A User Interface Is Like A Joke…If you have to explain it, it isn’t very good.

Dustin Hudson3501D | 12:10p

Dustin Hudson Enterprise Architect/Manager @ Seaboard Foods10+ years in the field

• Visual arts• Graphic design

• Visual marketing• Web marketing• Development

• Business intelligence• Systems architecture

• Enterprise architecture

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PerspectiveWhat a user sees…What we see…

To put it another way…

Application Layer

Business Logic Layer

Domain LayerDevelopers Users

What is user experience? • Everything the user sees, hears, feels, thinks, and

perceives while interacting with an application – the sum total of these is the user’s experience. • Every facet of application development contributes to user

experience in either a positive or negative way. • In the absence of design, user experience is left to chance. • The ultimate goal of every user experience is a happy user.

Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.

--Steve Jobs

What is user experience not?• Not the interface• Not Photoshop graphics or Balsamiq mockups or HTML

prototypes• Not pretty colors or images or fonts• Not the last minute spit-shine before you kick it out

the door

You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces, just good food from fresh ingredients.

--Julia Child

What is a good user experience?

• Fast• Consistent• Predictable (intuitive)• Polished• Easy to use

There is beauty when something works and it works intuitively--Jonathan Ive

So why do we care?• First and foremost, users are the driving force behind all

technology – a product that doesn’t have users is useless. • All technology exists to solve problems. • Users are the ultimate benchmark. • Doesn’t matter who your users are, making them happy

yields benefits. • In a consumer-driven space, happier users drive downloads,

ratings, sales, and donations. • In a corporate space, happier users enable bigger budgets,

more latitude, and better relationships.

User experience as a way of life• More people use technology in their day to day lives

than ever before. • 90% of Americans own a cell phone• 64% of Americans own a smartphone• 42% of Americans own a tablet

• Everyone is a user, from CEOs to toddlers. • Powerful technology is a commodity – smart

companies compete on design.

Squarespace• Modeled after

luxury fashion brands• Focus on product

experience for a single user first• User experience

as brand

Google• Started out with

speed as the only benchmark• User experience as

an executive priority since 2011’s Project Kennedy• Material Design is

now an autonomous team within Google

Apple• Obvious example• Entire company

built around selling a user experience• Focus 100% on

perfecting the user experience to the smallest detail

So what do we do about it?• First things first, it’s a paradigm shift – so good job

having chosen this session. • Remember the hallmarks of a good user experience: • Fast• Consistent• Predictable (intuitive)• Polished• Easy to use

No really, what do we do about it?

Personify• Personas

• Use cases

• Storyboarding

• Mockups

Ask• User testing

• A/B

• Multivariate

• Expectancy

• Performance

• User reviews

• Automated tracking

• User acceptance testing

• Surveys/focus groups/post-mortems

Design• Steal like an artist

• Design patterns

• User behaviors

• Industry leaders

• Literally everything else

• Reduce to minimum

• Respect the details

• Thoughtful actions

• Discuss

• Use

Thank you.

Dustin Hudson

Seaboard Foods

Dustin.Hudson@gmail.com

www.linkedin.com/in/dustinhudsonkc

References & Reading List:

• “How Google Finally Got Design” – Cliff Kuang, Fast Company

• Steal Like An Artist – Austin Kleon

• Don’t Make Me Think – Steve Krug

• “What I Learned About Design at Squarespace” – Diogenes Brito, uxdiogenes.com

• The Design of Everyday Things – Donald A. Norman

• “The best interface is no interface: why we don’t always need an App for That” – Golden Krishna, theverge.com