Aspiration and joyful satisfaction are intrinsic drives. They are the common denominators of all effort, beginning with design and extending to the client and user experience. What is created externally mirrors what is happening internally. To understand the whole requires learning to engage in empathic internal and external communication across cultures, teams, clients, and customers. This “practice” provides validation, adds to ideation, and forges strategies for demonstrating and building value.

1. Using UX Design Principles
& Methodologies in Design
Management & Innovation
twitter / @mellimdesign
email / mel@mellim.com

2. Self-realization:
Do we practice
what we preach?

4. Break the
ice, ice, baby...

5. Improvisational
Conversations
Materials obtained from Gary Hirsch, The Art of Making It Up, Co-Founder of On Your Feet

6. It’s easier to say
NO than YES.

7. YES, NO, and BUTs ...
Acquiescing
Recognize an offer, but don’t contribute anything to an idea or to
the flow
Blocking
Don’t recognize the offer and don’t contribute anything to an idea or
to the flow
Accepting
Accept an offer, and contribute ideas and add to the flow

8. Improvisational
Sketching

9. Sketching together is
more productive than
sketching alone.

10. Improvisational: Summary
- Communicate ideas through improvisational practices
- Create spontaneous moments for the random collision of ideas
- Refine listening skills
- Co-create
- Constructively build team cultures through visual thinking

11. Knowing Your
Client’s Business

12. Design is business,
business is design.
1. Know the business - product or services
2. Know your client - business goals
3. Know your client’s customers / users - customer-centric
4. Design for growth, substance and longevity
5. What kind of business problem is the design solving?

13. Perception of value
defines the relationship
1. Identify client’s business problems and present actionable ideas
2. Identify short- and long-term goals
3. Set realistic goals & metrics but align expectations
4. Care!! Take real interest in your client’s business
5. Be honest, be accountable, be professional

14. What is UX Design?
User experience (abbreviated as UX) is how a person feels when interfacing with a system.
The system could be a website, a web application or desktop software and, in modern
contexts, is generally denoted by some form of human-computer interaction (HCI). UX
designers study and evaluate how users feel about a system, looking at such things as
ease of use, perception of the value of the system, utility, efficiency in performing tasks and
so forth.
Compared to many other disciplines, particularly Web-based systems, UX is relatively new.
The term “user experience” was coined by Dr. Donald Norman, a cognitive science
researcher who was also the first to describe the importance of user-centered design (the
notion that design decisions should be based on the needs and wants of users).
From Smashing Magazine by Jacob Gube, 10/5/2010

15. What is UCD?
In broad terms, user-centered design (UCD) is a type of user interface design and a
process in which the needs, wants, and limitations of end users of a product are given
extensive attention at each stage of the design process. User-centered design can be
characterized as a multi-stage, problem-solving process that not only requires designers to
analyze and foresee how users are likely to use a product, but also to test the validity of
their assumptions with regards to user behavior in real world tests with actual users. Such
testing is necessary as it is often very difficult for the designers of a product to understand
intuitively what a first-time user of their design experiences, and what each user’s learning
curve may look like.
The chief difference from other product design philosophies is that user-centered design
tries to optimize the product around how users can, want, or need to use the product,
rather than forcing the users to change their behavior to accommodate the product.
From Wikipedia

16. In the past, design
decisions were based on:
What designers think is awesome What the client wants
The focus was on aesthetics and brand, without thought for the people
who are actually using the design.

17. Today, design decisions
are based on:

18. Design & Client
Management:
How do you want
your client to feel?

19. CAN YOU CREATE A BETTER
CLIENT EXPERIENCE?

20. Culture Building:
How do you want
your team to feel?

21. “At the end of the day, just
remember that if you get the
culture right, most of the other stuff
-- including building a great brand
-- will fall into place on its own.”
- Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com

22. Zappos 10 values:
1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

23. Managing cultures:
Who are you designing for?

24. So, you think you
know your customers?
Think again.

25. EXAMPLE OF A PERSONA
Vince Blake - 35 years old, Executive Producer/ Director, Los Angeles, CA
A private person who surrounds himself with influential people, and likes that
people seek out his opinions. He identifies with sophisticated, stylish,
international personalities, and puts forth a carefully crafted image to distinguish
himself from superficial showoffs.
Prone to mixing brands for an artistic, edgy effect, Vince selects accessories,
services, and lifestyle activities that reflect his personal style: an Amex Black
Card/Centurion card; a pair of special edition vintage sneakers, iPhone, iPad,
and MacBook Pro mobile devices to enable his online shopping; and farm-to-
table dining. Loving form and function, he covets his classic vintage 1956
Lincoln Continental while driving an Escalade Hybrid SUV that alludes to eco
consciousness.
A frequent domestic and international traveler, Vince prefers private company
jets and select commercial carriers including Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic,
Singapore Airlines, and Swiss International.
Striving to exude balance, strategy, and action with panache, Vince
demonstrates raw passion and intensity from his court side seats at LA Lakers
games. He also enjoys a great love of women but is careful to never look too
committed.

26. EXCLUSIVE
PRIVATE QUALITY
VINTAGE
ADVENTUROUS ECO-FRIENDLY

27. EXAMPLE OF A CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP

28. parity solving a
challenge
planning & customer technical task
longevity needs feasibility completion
DIFFERENTIATION USER NEEDS
customer layering cross user
desires experiences participation user flow
leveraging competitive
current trends landscape
& technology
BRAND FOCUSES EXPERIENCE FOCUSES
From Marisa Gallagher, CNN Digital

29. How does branding
change when it’s
customer first instead
of business first?

30. UX vs. CX
“I think that it’s an interesting question, when you talk
about user experience (ux) and customer experience
(cx). User experience, in general, we’re thinking about
people using something, people interacting with
something. Right now, most specifically, that’s the
website and any mobile applications or mobile sites,
but that’s really part of a larger umbrella around the full
customer experience, which would include interactions
with a store employee, using the product, using our
services, taking a class, that kind of thing.”
- Samantha Stammer, Manager, eCommerce Experience at REI.com
UX Magazine, Article No. 584 11/30/2010

31. Understand The Users
- Use personas to understand and analyze user needs
- Be empathetic towards users / customers
- Use customer journey mapping to discover touch points to generate
new market opportunities
- WOW or surprise your users / customers by anticipating needs,
delivering on the brand promise

32. So, have you been
designing for a client or
a user / customer?

33. Creating
LOVE & JOY!

34. THE 6 STAGES OF EMOTIONAL BRANDING:
Emotional Stage 1 – How you get someone interested?
Emotional Stage 2 – How do you get someone to consider a
purchase?
Emotional Stage 3 – How do you continually reinforce that their
purchase decision was absolutely the right decision, the “winning”
decision?
Emotional Stage 4 – How do you create a loyal customer such
that they want to continue to buy your product and/or are most
receptive to cross selling and value add purchases?
Emotional Stage 5 – How do you create a brand ritual so that your
brand becomes part of your customer’s life?
Emotional Stage 6 – How do you get your audience to be your
cheerleader?
Steve Goldner, Senior Director at MediaWhiz

35. Rules of Thumb:
Define the top 5 items that will make your client happy.
Define the top 5 items that will make your client’s customers happy.
What are the similarities and differences?
Define the top 5 items that cannot be compromised for both the
brand and the design.

36. Defining what design
success means helps
set goals and
align expectations.

37. Aligning Goals & Expectations
- Define what design success means to help establish a framework for
what to expect from a designer/client relationship
- Use the framework to establish goals and metrics
- Deliver on a brand promise internally and externally to produce an
authentic brand image
- HAPPY TEAM + HAPPY CUSTOMERS = GENUINE BRAND

38. Designing without
passion is like living
without breathing.

39. Strategic Imagination
- Ideas are equally as important as execution
- Ideas have to be tangible and actionable
- Give meaning to design; let it appeal to personal and collective
aspirations
- Design with intent, passion, and purpose
- Good design is no longer good enough; great design wins!
- Take your work seriously. Yourself, not so much.

40. Reflection:
More value for less? Or more value for more?
Can we teach clients to be better clients?
Who are we designing for? The client or the user/customer?

41. Let’s talk!
twitter / @mellimdesign
email / mel@mellim.com
web / www.mellim.com