and he'd kind of jump - like I'd sneaked up on him. He'd quickly
look at my badge to see my name, and I'd try to refer to
whatever we'd worked on last. Then we'd chat about that or
another topic of UX interest, maybe have a meal together, and
the next time I'd see him, the cycle would repeat.
 
Regardless of whether Nigel knew who I was, I knew who he
was. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to work with him
in those capacities, and am so saddened by this sudden loss.
but reading this over, I get a pang in my stomach and tears in
my eyes. He is missed.”
83

ANNA WICHANSKY
“Nigel and I would often see each other at HCII
meetings. You had to be careful going out to dinner
with Nigel, he really liked to eat!
It was fairly typical for me to invite panel members out
to dinner the night before, just to prepare and know
what each other was thinking ahead of time. I was
amazed to see Nigel go through an appetizer, wine,
dinner, wine, dessert, and after dinner drink. He was a
small, wiry guy, but HCII deﬁnitely brought out the
European side of him.
I will truly miss him; he was my go-to for all things ISO
in UX. Rest in peace,Nigel, and I'll be thinking of you
on my next hike.”
84

I showed this picture of Nigel and Aaron Marcus earlier. And
it’s everything you would expect of Nigel in the moment.
Poised, professional, even in the face of absurdity.
What I want to show now is the moment just after this
picture was taken. Nigel was always up for any kind of
escapade but. . .
86

As Aaron walked away, Nigel’s look said “Well, I don’t get the
hat thing, but ok.” “Perplexed” was another facet of Nigel. He
was always willing to engage, but he didn’t always get it. (To
be fair I’m not sure anyone “gets” this hat either.) This
perplexity and curiosity combined was simply, very Nigel.
A few years ago, faced with an unexpected window of free
time during the UXPA conference in Las Vegas, a bunch of us
got it in our heads to go do something we had never done
before. After much discussion, we decided to check out a gun
range. As we were heading out, Nigel happened by and got
caught up in our wake. Which led to this:
88

It was a pleasure to go on escapades with Nigel, and to learn
from his willingness to engage, to be deliberately playful.
Look at that smile! In response to my request for photos for
this presentation, many many of the photos had common
themes: Nigel, with colleagues, somewhere exotic. Workshirt,
boots, and a smile.
90

Reﬂecting on his father’s career, his son had the following to
share:
92

DAVID BEVAN, SON
“He was quietly proud of his work - I never heard him show
oﬀ about it; in fact, I can't imagine him showing oﬀ about
anything. I think he had nothing to prove, which made him
a really calm presence.
When I picture dad, he is either there at his laptop with a
glass of excellent red wine, or he is walking just ahead of
me, quickly but never in a rush, steadily pacing on. I think
that's how he lived in general - always moving, always
seeking more of life, covering thousands of miles (literally
millions in fact, according to British Airways!) but enjoying
the journey all the while. That's how we was when times
were good but also when times were tough, and it was and
still is a profound inspiration.
He was a great dad and an amazing man.”
93

Nigel and his wife, son, and grandchildren. Future hikers and
thought leaders, no doubt.
95

As final thoughts, permit me to share from my heart. It was a pleasure to work with Nigel, and to
go on escapades with him, and I’m honored to have been able to enjoy his company and to learn
from the examples he set. Earlier this week, I found myself in conversation with a friend about
Nigel and we each allowed that prior to the conference we had both looked into hiking a nearby
mountain here in Nigel’s honor. But we had each realized that the distance between here and the
nearest hike wasn’t very compatible with attending the conference.
And there it was.
If he were here, Nigel would find a way to hike the mountains around Puerto Rico before, during,
or after the conference. He may or may not have lured some UX-ers with him, but he would have
made it happen. And that’s Nigel. It’s a lesson I learned from him, but am still working to live up
to. You don’t need to be brash, or lazy, or regretful. If you love it, find a way to make it happen. If
you are determined to make “usability” a lasting part of the professional world, then you hike.
And hike. And hike. One foot in front of the other, one meeting after another, until you make it
happen. You may arrive covered in nettles, but there you are. When you leave this conference,
hopefully your mental, professional, and social horizons will be broader. As you leave this room,
take a moment to just look at the ocean. Nigel’s quiet, steadfast, quirky, amazing life, shows us
that there are horizons beyond horizons, contributions you can make, right now, today, through
perseverance, intellectual rigor, and by not forgetting that what you do can be in service of what
and who you love. Especially when it’s not easy. I find it heartening to remember that our field is
evolving before us, with the people around us, on the trails blazed by those who left us along the
way. Nigel led a singular life, and so do you. In his memory, let’s make the most of it.
97

UXPA Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient Nigel Bevan, PhD
Hosted by UXPA International, Moderated by Chris Hass
98

Thank you for helping us remember him today. Is there anyone here
who would like to share a story or remembrance about Nigel?
99

PHOTOS & VIDEOS
Family:
https://www.forevermissed.com/nigelbevan/#about
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/l96dmg0fn83k237/AABx98GZPl9ppKsUaxjdYjhda?dl=0
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5Z53lW7x-0

 
Carl Myhill:
https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/carlmyhill/albums/72157693297483211/with/
26252058997/
Tom Tullis:
https://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/tomtullis/albums/72157667292612918
100

REMEMBRANCES FROM FRIENDS & COLLEAGUES
(UNABRIDGED)
101

“I spent two years on the UPA board with Nigel and
we had a number of dinners and conversations over
the years.
I appreciated him in many ways, and his
contributions to the ﬁeld really do warrant a lifetime
achievement award.”
102

JUREK KIRAKOWSKI
“I know I speak for all when I say that Nigel's death comes as a sudden shock.
He was one of those people that you thought would live forever, tracing long
voyages through the skies in first class compartments to critical scientific
meetings, visiting friends, or going on hiking expeditions - often, all three. A
constant wonder and a delight. 
 
I have known Nigel since our early days (circa 1985) in CEC-funded projects when he
was a reviewer on the ESPRIT - HUFIT project Nr. 385. We struck up an immediate
friendship because we both shared aims and also the curiosity to argue between
ourselves, sometimes extremely vigorously, as to how best these aims could be
achieved. It was in the ESPRIT MUSiC Project, of which he was the director from
1990 - 1994 that I was able to develop the SUMI questionnaire as part of the MUSiC
Usability Evaluation toolkit. MUSiC had the ambitious aim of turning usability from
a broad aspiration into a quantifiable objective, which under Nigel's leadership, we
succeeded in doing. We demonstrated some of our achievement at the first CUE
workshop, as Rolf Molich recalls, in the UPA conference at Washington, 1998. 
 
Nigel was not only a great intellectual opponent, he was also a very close friend. I'm
glad Kent Norman and I were able to get his chapter into our Wiley Handbook of HCI
(which came out earlier this year). Nigel's chapter stands as a testament to his great
knowledge and whole-hearted advocacy of standards and intellectual rigor in the  
computing industry.”
103

SARAH BLOOMER
“Nigel and I met at CHI in the mid-90's and became conference friends. Little did I know
he’d play an important role in my professional life.
I lived in Melbourne, Australia then (today I'm in Boston). Nigel worked at NPL
(National Physical Laboratory, the UK's National Measurement Institute) where he
staked out his role as an important contributor to ISO and usability standards. He
explained why NPL included usability - because we needed a standard way to measure
usability. Those were the years when we called ourselves "usability engineers,” and we
were seeking ways to demonstrate our value. Measurement was Nigel’s approach. Like
others, I had many conversations where we did not always agree and those conversations
with Nigel were part of my education.
NPL, where Nigel led the usability services, was purchased by Serco during the era when
UK government agencies were turned over to private agencies. His group transformed
from NPL Usability to Serco UX. It was Serco UX who bought my company, The Hiser
Group. I remember visiting the Serco UX team in the UK, where Nigel continued to
focus on his life's work of usability standards while Serco UX expanded into more
mainstream user centered design work. Serco UX only ceased business recently – still
with its roots reaching 20 years back to Nigel's usability work at NPL.
Nigel taught me a thing or two about standards and measurements. He had a unique
and major impact on my professional life. Whilst we lost touch over the past 15 years, I'll
never forget him.”
104

DAVID SIEGEL, PHD
“Lyle got that story mostly right. The venue was Tokyo and the hike was in the Japanese Alps. He
reached the start of the hike by cable car from the little town that he had reached by train from Tokyo.
At the upper station of the cable car, there was a terrace with a snack bar and maybe other little
shops. According to his map, the hike was a loop.
He began to wonder if he had deviated from the route. He couldn’t decide if he should just keep going
ahead—maybe he was already close to the end point if he was on the right route—or retrace his steps,
which was more sure but possibly much longer. He eventually chose the latter.
By the time he got back to the cable car station, all was shut down for the night. He slept on the
terrace, and, at dawn, crashed his way down the mountain through the brush under the cable car
route. He reached the little town in time to catch a fast train to Tokyo, and went straight to the
conference. He rushed in at the last moment. He said the host was trying to stall. He must have had
twigs in his beard.
I hiked with him in the Sierras, the Smokies, the North Cascades, the Escalante Canyon area of
Utah . . . and in the mountains over Big Sur.
Because of the Japan story, and MANY others like it, Susan was always worried about these hikes. On
our first, in the Sierras, we were on our way back down from an 11 mile hike up to the 11,000’ level,
and just as I was telling him how, clearly, Susan’s worries had turned out to be unfounded, the trail
came to an abrupt end at the lip of a vertical cliff several hundred feet high. We had missed a fork
about a quarter mile back. We just laughed about it.
If you are adventurous, stuff like this actually happens all the time, and you just deal with it, ideally
with a laugh. The reason he had so many funny stories was not because he was ill fated, but because
he was so adventurous.”
105

LISA HALABI
“I'm deeply saddened to hear about the
unexpected departure of Nigel. I knew him from
the time when we ﬁrst established the UK
chapter of the UPA circa 2001 and he was a
friendly face ever since. I feel lucky to have
known him. My condolences to his loved ones
and those who feel his loss.”
ELIZABETH BUIE
“The ﬁrst adjective that comes to my mind when
I think of Nigel is “irrepressible.” In discussions
I found him always engaged — both intrigued
and intriguing — whatever the topic.”
106

ASH DONALDSON
“Nigel was the type of man that never seemed to
let anything stand in his way. I have fond memories
of, on almost every ISO meeting, going on amazing
adventures - from the urban wastelands of Russia
to hiking from Thailand to Laos through dense
jungle, removing leeches every few steps...
He was a great thought leader in our ﬁeld, with a
passion for progressing and expanding quality. I
haven’t met anyone like him. He will be sorely
missed by myself and the community.
Rest in peace, my friend.
107

NIGEL BEVAN
UXPA 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
108

Inside the UX Studio - Lifetime Achievement Award for Nigel Bevan, PhD

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