Short Reaction to "The UX Design Education Scam"

In a recent post on Design View (http://www.andyrutledge.com/the-ux-design-education-scam.php), Andy Rutledge lambasts most "UX-focused," Design education programs...calling them "scams." Having graduated from such a program (NYU Interactive Telecommunications Program), albeit 10 years ago, I feel obligated to challenge some of the accusations made. Why? My education and degree have opened many doors and provided many career opportunities for me. At the start of my career, it gave employers confidence that I could learn about Technology and had a general familiarity with the medium. That credibility, alone, was worth the considerable price of admission. Employers took chances with me, and eventually, I honed my skills under the mentorship of various subject matter experts. That was 10 years ago, however, and much has changed. Now, digital agency employers (I'm one of them) aren't as quick to hire because we have higher expectations with respect to contemporary skill-sets. Of course, the industry has evolved. Andy's conclusion, I believe, is that "Web Design" programs' failure to adapt to the constantly evolving industry, will never prepare students for the issues, tools, and methods faced on a day-to-day basis in a contemporary digital agency. 

The following, are some of Andy's accusations:  

Web Designers, who are graduates of such programs, are taught to be "tool jockeys"- The legendary, well-respected founder of New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program, Red Burns,  proclaimed to my first-year class, "You won't learn how to use software. We will teach you how to learn." While that proclamation instantly resonated with everyone in my class, it did nothing to calm the anxiety I had about software (i.e. - my ability to learn how to use common tools). In fact, we were "taught how to learn," AND we learned how to use software. The value of learning software, even after the software becomes extinct, is that it increases the student's level of confidence with Technology, in general. The more the student feels comfortable using software to manipulate the medium (any relevant software), the more he/she will think of software as a mere platform and tool to shape ideas and concepts.  Confidence is important.

Most graduates of "UX Design Education Programs" are "unemployable"- In his experience as a hiring manager, Andy states that he has only come across one employable candidate, who was a recent graduate from a UX Design education program. It is unclear to me, what he means by this statistic. Is it one out of 200 recent graduates or one out of 200 total job candidates? I guess it doesn't matter. His point is that the percentage is low. From my perspective, as a hiring manager, a graduate from a relevant program needs on the job experience, but should "get up to speed" rather quickly. I expect that this type of candidate would have a solid foundation with relevant tools, but, more importantly, relevant methods and theory.

In my opinion, digital agencies need more formally trained employees (with a degree in UX). Why? Everyone thinks they understand "Interactive." However, the industry is filled with self-proclaimed "subject matter experts" who are hacking their way through it. They then teach erroneous methods to employees and give erroneous advice to clients. Essentially, the background education should give the employee a "historical frame of reference," while the "on the job" training should give the employee the contemporary skills and knowledge to be credible, and competent, in the field. 

Honing Conceptual Design Treatments

Designers are frequently called upon to mock up comps that emphasize a single concept, related to either a content or brand strategy. This request is made, generally, to support a business development effort or presentation. In this situation, the conceptual design should be "pared down," and not include too many ideas, tactics, and details. Razor sharp focus is most important, when the objective of Design is to illustrate a conceptual direction. Here's how it works: 

1. Emphasize a set of tactics that support a single concept - A conceptual brainstorm with the design team may result in a "shopping list" of potential tactics to support a single theme. Quantity of output is important, but only to provide enough valuable, tactical choices to choose from. Force the team to prioritize only 2-3 tactics to include in the design comp. Don't try to incorporate everything, or the design will quickly become a "patchwork quilt" of content modules. If this happens, the design will lose clarity. 

2. Exaggerate focus and prioritization on supporting design elements - Visual Designers often find it aesthetically offensive to mock-up large interface elements (text, buttons, tabs, widgets, etc.). However, in the case of visualizing a concept, it may be necessary to exaggerate the page elements that underscore the idea. The conceptual comp is a visual aid for a presentation. The strategic concept must be recognizable in 2-3 seconds. Don't make the client read paragraphs of text, or work too hard, to "get it." The point of the exercise to is to bring an idea forward, not to hide it in a forest.

3. Don't get caught up in the UX details (aka - "the weeds") - The Information Architects on the design team, myself included, will likely get caught up in tactical details related to "way-finding," "affordance," and "design consistency." These are all extremely important objectives for "market-ready design," but not for the purpose of painting broad strokes around a concept. The important details can be worked out later.

Measure the success of conceptual design with client feedback that indicates complete understanding of the concept and general acceptance of it. 

Convert Research Participants into Brand Evangelists

A defining moment in any user research study is when a participant reacts positively, and finds utility, in proposed client ideas. To an Information Architect, when that moment happens, it can be magic. Maybe the concept and execution of the idea really will resonate with "real world users." Suddenly, there is excitement surrounding the study.

Too often, however, the potential for that user's adoption and evangelism is left untapped, when the research study ends. Why? Many usability professionals create artificial barriers between their "research microcosm" and "the real world." For example, participants are usually recruited for research studies from a market research database or panel. The goal of a research study, including the study population, should be to get as close to "reality" as possible.  In the case of recruitment, this could mean soliciting "active information seekers," or actual users, for the study. In relation to the actual study methodology, it generally means performing ethnography "in context," versus research performed in a laboratory.

It seems bizarre to me, that a researcher wouldn't follow through when a participant says, "Wow. This idea is really cool. When will it become a reality?" These words, or ones like it, should set off an alarm in the researcher's head, that the participant is a potential end-user. Further, the participant has the potential to evangelize the client's idea to his/her social network. There is a huge potential to build a bridge between the world of research and reality, to have a meaningful impact on the adoption of a client's idea.

Try a different research incentive - Usability professionals generally pay honoraria in exchange for participation in a research study. There may be a way to capitalize on a participant's enthusiasm, however, via the study incentive. To help build awareness for a new client application, a researcher may consider using a special invitation, or sneak peak to a beta version of the client application, as a research study incentive. Make the participant feel like "one of the cool kids," by giving exclusive access to an early, working prototype.

Continue the dialogue after the study ends - Now that the participant has exclusive access, build an interface to continue soliciting input from the participant. Publish the reviews, ratings, and comments from the participant. Allow the participant to begin a public dialogue, using the client's application as the platform.

Integrate Social Media Early - Social media tactics are often thought of as "future phase functionality." It makes more sense to build the infrastructure for dialogue early, when ideas can begin to shape the application. When a business listens to “the voice of its customers,” and enhances an application based on actual recommendations from its customers, the brand is more likely to encourage loyalty and adoption from its customers.

Let's revisit our research participant. He/she has been given special access and privilege, empowered, and given a platform to be an influence of change for the application. Given the right social media hooks, it is possible to convert the participant into a brand evangelist to his/her own social graph. In this manner, the special access to the consumer that user research provides, gives the business the potential to build a community of early adopters and brand evangelists.

User Centered Design to Achieve 4 Common Business Objectives

Continuing the theme of “focusing on business objectives,” it is possible to architect a plan to improve a user experience by tailoring the design approach to the specific need of the objective. Fine-tuning an approach to this level of specificity can only be accomplished if both Information Architect and client have reached a common understanding of what it is the business is intending to achieve with the design. Further, there should be agreement as to how the design will be measured to gauge its success in achieving these business objectives. Making this happen may require the leeway to expand the scope of the engagement with the client after an initial “Discovery” phase has been completed. The Discovery phase should be used to gather, document, and confirm the business objectives from the client. The additional scope may be required to take the necessary steps to plan for success, after discovering the exact goals of the business.

The following are common business objectives for interactive design, and a User Centered Design (UCD) framework for achieving them:

Drive Engagement – Engaging a target audience is all about having the right content to entice them to interact, and providing them enough relevance and value to frequently return for more. In order to understand how to engage a target audience, conduct a preliminary behavioral research study to identify relevant content, digital tactics, the most adopted competitor experiences, as well as tools that may provide the greatest utility. In parallel, use a strategist or business analyst to perform a competitive analysis to identify gaps where competitors are missing opportunities to engage the target audience. Combine the ideas generated from both studies, and begin prioritizing these “features” on a product road map based on their potential to drive customer engagement, in addition to the level of effort to implement them.   

Improve Utilization (internal application) – Improving the utilization of an internal application requires an understanding of how the application would best accommodate essential tasks in a target employee’s daily workflow. An information Architect should focus on developing a research study with target employees, that attempts to identify common workflows associated with tasks that the application is intended to facilitate. Contextual Inquiry, research in the context of the work environment, works best here, as it allows the IA to see the important documents and information kept “on-hand” when key tasks are performed.  After defining key tasks in the workflow, redesign the application to facilitate access to functionality that appropriately accommodates these tasks.

Improve Usability – Improving the usability of a web site or application requires an identification of the likely points of user frustration with an existing design, taxonomy, information architecture, or interface elements. Begin by conducting a heuristic evaluation to identify usability issues that are “easy to spot.” By doing so, and correcting these right away, you’ll be saving the client money upfront, by not wasting funds on user research to identify issues that any trained Information Architect might have caught right away.  Investigate the “hidden” or unexpected usability issues by conducting a qualitative usability test on the new design, post implementation of the Information Architect’s initial recommendations.

Improve Conversion – Conversion is a key ecommerce metric that generally refers to the completion of a sale from a shopping cart, but this metric can also be applied to any desired action that the business wants a user to take from any key page in the user experience. What it requires, then, is the identification of the ideal “user path” and set of actions, in the context of a page-to-page flow. Using the site or application map as a guide, ask the client to identify what conversion means at each key page in the hierarchy. “What actions should the user take on this page?” “What page should the user visit next?” Etc.

The best way to optimize the design of key pages to improve conversion is to perform “A/B” tests on different design concepts. Using wireframes, provide two distinct interaction design models. Next, work with visual design to maintain the distinctness of the concepts when producing two different visual design comps based on the wireframes. Finally, work with developers to build two versions of each key page and decide, with the client, which users will see which version of each key page. Even better, prior to development, perform a qualitative usability test on each page concept to fine-tune the design of each approach, as well as predict the effectiveness of each design concept. When deploying two versions of each page, make sure that each individual user will only see one version, so that you can compare the effectiveness of one approach vs. the other. Remember that the effectiveness of each approach is based on its ability to increase conversion. In other words, how effective is the approach in achieving the specific objectives that the Information Architect and the client identified.

Which is better, sweeping changes or incremental improvements?

Information Architects are often asked to provide a completely new architecture and design solution for their clients' digital user experiences. In some cases, however, the client may have been better served by making a few tweaks, or optimizing a key page. In fact, the IA and client's sense of satisfaction is too often tied to the magnitude of the change, not the positive impact of the change. The following are reasons why incremental change may be better than sweeping change, when redesigning a client's digital user experience:

1. Don't try to solve too many issues at once. Information Architects can generally eyeball a web site or screen interface and come up with a thousand things wrong with the design. In fact, we have a name for this type of analysis. It is called "heuristic evaluation." But, just because there are a thousand things that can be corrected, it doesn't mean that they need to be corrected all at once. Sometimes, tackling a large quantity of enhancements reduces the likelihood that issues will be prioritized and planned properly. Going through the effort of prioritizing enhancements will force IAs and clients to plan for enhancement phases, measurement of enhancements, as well as subsequent phases, based on a sensible, product road map.  

2. Only invest in Design improvements that achieve identified objectives. Most organizations require a justification of investment when making changes to an existing digital experience or web site. If an enhancement cannot be mapped back to a measurable business requirement or objective, it may not be worth investing money to change. Go through the effort of identifying all proposed enhancements and map each one to a measurable goal for the business. 

3. Don't try to fix what isn't broken. Sometimes, as Information Designers, we react emotionally to trendy new interface design patterns. Unfortunately, not everything new works better than a tried-and-true, conventional interface element. Be sure to measure the performance of interfaces that you propose to change, prior to changing them. Conduct a usability test to see which design pattern is more intuitive. 

4. Deploy a manageable set of enhancements at a time. QA managers will tell you that it is easier to perform quality assurance on a smaller set of features per deployment. New enhancements often cause new issues to old code.  

5. Don't disorient your users by making sweeping changes at once. It is a fact, that good usability comes as a result of repeated usage. While change is sometimes needed, it can be disorienting for repeat users if an entire system changes overnight. It is true, that usage of a newly designed web site drops immediately after a redesign. Hopefully, the numbers climb back up after users become more familiar with new interfaces.

Begin planning for social media integration

Businesses that are new to social media platforms tend to approach social media integration by assuming that their first step should be to launch a Facebook or Twitter presence, and then, “watch what happens.”  More often than not, this “knee-jerk” approach to social media will not achieve meaningful results for the business. The planning and approach to social media integration should be no different than any other marketing initiative. It requires goals, planning, and measurement. This approach applies to the integration of social media tactics as well. In the case of social media, the platform may be different, but the business need is not.

The following are key steps to implementing a successful social media strategy:

Identify business objectives and key performance indicators  - Work with clients to identify the underlying business challenges that tactics, such as social media, are intended to achieve. Document business objectives with clients to identify the right digital strategy and tactics to implement. Help the business identify its key performance indicators. These are metrics against which the success of deployed tactics will be measured. 

Understand target audience behavior – A user-centered design (UCD) methodology begins with end-user investigation, to identify key tasks and interactions with our clients’ brands. When planning for social media integration, identify the level of social and “hyper-social” behavior, exhibited by target end-users. Additionally, identify the optimal platforms and nature of the “social hierarchy” that exists within clients’ end-users’ social graphs. Your investigation should result in end-user personas that identify the behaviors of “key influencers” of the social hierarchy. Understanding their behaviors helps to accommodate their needs through the delivery of relevant content. Winning over the “social authorities,” within a social network, is key to the viral adoption of a business’ social tactics.

Identify relevant content – The key to a successful social media strategy is providing relevance and value to followers. Audit clients' existing content to understand what is relevant and valuable to their customers. Then, plan for distribution of that content, in regular, “bite-sized chunks,” across digital channels. In this phase, identify the right social media platforms for distribution of content assets. The goal is to help clients understand where their customers are interacting socially, and to provide their customers with the content that will help them drive engagement with their brand.

Develop a digital strategy & tactics that satisfy business objectives – Using the output of steps 1-3, as indicated above, plan a social media strategy and tactical execution aimed at achieving business objectives. A comprehensive strategy needs to address the following questions, “who the business is targeting?,” “what are the behaviors and content needs of the target audience?,” “what type of content will be delivered?,” and “what social media platforms will be leveraged for content deployment?”

Measure key performance indicators and plan for continuous optimization – Key performance indicators should be identified prior to development of tactics, as described in step 1, above. Once social media tactics have been identified and deployed, their performance against these important metrics should be continuously measured. If tactics are not achieving goals, they need to be enhanced. The following are relevant performance indicators to social media:

The level of the brand’s social influence:

• Strength – the likelihood that the brand is being discussed on social media platforms
• Sentiment – the ration of positive mentions vs. negative ones on social media platforms
• Passion- the likelihood that individuals who discuss the brand will do so repeatedly
• Reach – the measure of the range of influence of the brand

Of course, any successful initiative to integrate social media tactics require additional considerations beyond “a strategic framework.” Successful social media campaigns need continuous attention. Engaging in social media is like having an ongoing conversation with your customer. A business needs to have a personality, point-of-view, relevant content, as well as enough support to directly address specific thoughts and concerns from its customers.

A good idea can come from anyone.

At interactive agencies, there is usually a strong tendency for Creative team members to actively ignore, or even suppress, ideas that are generated "outside of the Creative" team. I am guilty of this crime, but am now actively trying to keep my mind open to new perspectives. Client initiatives need to accomplish a wide variety of business, user, and brand objectives, therefore, ALL agency disciplines should be invited into the brainstorming session. As long as certain rules are followed, and the project budget can accommodate it, clients will benefit from the agency using a multi-disciplinary approach to solve their challenges...even their Creative ones.

Rules are important to brainstorm sessions, however, and the following are really important ones:

1. Ensure that disciplines outside of the Creative Team are not using time that they need to be spending elsewhere, to engage in a Creative brainstorm. If all else is on schedule, by all means, use their brains too.

2. Define, and constantly remind everyone, of the specific goals and objectives that the ideas generated are trying to accomplish. Once more, I emphasize that "Design is not Art." Only ideas that can produce measurable results, and accomplish client objectives, will be considered.

3.  A team member who is skilled in brainstorm moderation should guide the sessions. The most useful ideas will be produced when a thought-leader facilitates the brainstorm. Ideas are generated as a result of the rules of the brainstorm, not in spite of them.

4.  Each team member must come prepared to present the client's challenges to the internal team, from the perspective of their respective discipline.

5.  Final decisions with respect to how much effort and emphasis is placed on specific ideas rest in the hands of the Creative discipline leads. Project Managers and Developers may propose IA and Design tactics, but the level to which these ideas are presented to clients need to be moderated by the Information Architect and Art Director on the team.

In addition to paying attention to the rules of Creative brainstorming, it is important to begin identifying and channeling the type of feedback offered from "non-Creative (from an organization perspective, not based on the individual)" disciplines: 

Roles of Non-Creative Disciplines in Creative Brainstorms

• Account Managers - AMs should be the most familiar with the client's business challenges and objectives. Additionally, they understand the client's budgetary constraints and cycles better than anyone on the team. Harness this knowledge and look at all ideas through the Account Manager lens. Will a tactic accomplish a key client objective? Will the client ever be able to pay for the development of a specific idea?
• Project Managers - Given a specific client objective, PMs can be extremely useful in sequencing the types of ideas brought to the table. Their knowledge of the project timeline and budget can help the Creative Team prioritize tactics based on the reality of when tactics can realistically be deployed.
• Developers - Innovative companies view the Tech team as a Creative discipline. The fabric of Interactive Design is Code. The performance and elegance of the Design is dependent on the decisions of developers and architects. Pay close attention to their ideas and respect their point-of-view about the level of effort to develop each volunteered tactic. 

Learn to be "open," when it comes to listening and considering ideas from unexpected sources, as "openness" a fundamental element of Creativity. It takes practice and patience, but, ultimately results in better Design for your clients.

What is the most important objective for Design?

There are many ways to measure Design concepts and execution. Design needs to be measured because it is intended to achieve specific business objectives. The following are key objectives to evaluate the success of a Design: 

1. Engagement: How successful is a Design in driving key, end-user behaviors?
2. Usability: How intuitively does a Design accommodate key, end-user behaviors?
3. Adoption: What percentage of a potential end-user population repeatedly engage with the Design?

How are these objectives prioritized? Which objective is most important? The short and obvious answer is, "they are ALL important." Design professionals, however, have created confusion by delegating ownership of specific Design objectives to different Design disciplines, resulting in dissent over the prioritization of Design objectives. The dangerous outcome of this dissent, is that one discipline's prioritization wins out, and Design is impacted.

For example, prioritizing Usability over Adoption may result in a highly intuitive, but generic and dull, Design. Over time, the adoption of such an experience may diminish to the point where the business objectives for the Design fail.  If Engagement is prioritized over Usability, on the other hand, a Design may work hard to drive certain user behaviors that are not easily accomplished via the user interface. The level of user frustration that may result, in this scenario, may also have a negative impact on the adoption of the Design.

By compartmentalizing Design objectives and ownership into separate disciplines (Strategy, Information Architecture, and Visual Design), a cohesive user experience design and vision may be lost. All Design disciplines need to keep in mind that they exist to support a business, can do this successfully by listening to the "Voice of the Customer," and realize that the successful adoption of the Design has the potential, over time, to result in interaction design patterns, best practices, and usability conventions. Therefore, Design disciplines need to establish closer collaboration methodologies or consolidate into a single discipline. Further fragmentation of the ownership of Design, and the accountability for its total set of objectives, can only result in its ultimate failure.