Jarrett Interaction Design

Dan Ariely’s follow up to Predictably Irrational continues in the same vein of describing human behavior from behavioral economic experiments. It’s got the same tone and voice as his other book, which is a good thing: very personal, funny, and driven by experimental results. This book covers more of how our irrationality can be valuable, rather than a problem. His own personal stories are a common thread, more so in this book than the previous. I wish it had more stories of his experiments and fewer experiential, reflective pieces, but I still highly recommend it. (I listened to this as an audio book, and the narration was very good.)

(cross-posted from my LinkedIn Reading List)

Another UI Stack Exchange question and my answer:

It’s important for me to keep my prototyping in at least two threads, and three if I am trying to understand detailed interactions with animation.

Thread 1: Flow, function, form, and data

• Starting on paper (actually usually a whiteboard design session with others). Focus on screen flow, then major functions and potential layouts of particularly important screens. Try for at least two different ideas.
• Next level of fidelity in Balsamiq. Add functional details, tune the layout, add concrete, meaningful sample data to the screen (in the context of a demonstrable scenario).
• Create a workflow prototype by stringing together a step by step, single path scenario with screens and specific expected interactions to move to the next screen. I tend to use powerpoint, putting all the screen mockups in sequence. This prototype lets you get early feedback with real users by pluralistic walk-throughs, which are very effective for refining concepts, workflows, functional requirements, terminology, etc.
• Iterate early, often, and quickly.

Thread 2: Visual program and style

• Using some of the key mockups from thread 1, visualize them (as comps) in pixel-level detail using Photoshop or some other similar mechanism. Explore color, proportion, visual metaphors, typography, etc. Generate at least 3 ideas.
• Get feedback on these independently of the workflow prototypes. Use preference-testing, AB testing, critiques, charettes, etc.
• Iterate and refine.

Thread 3: Detailed interaction and animation

• Focusing on a single, detailed interaction or animation sequence hack together a functional prototype in whatever tools work best for you: HTML/CSS/JS, Flash, lower-level programming languages, UI component frameworks/libraries, etc. At least two alternative interactions.
• Run a small number of short usability tests including timing data collection. Do comparative tests. Count keystrokes/mouseclicks/gestures.
• Iterate and refine.

In summary, build specific kinds of prototypes for specific purposes… to answer specific questions. No one type works for all situations. Keep the aesthetic concerns out of the workflow/function feedback loop. Use appropriate, effective methods for the different types of questions. “Don’t cross the streams.”

I’ve found that almost all the fundamental design improvements come from thread 1 and thread 2, but thread 3 is necessary if you are going beyond the standard controls or your domain is new/complex/specific (e.g. gestural interactions, multi-dimensional model manipulation, custom controls for a fancy new OS, optimizing human performance in some dimension).

One of the threads on UI Stack Exchange is about how to interview applicants for UI/IA positions… here is my answer (posted on the exchange first, posted here for posterity):

1. A few key behavioral-type questions (“Describe an actual situation in which you…”), in a phone screen before bringing them in for an interview. Not just basic knowledge, but how they think and work.
2. Have them do some prepared design work prior to the interview which they then present to a group at the interview. Need to be able to communicate, persuade, and stay professional and poised in a mixed group.
3. Deeper dives into experience, philosophy, and work approach in the interview.
4. Finally, have them lead a short design session at the whiteboard around a specific area you are working on now. It’s not only a litmus test for them, it should be fun, and you will get some new ideas from the interview even if you don’t hire.

Spend at least 4 hours with them in the on-site interview – but cut it short gracefully if it isn’t working out.

Here are my favorite phone screen questions:

1. What is your specialty? How would you describe your own balance of skills and passion in user research versus design versus evaluation?
2. Who are 2 or 3 experts/authors that most shape your philosophy, approach, and techniques in UX?
3. Describe a situation where you had to convince a developer of a better way of doing something.
4. Describe a situation where you had to convince a product owner, product manager, or marketing person of a better approach.
5. What are your thoughts on Agile development? How do key UX deliverables differ in an agile environment versus a waterfall or big design up front environment?
6. If you could design your next job, what would it look like? What would be your ideal role in a new job? Why are you looking for a new job?

Here are some example exercises I had them do prior to the interview (when I was doing medical informatics):

1. Ask the candidate to bring work products with them to the interview: products resulting from their direct work in UX design; measured results of their UX work on a project, documentation or explanation they developed for a UX process, method, technique, or practice; UX-related standard, guideline, pattern, or style guide they developed; anything else they are proud to show. Remind the candidate not to share any proprietary information that would breach any contractual or legal obligation they have, but do give a sense of their accomplishments, approach, and style.
2. Develop a concept for a web site used by a physician’s office to track and maintain information about its patients. The site is used to collect patient demographic information such as contact information, sex, race/ethnicity, and emergency and physician contacts; measurable physical information such as height, weight, blood pressure, and pulse; and clinical lab results such as blood cell counts, blood glucose tests, and cholesterol tests. Prior to the interview, in three pages or less, describe your process for developing the concept, an overview of the concept itself, and any other information you think is relevant for understanding and using the concept. During the interview, walk us through the concept.
3. Compare Google Health with Microsoft Health Vault. Prior to your in-person interview, prepare a one page summary of your comparison. At the interview, walk through your summary with the interview team.

Assure the candidate that they retain the intellectual property rights to any of their work for these exercises. Encourage them not to spend more than a few hours in preparation. Explain that we are most interested in understanding their approach, creativity, application of techniques, and communication ability.

In their design work, they should demonstrate at least the following:

• An approach to understanding and articulating who the users are, what their work is, and what motivates them.
• Design talent and familiarity with idioms, conventions, and patterns.
• Instrumenting the development cycle with many feedback loops, early and often.
• Engaging and effective oral, written, and visual communication. Deliverables should be professional and interesting.

There’s a new expertise market for user interface design, built on the Stack Exchange model developed from the very successful programmer’s forum Stack Overflow.
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Come on over and join the conversation. Build your reputation by asking questions and answering others. For this forum to be useful, we have to have real experts and researchers involved. It’s just starting up right now, so it’ll take some investment, but I’d really like to see this become a forum for real expertise rather than a number of newbies talking to each other (like many discussion groups are).
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I’ve added my badge to the right-hand column of this site. We’ll see if I continue to grow my reputation.

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea is a deeply personal view into the dystopian, Orwellian nation state that is North Korea. Demick follows the lives of a half dozen families who defected from North Korea. Each story unfolds while revealing details of what day to day life is like. Most of the narration is third-person omniscient, as if you are hearing the internal reactions and thoughts of fictional characters – but these are real people with real stories. This can seem a little odd at times – the author had to use some creative license in filling in some intimate details from her numerous interviews with these folks years after the events. But the stories are compelling, disturbing, and at times nearly incredible. Somehow, this state refuses to fail, and people grow up without enough food, no individual freedom of thought, no real opportunities to be human – unless they accidentally or purposefully cross a river into China, dodging border patrols and risking imprisonment or execution. Then, if they are lucky enough to end up in South Korea, they struggle with missing their families and homeland as strangers in an even stranger land.

I listened to this as an audio book from Audible. At first, the reader’s voice and style was a bit annoying, but I was soon immersed in the stories.

(cross-posted from my LinkedIn Reading List)