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When designers are under pressure to get work done, user research can feel like another way of making the process slower and more expensive, and without much positive impact on the final design. This talk is about how we’re experimenting with designers doing their own user research, early on, with the aim of turning it from an expensive drudge into an easily accessed source of inspiration.
About Jane
Jane is Head of UX&D (Children’s, User Services and Design Research) at BBC Future Media in Salford. She’s worked at the BBC for over a decade on various projects, such as iPlayer, mobile, connected TV, Knowledge and Learning, social, Cbeebies, and CBBC. Jane is as passionate about her work as she is her employer, so much so that she’s named her children after deceased Blue Peter pets*.
*Shep (4) and Goldie (1) – both girls
Sketchnotes from Jane’s talk
From @ FrancisRowland : http://tiny.cc/nux2-jane-sketch2
Today I’m going to talk to you about the benefits of low-self-esteem design.
I’d take a bet that everybody in this room wants to do good work.
No. Your work isn’t good enough.
I can say that confidently because nobody’s work is.
I’m sure you’ve all spent time pondering the question of what meal you’d eat if you were only allowed one meal for the rest of your life. Mine would be cheesy baked potato with a can of Britvic Citrus Spring (discontinued circa 2001 – shout out to canmuseum.com).
I really like routine and convention.
It’s our way of optimising on positive experiences.
It’s the reason we all have parties and give each other presents.
It’s the shortcut we use when we don’t know why something is good.
The pattern we got into in UX at the BBC was regular user research during development – matched against well-researched user personas.
Sometimes we started with some research
Sometimes we went round the loop a lot.
We made some successful stuff too.
We made some successful stuff too.
Turns out cheesy baked potatoes are bad for you.
there were some unintended consequences
There was a separation between the ‘disciplines’ of designing, researching and building as we got in experts in each field
After a while, we started to tell each other to keep off the grass.
And sometimes the disciplines are critical of each other
‘That UX isn’t good enough UX’
Okay. So that’s one unintended consequence of our rut.
Now, let’s talk about what it’s like making something.
There’s a couple of things I made which I’m happy to take 98% credit for.
Here’s one. I spent 9 months feeling too pukey for food, too hungry not to eat, too tired to work, too busy to sleep. She kicked me from the inside, gave me heartburn, and turned up at St Mary’s up the road from here before her Dad had time to park the car.
I know what you’re thinking.
You can’t help it. I’m sitting there making doe eyes at this wrinkly midget, and you know there’s no way you can say anything if you want to keep your voice box intact.
And I’ve left, and you’re left with a single thought in your head.
But here’s the thing. I know.
Barely 4 minutes in, I knew I’d given birth to Dobby the House Elf. But I still would have ripped your voice box out if you’d said anything.
The good thing about babies is they stop looking weird after a few days, and after a couple of months, they pretty much all look like cute babies. At least to their parents.
When your design gets feedback, you’re being told your baby is ugly.
I’ve seen designers ask researchers to edit evidence from user research.
And some of the more senior designers were less and less involved in the research - (I’m not psychic but I suspect) feeling like they needed to show they were ‘expert’ enough not to need design research.
And on the other side, the researchers wouldn’t trust these maniacs to get involved in the research.
Other than going in with a blue hat and demanding everyone put their weapons down?
(This is an adaptation from a blog entry by John Lilly - http://john.jubjubs.net/2011/08/09/design-like-youre-right/)
We need everyone to be part of the same process. We have to get designers to feel fine about their babies being ugly, and researchers fine about letting designers do some of their own research.
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/Artists-Way-Discovering-Recovering-Creative/dp/0330343580/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1382653653&sr=1-1&keywords=the+artists+way)
But come on. This is hardly new, right? All this is, is an adaptation of an old old idea.
Anyone who’s sketched or written or played music or done anything that makes something where there wasn’t something before, knows that you have to be arrogant half the time and hyper-critical the other half. You have to split your personality. Your editor guy should be perfectly happy to hear that the thing you made is crappy.
Our approach to UX has separated these two modes into separate people, and then been surprised when they don’t get on. If they’re closer together in time, in space, and sometimes even in the same head, things improve.
We’re doing things faster
(obligatory picture of head scratching post-it contemplation)
We carry out fortnightly research, open to all project teams in Salford.
The project team knows it has a slot so we can recruit for the right users, but you decide what to put in, plan the research, execute it and get results in 4 days.
We ran a big away training day with the whole of UX (110 people) where they built a researched a giant card board vending machine over the course of an afternoon
- we made something cool in 3 hours
- everyone tried it out at least once
- we A/B tested and got live results by the end of the day
testing is cheap, fun and easy
Next up: design research champions. Everybody gets depth interview training, plus a basics course from our research specialists, and then they start running and commissioning their own research.
...all in your mind, and therefore the hardest to combat
The things that stop good work from happening roughly fall into 2 categories
-otherwise known as ‘we don’t have time’ or ‘we don’t have the budget’
-otherwise know as ignorance, atrophy and apathy
‘I don’t know, I don’t care, and I’m too busy’
Credit to:
Eddie Obeng for the ugly baby line (http://www.pentaclethevbs.com/people.htm)
Design like you’re right, test like you’re wrong
http://john.jubjubs.net/2011/08/09/design-like-youre-right/
BBC peeps - David Gallagher @POOMOO, Jacek Barcikowski @JBARCIKOWSKI, Kai En Ong, Genine Keogh, Tom Bradley, and too many others to mention by name