Observing the user experience a practitioner's guide to user research
The gap between who designers and developers imagine their users are, and who those users really are can be the biggest problem with product development. Observing the User Experience will help you bridge that gap to understand what your users want and need from your product, and whether they'll be able to use what you've created. Filled with real-world experience and a wealth of practical information, this book presents a complete toolbox of techniques to help designers and developers see through the eyes of their users. It provides in-depth coverage of 13 user experience research techniques that will provide a basis for developing better products, whether they're Web, software or mobile based. In addition, it's written with an understanding of how software is developed in the real world, taking tight budgets, short schedules, and existing processes into account. Explains how to create usable products that are still original, creative, and unique A valuable resource for designers, developers, project managersanyone in a position where their work comes in direct contact with the end user. Provides a real-world perspective on research and provides advice about how user research can be done cheaply, quickly and how results can be presented persuasively Gives readers the tools and confidence to perform user research on their own designs and tune their software user experience to the unique needs of their product and its users
eBook, English, c2003
Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, San Francisco, CA, c2003
Online-Ressource (xvi, 560 p) ill.
9781558609235, 9781429484541, 9780080497563, 1558609237, 1429484543, 008049756X
838103731
Front Cover; Observing the User Experience; Copyright Page; Contents; Preface; PART I: Why Research is Good and How It Fits Into Product Development; CHAPTER 1. Typhoon: A Fable; The Short History of Typhoon; CHAPTER 2. Do A Usability Test Now!; A Micro-Usability Test; What Did You Learn?; What to Do Next; CHAPTER 3. Balancing Needs Through Iterative Development; Success for End Users Is; Success for Advertisers Is; Success for the Company Is; A System of Balance: Iterative Development; Iterative Development and User Research; Example: A Scheduling Service; CHAPTER 4. The User Experience. Information ArchitectureInteraction Design; Identity Design; The User Experience Research; PART II: User Experience Research Techniques; CHAPTER 5. The Research Plan; Goals; Schedules; Budget; Research Plan for Company X; Maintenance; CHAPTER 6. Universal Tools: Recruiting and Interviewing; Recruiting; Interviewing; CHAPTER 7. User Profiles; When to Do It; How to Do It; Using Profiles; Example; CHAPTER 8. Contextual Inquiry,Task Analysis, Card Sorting; Contextual Inquiry; Task Analysis; Card Sorting; CHAPTER 9. Focus Groups; When Focus Groups Are Appropriate; How to Conduct Focus Groups. Focal Group AnalysisExample; CHAPTER 10. Usability Tests; When to Test; How to Do It; How to Analyze It; Example; CHAPTER 11. Surveys; When to Conduct Surveys; How to Field a Survey; How to Analyze Survey Responses; Follow-Up and Ongoing Research; CHAPTER 12. Ongoing Relationship; Background; Diaries; Advisory Boards; Beta Testing; Telescoping; Taking the Longer View; CHAPTER 13. Log Files and Customer Support; The Customer Support Process; Collecting Comments; Reading Comments; Organize and Analyze Them; Log Files; What's in a Log File, and What's Not; Logs and Cookies; Some Useful Metrics. Extracting Knowledge from DataCHAPTER 14. Competitive Research; When Competitive Research is Effective; Competitive Research Methods; Analyzing Competitive Research; Acting on Competitive Research; Example: A Quick Evaluation of ZDNet; CHAPTER 15. Others' Hard Work: Published Information and Consultants; Published Information; Hiring Specialists; CHAPTER 16. Emerging Techniques; Variations on Techniques; Combining; PART III: Communicating Results; CHAPTER 17. Reports and Presentations; Preparation; The Report; The Presentation; CHAPTER 18. Creating a User-Centered Corporate Culture. IntegrationJustification; What If It's Too Difficult?; The Only Direction; Appendix A: The Budget Research Lab; Appendix B: Common Survey Questions; Appendix C: Observer Instructions; Bibliography; Index; About the Author
Includes bibliographical references (p. 542-544) and index
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