The Ten Commandments of User
Experience Nick Finck & Raina Van Cleave March 13, 2010 SXSW Interactive 2010

Use #UXsxsw on twitter

? What the hell is
UX?

“User Experience is a focus,
a thread that runs through all of our disciplines, and which no discipline owns or controls.” - The UXsters Explain UX

• Accessibility (GAWDs) • Information
Architecture (IAI) • Information Design (IDA) • Interaction Design (IxDA) • Technical Writing (STC) • Usability Engineering (UPA) • User Research (HFES) • Visual Design (AIGA) • Web Analytics (WAA)

The First Commandment The User
is always Right

“You are not the user.
Neither is your boss.” - Jessyca Frederick Director of Product Management,ThisNext

Finding the sweet spot Tec
s tive hn ica je c lR Ob equ ess Sweet irem sin Spot Bu ent s Customer (or User) Needs

The Second Commandment Understand the
User

Photo by Andrea Wiggins
http://www.flickr.com/photos/anikarenina/550438755/

The Third Commandment
Avoid
Solutioneering

Identify & fully understand problems
before finding solutions

The Fourth Commandment Form follows
Function

“Form must play within the
general realm of the familiar for easily understood functions.” - Thomas Vander Wal Principal, InfoCloud Solutions

Photo by Jason Hoover
http://www.flickr.com/photos/surrealize/3366780929/

Photo by Thomas Hawk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/2671536366/

Photo by Andreas Adelmann
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adelmann/3302583508/

The Fifth Commandment Content is
King

“Design is about communication, and
it takes more than pixels to communicate.” - Derek Powazek Content & Community Genius

! 95% of web users
do not read 80% of your content!

This doesn’t mean that your
content isn’t important, it means it’s more important.

The Sixth Commandment Innovate, do
not Imitate

Pedometer Nike+

The Seventh Commandment Access is
for Everyone

Photo by Jenny Morros
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13799732@N08/1411680967/

Photo by Dirk Borchers
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dirkborchers/495659224/

Photo by Rion Nakaya
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rion/47437262/

The Eighth Commandment Plan before
you Design

“With our users in mind
and the right vision we can plan, and develop successful applications” - Aaron Irizarry Principal, Solv

Photo by Roxanna Salceda
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roxsm/1210497131/

Photo by Effie3
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eclennox/181224204/

Photo by Luann Hopkins Photo
by Paige Adams http://www.flickr.com/photos/luannhopkins/2156607113/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/phadams/2642717270/

The Ninth Commandment Understand the
Goal

“Executives can no longer afford
to formulate strategy without embracing user experience” - Peter Morville Principal, Semantic Studios

Photo by Howard Gees
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyberslayer/952953634/

If your website could do
only one small thing, what would that one thing be?

The Tenth Commandment Learn from
Failure

“Failure is success if we
learn from it.” - Malcolm S. Forbes

! Michael Jordan failed to
make his varsity basketball team Albert Einstein's teacher described him as "mentally slow" Walt Disney went bankrupt several times

Thank you!

The Ten Commandments of User
Experience Nick Finck Raina Van Cleave @nickf @rainaterror nick@blueflavor.com raina@spindriftdesignworks.com http://blueflavor.com http://rainavancleave.com