User Experience (UX) Design for the Indie Dev

@JulioBarros

There is a lot of advice out there. Some of it common sense but I don't agree with all of it.

I'm not a designer

I'm also not rich.Don't have experience writing games.

I'm an aspiring indie

6S Slide Show iCardSort

20 years proffesional dev experienceFelt the need to adapt design advice to my situation.Part workshop part conversation.

Goal as Indie

Sustainable business creating products of value.

Nothing against games.Don't have a hit driven personality.Want to build apps that enhance people's lives.

About you

• Aspiring indie

• Getting started

• Engineering is your super power

Assuming you are not marketer, or sales person, or artist, and probably not a designer

You are not a designer.

We hear this all the time. You are a developer not a designer.Can you even draw?

You are not a designer.

We need to change this.Great drawing and art skills not a prerequisite.Design is more about problem solving than art.Real world Problem solving is trade offs and optimizations

Optimizing ...

• Engineering

• Business

• Marketing / Sales

• Product Manager

• Graphic design

• UX design

When we "solve" we are "optimizing" certain factors ...Software - correctness and efficiencyBusiness - profitability, cash flow, etc.Graphic designer - aestheticsUX designer - user's experience

UX is your product

User's experience is his perception of your product.No one cares or knows as much as you do.You can not outsource UXYou need to own it.You must own the user experience.

We are all (UX) designers.

As Indies, .... We need to start thinking of ourselves as designers.Don't need to compete with professionals just get better.

Why are professionals better?

• Experience

• Perspective

• Focus

Practice - Experience, trainingPerspective / Distance - They are not invested in the productTime - They are getting paid for itNotice: Talent not on the list

We can get better

You may not be great but you can get betterYou have 'do it' skillsBy getting better you will attract better people around you

The Approach

• Manage Fear

• Develop Vision

• Cultivate Feedback

Based on Jared Spool - vision, feedback, culture for corporationsManage Fear - be willing to be wrong, to change and learnDevelop Vision - know what you want for yourself, business and productCultivate Feedback - listen to but don't do everything you are told

Fear

afraid of failure, of success, ...afraid you'll build something no one will use or pay you forafraid you are not good enoughafraid person X will find out you suck

Fear of being wrong

People will laughWe'll be ostracized from the villageThe lions will eat us

Lions Raw (roar) - http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthew_norris/4591355259/

I'm taking a chance

I'm afraid you will laugh at me ... luckily not too many lions AustinMost people... won't notice. Too busy with their own issues.... will forget... will give you credit for tryingThere will be a few haters. No matter what.Do you want to be right or effective?

Cognitive Biases• Survivorship bias

• Confirmation bias

• Loss aversion

• Information bias

• Bias blind spot

• ~100 others on Wikipedia

survivor - x did y and z happened - what about everyone else that did y?

Blind Men and the Elephant

Famous old story.

Schrödinger's Elephant

We think we're the ones that can see everything clearly.

Schrödinger's Elephant

But we have our own biases and blind spots.

Develop Vision & Cultivate Feedback

Now that we are open to learning we address vision and feedback.

Think before you code.

Classic advice you always hear.Usually said in a condescending way (I told you so) when you mess up.

Think before you code.

Of course you have to think but it is not enough and it is not everything.Based on waterfallAssumes everything can be figured out by thinking

Waterfall

Design (Software engineering) advice assumes you have known knownsMake a plan follow the planAwesome if you are on a cost plus contractWaterfall is risky for an indie - build a product no-one wants.

My interpretation of "Lean"

Read - Eric RiesIterative developmentLearn from the smallest possible changesGet to a desirable product as quickly as possibleYou are not AppleFocus on speed not cost

Each Step

No plan survives first contact with the enemy/customer.Right or wrong learn from your actionsDo the minimum possible to test your assumptionsThink code test analyze, think code test analyze

Iterate

Idea generation

1. Generate lots of ideas

2. Choose the "best" ones

3. Present them to someone

4. Analyze their feedback

Exercise

Write ideas for 2 minute

Write 20 ideas without stopping

Take a minute to evaluate them

Feature or product ideas

Judged on quantity not quality

Rank your features. You can’t do everything all at once. Force prioritization.

Validation

What are you building?

Does anyone care?

What makes it great?

What does this app really do?Where / how will people use it?

Product Definition Statement

"An easy-to-use photo management application for amateur photographers."

Apple on iPhoto in the HIG

You've read the HIG right?

Create a story for it

Use caseHelps with marketingBase it on product statement without mentioning features or purpose or product till the end.

Draw it out

May not be artists but are all visual thinkers.

Drew as children? Did we forget? Don't draw? You mean you don't draw well. Are you afraid?

How to Draw

• Start with a circle. Thats the user.

• Draw a squarish shape for everything in the story.

Can be - completely abstract- show real objects and their relationships- realistic scene from previous story

Exercise

Look at your list. Write a product statement, a story (scene description) and a quick drawing.

Answer their questions politely.

Don't explain or argue. LISTEN.

If they get it completely wrong it is a sign you need to rethink you statement, story, drawing.

Exercise

Share your statement, story or drawing with your neighbor. Listen to their response.

Don't explain or argue. LISTEN.

Customer Validation

Who are your customers?

Can you find them?

Can you get them interested?

personas / usecases

How do they think?Who is going to use it and why?Act it out

Web devs have it easy

• Keywords

• Ad words

• Test landing pages

Adwords toolsWe don't have access to iTunes search terms.Not to mention the app approval part

Form a UX (support)group

Get together to discuss and examine each others designs and ideas.Like CocoaHeads, NSCoder, Meetup but focused on UX testing and validating assumptions.

Design SketchesIts not the tools or even the resulting drawing but the process.

How are they going to win using your app?

Pick the absolutely most critical features only

Choose your metaphors (user model)

Exercise

Draw 6 approaches 1 per minute

Generic UX Tips

• Don't make the user choose

• Don't make them read

• Start them off so they can't fail

• Expect and tolerate errors

• Be polite and helpful

• Simplify and focus

Error messages that help instead of hurt

Choose what works for you.We are told "IB is not a design tool"

What is the purpose of wireframe or mockup?To help you think and to help you communicate.You don't have a client or a team.Sketches are abstract enough to help thinking.Prototypes are concrete enough to gauge experience.Wireframes and mocks can help but IMO are not worth it.

Rough out the UX first then come back to making it attractive.

User Testing

• Develop test plan

• Find participants

• Conduct tests

• Analyze results

User testing as integral part of dev processNot looking for statistical significanceShort InformalNot beta testing

Test Plan

• What do you want to learn?

• What tasks do you want to them to perform?

• What do you need logistically?

frequency, criticality, readiness,

Participants

• Spouse

• Friends and coworkers

• Associates

• Strangers

craigslist,coffee shopsuser groups, clubs, churchforget the NDA

Conducting tests

• Get an assistant

• Thank and reassure participant

• Don't explain or apologize

• Ask participant to talk aloud

don't apologizedon't explain.watch and listen.give time but offer encouragement

Beware of • asking about the future.

• asking how they would design a feature.

• direct questions.

• loaded questions.

Keep quiet, watch and listen.

They want to please you. They are biased.Asking is better than nothing but watching is best.

Wrap up• Thank them for participating

• Answer any questions. Ask for thoughts.

• Offer them a small gift if you like

• Offer to keep them updated on the app

User testing as part of your dev process

• Test constantly

• Watch and listen

Exercise

User Test your app (or a competitor's)

Graphic Design• Importance

• Proximity

• Alignment

• Contrast

• Repetition

... Get an artist.

You now have a compelling app, clear vision, decent UX.Good designers have something they can sink their teeth into and know you are for real.

Still, test the design

A/B Test

5 Second Test

Quick first impressions test.

What does that make you think of?

Iterate, Iterate, Iterate

But don't forget to ... Ship.

Ship

“ The perfect is the enemy of the good” - Voltaire

“Art is never finished, only abandoned” - Leonardo Da Vinci

“Perfect is overrated. Perfect doesn't scale, either.” - Seth Godin

“Real artists ship” - SJ

The only thing that matters is traction.

Ship half a product not a half assed product - 37Signals

Expect some to love it and some to hate it.

Summary

UX is everything

Fear, Vision, Feedback

Pictures, Stories

I've already won. So have you.

Resources

And many many more ... These will get you started.

Contact Info

Julio Barros

Julio@E-String.com

@JulioBarros

http://www.E-String.com