Clear Left Talk

Here are my notes from the clear left talk which was pitched to us in Brighton. After my notes is an example of a user test which Ben went through with us as a group.

Speaker- Ben

·         Don’t make people click on stuff

·         Don’t make people think

·         Inventing all principle, you never know what might be the next big thing

·         Treat users fairly

·         Clear left focus on good design (front end only), they leave the heavy backend stuff to other companies to finish off.

·         Empathy map – see, think & feel, hear, say & do

·         Spend time on paper prototypes. This saves time and money in the long run

·         Silver back software very handy to film user tests as evidence for usability issues (windows equivalent is BB Flashback)

·         Responsive website – works on all devices so no need to create different versions for different size screens

·         Clients often think of features – boil it down to simplify to user experience

·         Information architecture

·         Find out what the best story apps are

·         Make everything your best work

·         Don’t be afraid to spend money

·         http://alpha.gov.uk/

·         Fitt’s law was used to help improve usability on a MacBook

User testing

·         8 people user test can solve a problem – try and mix up the age groups

·         Always do user tests, approach people in cafes, post adverts for volunteers or just ask friends and family.

·         Flow charts

·         Wire frames

·         Usability testing

·         Doesn’t like focus groups bigger than 1 on 1

·         Plan the user test - make a list of tasks for the user to try and find on the website (try not no hint words that might give away the navigation process)

·         Give them a leading question

·         Observe each other doing user tests

Recommended People

·         Christopher Nolan – Inception (architecture design)

·         Jared spool

·         Jacob nelson

Recommended Books

·         Steve Krug – Don't Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

·         Patterns of Software: Tales from the Software Community

·         101 Things I Learned in Architecture School

·         design with intent

·         the design of everyday things

·         undercover user experience design

·         universal principles of design

Ice Breaker Game

·         Chat Pack

Ben (October, 2012)

User test

Ben got us all as a group to write down a couple of words each onto post-it notes. These words word  be things that we would expect to find on the UCAS website. The post-it notes were then placed on the wall and ordered into category's of search order. 

I was then selected to use the UCAS website to try and find the BA Digital Media course. this was recorded   so my mouse movements and typing were tracked, it also recorded my face at the same time. 

During this process we discovered how difficult the UCAS website was to use. I really had to think to find what I was looking for. Because this process was recorded it could be used as evidence  to show UCAS how bad their site is and that it needs to be improved. 

Ben (October, 2012) ‘User Experience’ Speech presented at Clear left, Brighton