A Year's Worth of Information Design [INFOGRAPHICS]

2012 was a tremendous year for the Experience Design Team, at Empathy Lab. We worked on groundbreaking Media and Entertainment, E-Commerce, and Responsive Web Design projects. Additionally, it was a year in which our clients asked us to teach them how to conceptualize, design, and develop multi-device applications.

With so many new and exciting projects, came the opportunity to document and visualize strategy, tactics, and Design process.

Enjoy a few samples of information design, from 2012!

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I. DESIGN PROCESS

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1. The Many Facets of UX Design [INFOGRAPHIC] - UX Designers play many roles on a project. They must conduct primary end-user research, then utilize the findings to Design intuitive information architecture and interaction design, within the constraints of technical platforms.

 

2. Empathy Lab's Experience Design Process: Overview [INFOGRAPHIC] - High-level look at Empathy Lab's Design process, which I re-engineered to be more collaborative, iterative, and cross-device appropriate.
 
   

3. Output of Empathy Lab's Experience Design Process [INFOGRAPHIC] - Deliverables and output of the Experience Design phases outlined in the "Experience Design Process - Overview" graphic.

 

4. The UX Design Process [INFOGRAPHIC] -This graphic illustrates the User Experience Design Process, from planning to design, at a high-level.

 

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II. UX STRATEGY

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1. Responsive Web Design & Native Apps in the UX Lifecycle [INFOGRAPHIC] - Regarding Responsive Web and Native Apps, it isn't a question of which, but when, in the UX, one technique should be used over another.
 

 

2. Mobile Commerce Strategy & Tactics [INFOGRAPHIC] - This infographic aligns mobile commerce, digital tactics, to stages of the mobile shopping lifecycle.




3. Experience Design NOW! [INFOGRAPHIC]- Experience Design treats content in an entirely different manner than traditional web design. Designers need to evolve their view of the canvas, from a single-channel, fixed content page, to a multi-channel, fluid content model.




4. Know Your Digital Media Consumer [INFOGRAPHIC]- With businesses rushing to extend their digital distribution of media to connected consumer devices, and Cable television threatened by the onslaught of "OTT" (Over the Top) services, it is more important than ever to truly understand the "Digital Media Consumer". Who are they? What are their likely behaviors? What tasks will they need to accomplish, when accessing broadband user experiences across devices?


 


5. Social Multimedia [INFOGRAPHIC] - My vision for Social TV, is what I call "Social Multi­media". It is a service that delivers ALL the world's entertainment to consumer devices, to be experienced and shared. This service empowers end-users to be their own "networks", to re-broadcast content to members of their social graph.

 

 

6. Digital Tactics for eCommerce Personas [INFOGRAPHIC] - Success or failure, for an eCommerce business, is linked to an understanding of the different behaviors of online shoppers. Developing successful tactics to support unique behaviors, tasks, and motivations, means getting familiar with the following eCommerce personas.

 

7. 2012 iOS/Android Traffic Snapshot [INFOGRAPHIC] - Despite being only 33.4% of the total smartphone market, iPhones drive 67% of total internet traffic, from smartphones.

8. Measuring Quality [INFOGRAPHIC] - For a business, quality is not only important, but measurable. Quality impacts a brand’s influence, so businesses should strive to develop a framework to measure it.

 

 
9. Digital Tactics in 2013 [INFOGRAPHIC] - 2013 brings about tremendous change in technology, and consumer behavior. Digital strategists and designers must understand the pros and cons of many new tactical decisions they'll make, this year.

Mobile Commerce Strategy and Tactics

When designing for mobile commerce, aside from the decision to deliver the experience via the mobile web browser, or through a native application, businesses must decide how to design the best "eCommerce" user experience; an experience that satisfies mobile use cases, both in, and out, of the store. The first step of this Design process should be to analyze the modern day, "shopping cycle", in general. How do shoppers of a particular brand (and competitor brands) currently use their mobile devices to support each phase of this cycle?  

1. Discovery - finding products  

2. Engagement -contextualizing products

3. Conversion - buying products

4. Reward - getting incentives to shop frequently Next, the business must decide whether their mobile experience is more likely to be discovered via mobile search, or will consumers be likely to download an app? Much of this decision also depends on whether the business wishes to take advantage of features of the device, that cannot be accessed via a mobile web, browser-based, experience. The following infographic visualizes the mobile shopping cycle, in four phases, and suggests tactics to support shoppers, at each phase.



 

Social Multimedia - The Future of Entertainment [INFOGRAPHIC]

Everyone, from disruptive "over-the-top" entertainment service providers, to monolithic cable companies, have a point-of-view about how to deliver "Social TV" to a younger, and increasingly social, consumer base. They've built prototypes and had discussions in convention halls, but we've yet to see a video entertainment service that provides a level of socialization, above and beyond "contextual tweeting" and "liking" on a second screen app.

I guess that I am just as much an offender, as I've developed my own POV. My vision for social, TV entertainment, what I call "social multimedia", is described below, and visualized in an accompanying infographic. In order to develop a concept for a service that would provide the most value, and, hopefully, the widest adoption, I had to think about the current challenges facing "entertainment service" providers. The catch is, that the solution to these challenges had to include social engagement.  

1. Digital Distribution Breeds Piracy - As physical media got transformed into digital media, physical distribution channels and retailers got replaced with digital distribution. This new form of distribution had a significant impact on entertainment service industries, such as publishing, music, and home video. Digital distribution led to revenue loss through increased piracy, causing content developers to avoid social tactics, as they didn't want to be perceived as enabling the "sharing of media". Of course, they've never been able to figure out how to provide a compelling level of social engagement, on an entertainment platform, which, in turn, improves content discovery. That's the goal of social discovery...improve relevant content discovery. While that may be the goal of "social discovery", it doen't harness the power of a large community to be the legal distributors of the digital media. This is a key challenge that "Social Multimedia" attempts to solve.  

2. Offline Entertainment Services Still Exist - Believe it or not, there are still forms of entertainment that are primarily, if not totally, offline! We live in a Digital World. We live in an instantaneous culture. It's time to digitize legacy, offline entertainment, such as 1st run, theatrical releases, live music concerts, and DJ/Club appearances. The question is, how can a digital application enable content producers to broadcast offline entertainment, to digital devices? Read on.  

3. Social Media is Still "Only for the Lonely" - The holy grail, for Social TV, is the ability to share experiences, not share hyperlinks to experiences. Social Multimedia absolutely requires "co-experiences" to drive engagement. Shared experiences are the heart of this vision. So, how does Social Multimedia work? Expand the infographic, below, and continue to the explanation of the concept.



 


Concept #1 - Aggregate and Broadcast ALL of the World's Entertainment - Since we all know that the service with the highest quality content will win the war of consumer adoption, my entertainment service needs to aggregate ALL forms of entertainment (online and offline). So, how will this service enable the distribution of offline entertainment? The Social Multimedia service will provide a compelling value proposition to content developers, by giving them an application to allow them to broadcast their content directly to consumers! Or, in the case of a live venue, they can wait until traditional tickets get sold out (when a theater reaches capacity), and begin taking digital reservations. I'll explain... Imagine that you are on a date, and you decide to take her to the movies. Unfortunately, when you arrive, you notice that the tickets are all sold out, for the showtime of the movie that you both wanted to watch. No worries! You can now purchase digital reservations to stream the movie to your Smart TV, after the theater sells out its capacity. Just walk up to the digital kiosk, at the theater, and purchase your digital ticket, to stream the movie, up to 24 hours after purchase. You can see how this service could apply to other, offline forms of entertainment, such as music concerts.  

Concept #2 - Enable Multi-Device Ecosystems - To enable true, multi-screen interactivity, which is a must for a service/application that will offer robust socialization, as well as the ability to provide "lean back" consumption, the service must recognize nearby devices. Device recognition and synchronicity will enable the two modes of this service:  

a. Lean-Back Mode - Assign one of the devices in "lean-back" mode, in order to passively consume digital media content. In other words, tell your Smart TV that you want to watch TV, and only watch TV, on that screen.  

b. Companion Mode - Assign any of the other devices in the room the ability to provide "Second Screen" and "Social" features. Doesn't sound revolutionary, huh? That's because I haven't discussed one of the key features of this service. Keep reading.  

Concept #3 - Give Users the Ability to Broadcast What They are Watching - Ok. Here it is. Other services will let you Tweet or read Tweets about what you are watching. This service will enable users to connect with followers and friends, and, in companion mode, invite them to watch the film, TV show, movie, or rock concert that they are watching...in real time! How can this be legal? Simple. To accept an invitation from a friend, one must authenticate, or sign-up with the entertainment service providing the content (like Netflix). Once authenticated, the co-viewing experience can begin!  

Concept #4 - Location-Based, Broadcast Advertising - The first question I've been asked, by the people who have been exposed to this idea, is "how are you going to make money?" There are two ways to "monetize" Social Multimedia. First, content partners pay to have their content included in this entertainment aggregator service (cable companies, streaming video providers, movie theaters, studio networks, indie artists, etc.). Second, revenue could be collected through a "next generation" advertising model. Here's the scenario... You are with your buddies, in NYC, trying to decide which bar or club to hit next. You open the Social Multimedia app (name TBD), and, in map view (or augmented reality view) notice that the DJs are broadcasting their playlist. Simply tap into a stream to preview the type of music that's spinning in any of the nearby clubs. Certainly, that's a compelling way to get patrons into a bar or club. Another revenue stream comes from digital purchases of digital media. You are walking down the street, and notice some dude who looks like he is rocking out with his smartphone and headphones. The app tells you that he is broadcasting his playlist. You decide to tap into his stream, like what you hear, and decide to purchase one of the tracks that was played, from iTunes. That's another way to generate revenue, via this type of service.  

Conclusion - Although there are many concepts, challenges, and technical hurdles in my vision of Social Multimedia, I feel that there is also great opportunity waiting for those who might take the risk. If an entertainment service could successfully convince a critical mass of content providers (online and offline) to team-up to provide consumers the high-quality entertainment they seek, on demand (a no-brainer, if you think about it), and they were able to provide any end-user the ability to become a "re-broadcaster" of this content to friends and followers, they just might win the war for consumers' living rooms.

Jonathan Lupo
http://www.twitter.com/userexperience

Visualization of the UX Design Process

User Experience Design isn't magic, although it does require the Designer to know the "formula". Once she understands this process, it is easy for her to create intuitive user experiences, for any digital platform, over and over again.

For the novice UX Designer, and for those who already know this process, I've provided a quick "one sheet" visualization of the UX Design process. It should be noted that this graphic focuses on the Design process, but is not inclusive of the Design validation process. Most will argue that Design validation IS part of the overall UX Design process, and I would agree. I want to develop that "one sheet" as a separate graphic.

Multiple Devices. Cloned Experiences?

Usability Engineers and Technologists who think they understand the basic principles of User Experience Design often brag that their latest UI is one that can be rendered consistently from device to device. They'll go on to state that a consistent User Experience across devices is "best practice" for UX Design.

If their interpretation of that "best practice" is the replication of a user interface across multiple types of devices and form factors, I say they are missing the point of User Centered Design..big time!

Multi-platform, brand consistency is, indeed, important, in terms of the aesthetics, personality, and the taxonomy of products, services, and content. But that doesn't equate to the need to present the user the same user interface, or even product and features, from one device to another. This practice implies that the Design team has no idea how different devices may be used differently by end-users.

It is necessary to extend our behavioral personas, which may focus on single device usage, or a "single scenario" involvng one device, to include scenarios involving multiple devices...even multiple, concurrent, device usage.

Mobile and Desktop = Solitary Experiences
It is helpful to understand the number of people likely interacting with the user interface, when designing the UX for a device application. For example, a mobile phone, desktop computer, or laptop, probably doesn't get passed around too often. In the case of the mobile phone, a device that could easily get passed from one individual to another, it may be odd to think of this device as a "solitary device", yet the thought of another individual using my smartphone feels like an uncommon use case.

Also important in determining whether or not an application may be shared, is the physical size of the device that the app UI sits atop.  If the application is intended for desktop computer or laptop, then the bulkiness of these devices, and the likely context of their usage, influences our decision to design solitary user experiences for them.

Tablet = Sometimes Solitary, Sometiomes Shared Experiences
The tablet provides an ideal form-factor to share an experience with multiple end-users. A simple scenario is a well-designed, television remote control application that can be passed from one member of the family to another, while watching TV, in the living room. A second scenario is a digital magazine application that is ideal for sharing.

In the first scenario, the TV remote app, we may design the User Interface to accomodate multiple, end-users. We may do this, by introducing sub-accounts that store bookmarked channels based on the preferences of each, individual in the household. The important thing to note, is that the UI may need to present different data, based on who is using the device.

In the second scenario, the digital magazine, we may still design the UI to target a single, end-user, at-a-time, even though we know the device may get passed around.

Mobile = Different Use Cases than Desktop
A business should focus on the differences of a digital UX, versus the consistency of the UX across devices, when designing a mobile application. Given the context of usage of a mobile device, as well as the small screen form factor, it makes no sense to "miniaturize the desktop UX", and shove it into a mobile app.

End-users have their mobile devices wherever they go, but they use mobile apps for different reasons than desktop apps. When designing an application for a mobile device, it is important to think of one or two, likely, high-priority use cases for that application, in a mobile context. Don't try to replicate every feature in your desktop application for your mobile app. Document likely mobile scenarios, and use cases, first, before tackling the user experience design of your mobile application.

Conclusion
There's alot of work to be done, prior to launching a single digital application in your total digital ecosystem. It involves consideration of your end-user and consumer behavior across every digital touchpoint, throughout the lifecycle of their interaction with your brand (which, hopefully, has no end-point). There is no simple, "best practice" to suggest that every user interface and product feature has to be the same on every device. Devices are components of a tool-box to aid the user through her journey, not a cloned tool, of various sizes and form factors, that has a single-minded, repeated function.

What has your UX Manager done for you, lately?

You may have entered the UX field indir­ectly, through mento­rship, or by studying peers who you admire. Addit­ionally, as you evolve as a UX pract­itioner, or look for new emplo­yment in the field, it is important that you seek an employer who meets your personal and profe­ssional needs. When you take an inter­view, remember that it isn’t a one-way inter­rogation, but the start of a profe­ssional relat­ionship. For it to work, you must feel that you are getting as much out of the relat­ionship as your future employer is getting from you. Further, if you are currently employed as a UX pract­itioner, it is reaso­nable to ask yourself if you are getting the most out of your manager. The following are profe­ssional and personal needs that you should expect your UX manager to fulfill, for you to evolve as a profe­ssional, and as a Creative human:  

Inspi­ration – Working in the Design field, day after day, requires a daily dose of inspi­ration. That inspi­ration may come from your work envir­onment, from your personal life, from books, your peers, etc. You should also expect to be inspired by your UX manager. How often do you seek inspi­ration from her? Does she impress you with her work, process, blogging, portf­olio, or leade­rship? Is she active in the profe­ssional commu­nity, or publi­shed? If you find yourself in a Creative rut, do you feel comfo­rtable walking into your manager’s office to brain­storm? And, do you feel like you can squeeze instant value out of that session? You should.  

Oppor­tunity – It should be evident to you, that your manager is gradually incre­asing the level of compl­exity of your work, or putting you into new, and poten­tially uncom­fortable, situa­tions. These situa­tions might involve putting you in front of clients, execu­tives, or giving prese­ntations. There is risk in doing so, but the goal is to give you oppor­tunities to grow, as well as scale the team’s leade­rship. If your manager isn’t exposing you to new situa­tions or oppor­tunities, it’s time to have a discu­ssion with her about “where this relat­ionship is heading.”  

Leadership – Ever find yourself in a difficult situa­tion, that you don’t know how to deal with? It may involve a team member, a client, a work issue, or a Creative problem? The ability to solve problems in the workplace is the mark of a good leader, and a good manager.

Skills – As an employee, your perfo­rmance and skills are always under evalu­ation. Your manager knows exactly where your strengths lie, within the User Centered Design process. Do you know what her strengths are? When was the last time she designed a study, analyzed UX research, conce­ptualized a strategy, or visua­lized one? Is she capable of producing innov­ative, intui­tive, or engaging inter­action design? Has she designed a mobile appli­cation or respo­nsive web exper­ience? It is vital that you believe in your UX manager as a pract­itioner as well as an admin­istrator. That’s the goal of mento­rship. Learn through obser­vation and inspi­ration.

The field of UX is extremely compe­titive. The pace of techn­ology is warp-­speed. You need to develop your skills. You should expect that your UX manager is one-step ahead of you, and willing to distr­ibute her knowl­edge. If you do not believe this to be true, then you are not getting the most out of her.

Digital Tactics for eCommerce Personas

Success or failure, for an eCommerce business, is linked to an understanding of the different behaviors of online shoppers. Developing successful tactics to support unique behaviors, tasks, and motivations, means getting familiar with the following eCommerce personas.
Get the full infographic here

Browse more data visualizations.

Know Your Digital Media Consumer [INFOGRAPHIC]

With businesses rushing to extend their digital distribution of media to connected consumer devices, and Cable television threatened by the onslaught of "OTT" (Over the Top) services, it is more important than ever to truly understand the "Digital Media Consumer". Who are they? What are their likely behaviors? What tasks will they need to accomplish, when accessing broadband user experiences across devices? Empathy Lab has collaborated with media companies to answer these questions, in an effort to help them extend their distribution of digital media products and services. The following personas have distinct needs, as it relates to digital media entertainment, and digital media service providers should focus their service design efforts around satisfying these needs.

"THE VALUE HUNTER" "The Value Hunter" is a consumer who is "shopping" for a digital media entertainment service. She is likely examining the value proposition of services in her consideration set, and comparing features, in an "apples-to-apples" manner. To satisfy the needs of "The Value Hunter", entertainment companies should make it easy to discover the value proposition for their service offering, and enable consumers to compare service features with competing services.

"THE SPORTS FAN" "The Sports Fan" is an individual who needs to stay connected with his favorite teams as well as the rivals of his favorite teams. Give him the ability to receive notifications to alert him to watch his team's games, before they are played. Provide him with scores and stats, to increase his knowledge about the sports that he loves!

"MS. CATCH-UP" "Ms. Catch-up" is a busy professional who cannot be tied down to a network timetable, to watch episodes of her favorite shows (like "Dexter"). She likely owns a DVR, and is a "time-shift" viewer of programs. Satisfying her needs requires enabling her to quickly find, watch, and receive notifications about the latest episodes of her favorite TV shows.

"THE MOVIE BUFF" "The Movie Buff" is a collector, and someone who prides himself on owning a high-end, home theater system...so the content quality better live up to his standards! Offer him high-definition, full-screen video, and hig-quality, stereo audio, to play on his surround-sound speakers. "The Movie Buff" typically looks for movies within a specific genre, so he needs the ability to filter content that way, as well as "by Director", and "by Actor". "The Movie Buff" craves user and expert reviews and ratings, so that he doesn't waste his precious time on terrible flicks!

"THE CORD CUTTER" "The Cord Cutter" probably doesn't own a TV, and, perhaps, never has owned a TV. He spends most of his day working, and consuming content, on his desktop computer. "The Cord Cutter" doesn't understand why he can't watch his favorite TV Shows and Movies on any of his connected devices (smartphone tablet). And, why should he pay for networks and content that he'll never watch? The key is, not to force him to..and to provide him with flexible service and payment options.

"THE FAMILY" "The Family" is a group persona, and each member of the household has a distinct set of needs. In order to deliver relevant programming to each member of the family, it is important to offer a unique set of recommendations and customization options, tailored to each sub-account. When considering the needs of children, in the household, it is important to offer parents more control over programming that they have access to. Parental controls, and the ability to block "mature" content, is extremely important to satisfy the needs of this persona.

The Complete INFOGRAPHIC -

I've grouped each persona into a consolidated infographic, below:

Browse more infographics.

Applications Are For Humans

Empathy Lab believes that intuitive and engaging interfaces are designed with an in-depth understanding of your end-users’ needs, behaviors, and motivations. Here is an overview of our behavioral research practice.

Apps are for Humans

View more PowerPoint from Jonathan Lupo

Trends in Mobile Commerce [INFOGRAPHIC]

Businesses that wish to adopt mobile commerce tactics as part of their overall, digital strategy, must first understand how consumers shop, and what tasks they perform with their mobile devices and tablets, while shopping.

When we think of "mcommerce", there is a tendency to think about it as driving sales through an application or mobile-optimized website. When mobile use cases are carefully considered, however, it becomes clear, that mobile commerce is as much about driving sales "in brick and mortar stores" , as it is, electronically (eCommerce).

I've created an infographic that highlights some recent "facts about mobile commerce." I find these quick stats useful, as a starting point, to developing an overall mobile strategy for clients, based on how their consumers are likely to use their mobile devices at key points within the shopping life-cycle.

You Conducted UX Research. So What?

In business, research means nothing until it leads to conclusions that are actionable. Unless your firm gets paid to publish studies, the research that you conduct is probably intended to "green light" a project, plan an information architecture, or validate a design direction. That means that the planning, execution, and analysis of the study needs to be focused on specific objectives. Good research is costly, and any appearance of financial waste, not only jeapordizes the potential for further researh, but may put a client relationship at risk.

Beware of the "Open-Enders" -
Qualitative behavioral research should be open-ended, in that the line of questioning should not lead participants to a closed-ended response, like a "Yes" or "No" question would. Additionally, questions should not lead to a specific response that betrays the researcher's point of view (facilitator bias). Although the types of questions asked should be "open-ended," the agenda for the research interview should not be left "open-ended." Actionable research requires preparation and a solid line-of-questioning. There are those who believe that it is not important to plan out the interview framework and line-of-questioning. Some feel it is ok to leave the planning and interview strategy "open-ended." I say, beware these "Open-Enders," because their research may not be focused on specific objectives. Unfocused research can waste a client's money and ruin an agency's credibility.

Planning for UX Research -
There are many ways to planning for UX research. Here are a few:

1. Identify application or system design objectives - in order to plan a taxonomy and information architecture for an application, a UX Designer must document the key tasks that end-users are likely to perform. From a research perspective, this means developing a line-of-questioning intended to aid a participant's recall of similar tasks performed recently. The goal, then, should be to have the participant walk the researcher through these tasks, so that the researcher may observe the participant's "task flow." Thus, the application design can be modeled to intuitively facilitate task completion.

2. Aim to focus the research on what the client does not know about their end-users - My previous blog entries emphasize the importance of understanding what a client already knows about their end-users, based on any research they may have conducted in the recent past. Find the gaps, and develop a study that aims to fill the gaps with knowledge about the end-user segment's behavior.

3. Plan the interview carefully - There are many behavioral research interview techniques available, to gain a better understanding of end-user behavior.

First and foremost, I always recommend contextual inquiry, because it provides the necessary context (environment) to aid a user's recall of daily tasks.

Plan a portion of the research to be an interview, and a portion to be behavioral observation. In order to do so, be ready with a line of questioning that prompts the participant to go online to complete a task.

A diary study is a good technique to learn about a participant's behavior over a period of time. In order to plan for a diary study, however, you must be prepared to recruit and contact the participant weeks in advance of the interview, so that the diary can be reviewed with the participant at the interview. So, it really all boils down to preparation and planning. Maximize your time with end-users to elicit actionable feedback that will inform your Design, Digital Strategy, and build upon your clients' existing body of knowledge.

The Collaboration Trap

Interactive agencies all promote the fact that they work "collaboratively" among disciplines. Sometimes, however, this claim tranaslates to informal methods, such as seating employees in an open floor plan, or merely putting interdisciplinary project teams together, in a "war room." Don't get me wrong, I think these are all great ways to start a dialogue between employees with different sets of skills, however, a formal "collaboration plan" is a more efficient and predictable way to get value from this conversation.

Don't fall into the trap. Set goals. 
Informal collaboration can be costly and inefficient. A well-intentioned meeting of the minds, with no agenda, can result in wasted time, angry employees, and, more importantly, bad decisions. When timelines and budgetary parameters are tight, goals need to be set, for collaboration. For example, make sure that collaborating teams know when actual decisions need to be made, for key screens of an application. Goal-setting should be done upfront, and put into a project plan, prior to "brainstorming."

Establish ground rules.
I'll get back to this point later, but there are delegates from each discipline present in a successful, cross-discipline collaboration. Make each delegate "the authority" for their respective discipline. Establish rules for collaboration and brainstorming, like:

1. Solutions must be accompanied with a rationale, based on meeting the needs of the business, end-user, or brand

2. Solutions must be visualized, or clearly articulated, to be considered.

3. x number of hours are allotted for each decision.

"Socialize" concepts.
Imagine a scenario, where an Art Director and a User Experience Designer (and the gap is narrowing between the two roles, by the way) debate the layout of an a screen for an application. The UX claims that her layout achieves likely use cases, as validated by client research. The Art Director presents her argument about proper layout, balance, and focus. Each employee has valid points. So, how long does this "stalemate" last? Who decides the next move?

Since the User Experience Designer and the Art Director are both adept at visualizing their conceptual directions, they should do so, applying medium fidelity to the illustrations of their respective solutions. After returning, quickly, with sketches in hand (using a napkin, Visio, InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, whatever), the two need to broaden their conversation to include a Business Analyst (or an Account Manager) and a Technologist (who is encouraged to be brought into the dialogue as soon as possible). These two roles bring other factors, such as business objectives and technical feasibility, to bear on the decision.

Make an informed decision.
Bringing others into the mix, gradually, with differing perspectives, may help the team make decisions and move forward. "Design by committee," however, isn't an efficient process. Ultimately, after input has been solicted from the group, one discipline lead needs to "cast the final vote." If decisions are, ultimately, UX-related, it should be the lead UXD, to make the decision. If it is a Visual Design/Brand issue, then, the Art Director should make the final decision.

Decisions can be more-informed by the group's input, but final decisions need to be made by individuals.

The War for Your Living Room

The home video entertainment war between monolithic cable companies and new, cloud-based, "over-the-top" services, has just begun. Until just recently, cable companies owned your living room, and their "pipes and boxes" were the only conduits delivering TV and Movie entertainment to your television set. Those who didn't want to pay cable service premium fees opted to rent physical DVDs from physical DVD retail stores. Cable fought back with On Demand rentals through the television set-top-box. At that moment, the dominant "pipe" carrying the entertainment signal was the one connected to the box that sits atop your TV.

Today, the new entertainment pipe is the one connected to your computer. Via the cloud, it is wirelessly transmitting entertainment to all your connected devices. Technology has enabled a wide array of cloud-based entertainment options to consumers. In this new world, some are opting to "cut the cord" to their set-top-boxes, and choosing to pay for exactly what they want to watch.

Well, not exactly...

The reality of the situation, is that most over-the-top entertainment services lack the content deals that cable companies have garnered through years of relationship-building with networks and studios. So, cable companies are utilizing these relationships to maintain their viability with consumers. A new threat is emerging, however. Some consumers still do not wish to pay premium fees to access hundreds of channels, when all they really want is two or three. Recognizing this, studios are beginning to offer their content directly to consumers, bypassing the cable "middle-man." Studios and networks have begun to go "over-the-top," delivering cloud-based entertainment services via the web, and through mobile device applications.

In order to survive in this new video entertainment landscape, cable companies have few options:

1. Provide more flexible packages and pricing - the main reason why consumers abandon cable TV is because it is expensive. Additionally, you pay for lots of channels you may never watch. If cable companies could figure out how to remain profitable and provide more flexible and relevant service options, they may be more successful in reducing the number of customers who "cut the cord."

2. Re-brand themselves as "entertainment passports" - "Cable TV" is antiquated branding. It reeks of old technology, and places emphasis on the pipe, NOT the entertainment. What is a cable company, then, without the "cable?" It is a set of credentials that enables customers to access the most robust video entertainment, leveraging the relationships that the company has with networks and studios.

3. Unchain themselves from the "set-top-box" - the biggest threat to the cable box isn't a connected iPad or iPhone, it is a connected TV. Yes, consumers are watching video, via over-the-top services on their mobile devices. However, the majority are still watching movies and TV shows on their TV. Cord cutters are using IP enabled boxes to access over-the-top entertainment services directly on their TVs, but that won't be necessary in the near future, when most TVs will access the Internet directly. In that scenario, cable companies must be prepared to offer "over-the-top" service, that can be accessed without a set-top-box.

4. Create brand loyalty with the next generation of "bill payers" - Cable companies need to build a brand with a younger demographic, because it is this demographic who is adopting "over-the-top" services for video entertainment. Many of these consumers do not even have TVs, and are only watching video on their laptops or other mobile screens. Most are on Facebook, and even consuming video entertainment on social network platforms. Cable companies have to integrate with the platforms that are widely adopted by this young demographic.

5. Monitor usage and deliver personalized services - The thing about cable, is that it is mostly "unidirectional." It is difficult to analyze usage patterns for the purpose of service optimization, customization, and personalization. Cloud-based services are increasingly leveraging usage data, via the Internet, to deliver personalized recommendations to consumers. Cable companies must figure out how to deliver "custom entertainment channels" that provide more relevant entertainment to their customers.

Jonathan Lupo - http://www.twitter.com/userexperience

The Importance of Storytelling to UX Design

As web sites and web applications become increasingly modular in their construction, Designers run the risk of creating applications that consist of an endless, near random, stack of modules. This situation is common to many ecommerce experiences. Because it is widely accepted that users "will scroll," there seems to be a willingness to stack modules on top of modules, endlessly, with no sense of hierarchy, or logical narrative.

Take a Step Back to Plan
A key theme to many of my blog entries is the need to plan. Planning is fundamental to Design. When designing the UX of an application, planning needs to happen at many levels. Core user experience planning happens after an assessment of end-user needs, as a result of qualitative behavioral research. In addition to that, however, there needs to be planning from business stakeholders, which should result in a marketing and content strategy. It is a combination of the user needs assessment and the business' content strategy, that results in the framework, or user experience strategy, of a web site or application.

What's the Overall Story?
I've used some jargon to describe the building blocks of the user experience of a web site or application. Really, it boils down to this:

1. What do users expect from the experience?
2. What story does the business want to convey to its users?

A business can enjoy great freedom in storytelling, as long as users can intuitively get what they expect or need from the user experience. The sad fact is, not many businesses are great at telling stories online.

Each Page Tells a Story
The underlying information architecture of an application is the outline of a novel, but each page or screen of the experience tells it's own story. It is important to map these narratives, at the page-level, before engaging in interaction design. Block out regions of each key screen, using low-fidelity wireframes. That will help you define the story that you are telling on each page.

Simplify and Engage
Ernest Hemingway was straightforward and understated. Anne Rice is ornate and rich with detail. When designing for the web, you'll want to lean more towards Ernest. Excessive visual design and content can quickly obscure your story. Make sure that doesn't happen, by creating pages that have real structure, modules that are introduced with bold headers, and copy that is brief and infused with the personality of the brand.

Your web site or application should be a platform for your business to have a conversation with your users. Architect it as such.

Jonathan Lupo - http://www.twitter.com/userexperience

Usability and Engagement: Success Metrics of Design

In an age where every consumer interaction with a brand is measurable across multiple digital channels, it is important to understand which metrics and measures are valuable to you, based upon your role in a business. It is a common mistake to measure everything, at regular intervals, without an understanding of how to make these measurements actionable. Data holds different meaning to different individuals within an organization. It may be used to inform marketing tactics, advertising spending, product development, or user interface design decisions.

Design Measurement
I am a user experience designer, so I will focus on the measurements and research used to assess the success or failure of a Design, within a digital context. User experience designers need to understand how to analyze the user interface of digital applications, in order to assess:

1. The usability of the Design

2. The Design's level of engagement

Usability -
Individuals visit web sites and download applications to achieve specific tasks. User experience designers spend time with these individuals, prior to conceptualizing a Design of an application or web site, to better understand and document the relevant tasks of these individuals. The easier it is for end-users of an application to achieve the tasks that they came to perform, the better the Usability of that application's design and user interface.

Usability Testing-
User experience designers encourage a business to perform Design validation of key elements of an application or web site's Design (usability testing), in order to ensure that anticipated, end-user tasks can be easily completed. Usability testing is a process by which UX Designers recruit participants, who are representative of the target, end-user segment for the Design, and observe them trying to complete key tasks, using the Design. The level of frustration that end-users exhibit, as well as their rate of success or failure, in attempting to complete key tasks, ultimately determines the usability of the Design. Measuring usability, typically, does not require a statistically significant sample size, however, new, online Usability Testing tools do allow for larger populations.

Engagement -
While usability is certainly an important criterion for a Design's success, it is merely "table-stakes." That's because a Design that is highly "Usable" does not ensure that it will be widely adopted by consumers. Therefore, It is also important to measure the level of engagement of the Design.

Engagement Analytics -
Measuring the level of adoption of an application can be done at many levels. This type of measurement is quantitative, and requires a large amount of data. At a high-level, marketers should benchmark the amount of traffic that an application receives, and set goals/projections for a redesigned application interface. However, marketers will need to isolate the key screens that have been redesigned, or new features that have been added to the application, to begin to understand if the new Design is driving engagement and adoption.

Brand Perception and Awareness -
A great way to understand if new products, applications, or Design is affecting the popularity or perception of a brand, is to take the brand's pulse through social media measurement. There are now, four conventional key performance indicators (KPI) that are used to gauge a brand's reach and perception (taken from the online tool, socialmention.com)

1. Strength - likelihood that the brand is being discussed in social media

2. Sentiment - ratio of positive to negative mentions in social media

3. Passion - likelihood of individuals repeatedly mentioning the brand in social media

4. Reach - measurement of the range of the brand's influence in social media

As with any other quantitative measurement, benchmarks should be taken prior to new Design enhancements, or the introduction of new marketing campaigns, products, applications, etc. Projections should also be made, based on business objectives. Marketers may, then, effectively utilize these key performance indicators to assess the impact, level of engagement, and likely adoption of brand enhancements (including Design changes).

Jonathan Lupo - http://www.twitter.com/userexperience

Site Map Do's and Don'ts

It may come as a shock to hear this, but, unless your client is a developer or a content strategist, site maps are rarely valuable documents to show them. Why then, is the site map continually socialized to the wrong stakeholders, and incorrectly positioned as a dependency for other Design deliverables (Which we know will result in the site map becoming a road block for the rest of the Design process)?

Site maps confuse and distract certain stakeholders, because:

• Site maps are abstract, system-level documents - They document a system, but are not visually representative of that system at an interface level. Consequently, they take a certain level of extrapolation to understand how the hierarchy works, at a page, or screen, level.
• Site maps can appear dense or complex - Site maps take time to study and understand. You'll likely have about an hour, max, to present your site architecture to your client. How on Earth are you going to convey that level of complexity and detail, in that amount of time, especially to a "C-Level" executive? When designing a site map, think about simplifying the diagram, or presenting multiple views of the map, "peeling away the layers of the onion," to gradually expose more detail.
• Site map "approval" is typically considered a dependency for the start of the Design process - Yeah. It's weird to think that everyone on the team expects the Information Architect or User Experience Designer to completely nail the entire taxonomy and flow of an application, without even having sketched a screen or two. Word of advice...don't hold up Design, while awaiting site map approvals.
• Site maps are NOT good for presentation of a UX vision - There are more effective visualizations, infographics, and high-level diagrams that can be utilized to convey the User Experience Vision, or Strategy, for an application, to a marketing executive. The interconnection of pages or screens isn't a visualization of a strategy. It is a visualization of a content hierarchy.

What are site maps good for, then, if they aren't great tools to convey the high-level vision for an application?

• Site maps are good for development and implementation - Site maps are invaluable documents to illustrate to developers, how to construct the hierarchy of pages or screens in the application. It is a document that is generally delivered to a client or team of developers, prior to the screen level user interface designs. That being said, I strongly recommend that site maps are not considered "FINAL," until the very end of the Design process. There. I said it!
• Site maps are good for content development and categorization - Because site maps represent the "outline" of the content, they need to convey, in some cases, the flow of the narrative to the end-user. This is especially true when designing the information architecture of a marketing web site or application. Content strategists and developers will want to map their copy and content to the site map sections and sub-sections.
• Site maps are good for SEO planning - The underlying framework of a web site is extremely important, when planning for the search engine optimization of a web site. It is critical to understand the likely searches that consumers will perform to access the client's web site, and create an information architecture that will, at a primary level, satisfy likely searches. Thus, the site map becomes a communications tool amongst four parties:
• Information Architects/User Experience Designers
• Copywriters
• SEO planners
• Developers

Of course, old habits die hard. It will take a long time before agencies realize that they shouldn't, out of habit, shove the "site map" deliverable at the beginning of a project plan, and require the client "sign-off" on the document before the Design process begins. But, please don't force the client's CEO, or CMO, to sit through that presentation!

Jonathan Lupo - http://www.twitter.com/userexperience

The Proper Use of a Site Map

It may come as a shock to hear this, but, unless your client is a developer or a content strategist, site maps are rarely valuable documents to show them. Why then, is the site map continually socialized to the wrong stakeholders, and incorrectly positioned as a dependency for other Design deliverables (Which we know will result in the site map becoming a road block for the rest of the Design process)?

Site maps confuse and distract certain stakeholders, because:

• Site maps are abstract, system-level documents - They document a system, but are not visually representative of that system at an interface level. Consequently, they take a certain level of extrapolation to understand how the hierarchy works, at a page, or screen, level.
• Site maps can appear dense or complex - Site maps take time to study and understand. You'll likely have about an hour, max, to present your site architecture to your client. How on Earth are you going to convey that level of complexity and detail, in that amount of time, especially to a "C-Level" executive? When designing a site map, think about simplifying the diagram, or presenting multiple views of the map, "peeling away the layers of the onion," to gradually expose more detail.
• Site map "approval" is typically considered a dependency for the start of the Design process - Yeah. It's weird to think that everyone on the team expects the Information Architect or User Experience Designer to completely nail the entire taxonomy and flow of an application, without even having sketched a screen or two. Word of advice...don't hold up Design, while awaiting site map approvals.
• Site maps are NOT good for presentation of a UX vision - There are more effective visualizations, infographics, and high-level diagrams that can be utilized to convey the User Experience Vision, or Strategy, for an application, to a marketing executive. The interconnection of pages or screens isn't a visualization of a strategy. It is a visualization of a content hierarchy.

What are site maps good for, then, if they aren't great tools to convey the high-level vision for an application?

• Site maps are good for development and implementation - Site maps are invaluable documents to illustrate to developers, how to construct the hierarchy of pages or screens in the application. It is a document that is generally delivered to a client or team of developers, prior to the screen level user interface designs. That being said, I strongly recommend that site maps are not considered "FINAL," until the very end of the Design process. There. I said it!
• Site maps are good for content development and categorization - Because site maps represent the "outline" of the content, they need to convey, in some cases, the flow of the narrative to the end-user. This is especially true when designing the information architecture of a marketing web site or application. Content strategists and developers will want to map their copy and content to the site map sections and sub-sections.
• Site maps are good for SEO planning  - The underlying framework of a web site is extremely important, when planning for the search engine optimization of a web site. It is critical to understand the likely searches that consumers will perform to access the client's web site, and create an information architecture that will, at a primary level, satisfy likely searches. Thus, the site map becomes a communications tool amongst four parties:
• Information Architects/User Experience Designers
• Copywriters
• SEO planners
• Developers

Of course, old habits die hard. It will take a long time before agencies realize that they shouldn't, out of habit, shove the "site map" deliverable at the beginning of a project plan, and require the client "sign-off" on the document before the Design process begins. But, please don't force the client's CEO, or CMO, to sit through that presentation!

Jonathan Lupo - http://www.twitter.com/userexperience

Social Marketing: Reach Vs. Engagement

There seem to be two opposing sides on the topic of marketing through Social Media. Although I'm certainly no expert, and never claimed to be, I can say that the side whose platform is "get as many followers as you can," is probably less credible than the those who believe that success on Social is determined by how engaged your followers are with you, and with the content you push.

That being said, social media should be treated like any other marketing medium, and a balance needs to be struck between "Reach" and "Engagement." These are classic marketing objectives that are measureable, with metrics and indicators to allow for improvement over time.

Mobile UX Strategy - Web Site or App?

With the wide consumer adoption of smartphones and tablets, digital consulting firms are proposing mobile tactics as part of a larger digital strategy, to their clients, based on an understanding of their clients' business objectives, competitor landscape, and consumer needs. When proposing this strategy, consultants must decide whether it is more beneficial to their client's business, to develop a native, mobile application, or to build a mobile-optimized, web site.

Recent research seems to suggest that, in general, consumers prefer to engage with native mobile applications (due to their responsiveness, and because they are better able to leverage some of the nifty, user-interface capabilities of the mobile device). However, mobile-optimized web sites enable businesses to be accessible on a wider spectrum of form factors and devices.

The question is, since there are clear benefits to both tactics, how should a business decide which mobile tactic would best meet their specific needs?

The following are key considerations to help a business decide upon a mobile direction ( App vs. Mobile Web Site):

1. How well-known is the client's brand? There is a greater likelihood that consumers will seek and download an app from a well-known brand than a lesser-known brand, so, brands with less awareness are more reliant on app store placement, prominence, and promotion, to gain popularity with consumers. Since an app has a limited "promotional" window within an app store showcase, a lesser-known brand should consider entering the mobile space with a mobile-optimized web site. Why? The client probably already has a traditional web site that has gained a certain amount of organic search engine equity over the course of years. Consumers are more likely to look for services that the client offers, via mobile search, than directly searching for the brand, via app download.

2. What are key, mobile use cases, based on anticipated, consumer behavior? Are they "online" or "offline" use cases? One benefit to native applications, depending on their intended functionality, is that they can sometimes be useful in an "offline" situation. Mobile-optimized web sites, on the other hand, are always accessed via "the cloud," restricting their usage to "online" use cases. A key question a business should ask itself, is whether or not the application needs to function when end-users are offline. If so, a native application may be the way to go.

3. What is the "technographic profile" of the consumer base? The technographic profile of an end-user segment, describes the nature of the segment's likely adoption of relevant technology. An important consideration, when developing a mobile strategy targeted to this segment, is, obviously, whether or not the target segment is likely to adopt the application's intended mobile platform. If not, or if adoption will likely be spread across a wide variety of mobile platforms, the mobile strategy may lean in the direction of mobile-optimized web site, versus a platform-specific application.

4. Will the app functionality need to access data or capabilities native to the mobile device? As mentioned earlier, an application may be more useful, or engaging, if it leverages specific features of a smartphone or tablet, which cannot be accessed by a mobile-optimized web site. If this is the case, choosing to develop a native, mobile application, may make it easier for a client to take advantage of the cool features of the application's intended devices.

5. What is the budget for the mobile initiative? Developing a native, mobile application may be costly for clients with a limited budget (depending on the functionality of the application). Additionally, the native application may need to be redesigned, to be optimized for a variety of form factors, which, ultimately, increases costs. If a client only needs a simple, mobile presence, and wants to be accessible on a wide spectrum of mobile platforms, it may be a good idea to recommend a simple, mobile-optimized, web site.

6. How aggressive is the timeline for the initiative? Aggressive timelines may actually prevent a client from developing a native application, distributed via an "app store" like Apple's. Consultants must factor in the "app store approval process," when planning a mobile application's design, development, and deployment, timeline. If the application does not meet the standards of the app store (and Apple has very strict standards), there is a risk that an aggressive timeline may be blown.

7. Will there be an eCommerce, transactional component, to the mobile application? Currently, all purchases of digital media (music, movies, etc.) initiated via native iOS applications, must end up as iTunes transactions. That means that Apple gets a percentage of each sale initiated through a native iOS application. To avoid paying the fee, a business with redundant digital media products to those found on iTunes, should consider developing a mobile-optimized web site, as a consumer-facing storefront.

In short, the decision to build a native app, or develop a mobile-optimized web site, requires careful consideration. Consultants need to thoroughly examine a client's brand, business, and likely end-user behavior, before making this decision. Making the wrong decision could be costly, miss a window of opportunity, or result in an application that goes largely unnoticed by it's intended audience. As always, planning, through careful investigation of business objectives, as well as likely, end-user behavior, can prevent a failed mobile strategy.

"Just-in-Time" Mobile Apps

With mobile application design and development, "timing is everything."

That's because smartphone users are fickle when it comes to downloading applications. There is a low-barrier to acquiring content, because apps are cheap and quick to download. Unlike desktop software, mobile applications fill end-user desires, cravings, and short-term needs. Mobile apps do not always suit the longer-term needs of end-users. For example, on the days leading up to Hurricane Irene, I scoured Apple's App Store, looking for the best Hurricane Tracker. After the storm, having found an app to suit my short-term needs, I, just as quickly, deleted the application from my iPhone.

My behavior does not appear to be anomalous, judging from a recent study of Mobile App users, conducted by a Massachusetts-based application analytics firm, Localytics.

With thousands of Android, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 apps analyzed, the study found that users do tend to try out new apps, but 26% use the app only once!

This study seems to underscore a need for mobile application developers to think about the timing of their mobile application deployment, as well as the customer "needs" their application is intended to fill. As always, it is recommended that app developers conduct primary research with their end-users, to gain a deep understanding of their likely behavior and engagement with the app. Research for mobile development should include customer investigation around the types of events, motivations, and triggers for mobile application usage.

Another opportunity for mobile application developers seems to be the targeting an application for specific, time-based, events, such as:

1. Holidays
2. Conferences
3. Theatrical Releases
4. Political Events
5. Sporting Events

Thus, app developers may consider capitalizing on a major event, with the understanding that the application is likely to be used once, and then removed.