Internet Marketing and Social Media – Course # BMC - 291- 001

Usability and Form Design

What is Bad Design?

Tries to talk itself out of the problem…

What is Bad Design?

WARNING…could cause seizures.

What is Bad Design?

WARNING…could cause seizures.

What is Good Design?

…effectively anticipates and works with behaviours as they emerge and evolve…

What is Good Design?

…works with natural human cognition and anticipates actual human scenarios and

stories…

What is Good Design?

…doesn’t overcomplicate things…

“A picture is worth a thousand words. An interface is worth a thousand pictures.”

Ben Shneiderman

What is Good Design?

“Homepages are the most valuable real estate in the world…Complexity or confusion make people go

away”. Jakob Neilsen (www.useit.com)

What is Good Design?

“Usability: denotes the ease with

which people can employ a particular tool or other human-made object in

order to achieve a particular goal.”

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usability)

User Experience…

Is about how it makes you feel…

User Experience…

is more than ‘ease of use’…

• Usability

• Functionality

• Content

• Branding

How do you get from here…

To here…

You are not the user and neither is your boss…

1. The User is always Right

WTH???!!!!

2. Understand the User

Target Audience Definition

2. Understand the User

18User and Task Analysis

2. Understand the User

People

Objectives

Strategies

Technology

Janice CHU

28 years old, married, expecting her first child,

HR manager, Calgary, AlbertaFirst – Timer

My name is Janice Chu and my husband’s name is Tom. We both grew up in Calgary and went to university here. We’ve been married for two years. I’m an HR manager for an Oil & Gas company and Tom is a pharmaceutical sales representative.

We feel that Calgary is a great place to live and raise children, but we are having trouble finding a home in Calgary’s marketplace. Since we are expecting our first child, we are now looking at the world through the eyes of our children. This includes where and how we live.

After renting an apartment downtown, we are looking to buy our first home. Since we are first – time buyers, we are a little nervous about purchasing. We also don’t know a lot about maintaining a house, so we are looking for something brand new with few hassles.

We began our search for a new home on the web, and we look for trustworthy sources, such as www.mls.ca. We have been in touch with a real estate agent who is a friend of Tom’s dad, but we are also doing our own research. We find the whole process overwhelming, so we are looking for information that is easy to understand.

We both grew up in the suburbs, so we are comfortable living outside the city center. We’ve heard some good things about McKenzie Towne, so we’re looking to buy there.

“I want to feel confident knowing that we’re

making the right decision”

Attributes:– Currently living downtown in a rented condo– Intermediate Internet user– Interests: friends, travelling, yoga, cooking

Goals:– Starting a family– Owning a home without a lot of hassles– Get the best value for money– Get recommendations from trusted sources– Living in a safe and fun environment

Insights:– Look for value in their purchase– Joint decision – making process– Need to know how their new home’s features will

simplify and benefit their lives – location, safety, layout, household appointments, local amenities

Other brands in Janice’s life: Everyday brands: ‘Aspirational’ brands:

Persona Creation

2. Understand the User

FAIL!

3. Plan Before you Design

3. Plan Before you Design

People

Objectives

Strategies

Technology

Competitive Analysis

Information Architecture

3. Plan Before you Design

Wireframes

3. Plan Before you Design

What are you trying to measure?

4. Understand your Goal

Corporate vs. User Goals

Key Performance Indicators

4. Understand your Goal

• Targeted Core Users

• Business Strategy

• Enabling Technolo

gy

Key Performance

Indicators

Corporate vs. User Goals

− Organizational Effectiveness

− Convert sales and transactions to lower cost channels (cost per interaction)

− Lead Generation and Qualification

− Deeper Customer Insight− One-to-one Marketing

Organization Users

− Ease of Use− Clarity around how I can

accomplish my goals.− “I just want to the buy the

darn thing”− Don’t make me use more

than one channel (or experience) to accomplish my goals.

− Customer Delight

User Goals

4. Understand your Goal

Corporate vs. User Goals

Identify and fully understand problems before finding solutions

5. Avoid Solutioneering

28

“Form follows function - that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual

union.”Frank Lloyd Wright

6. Form Follows Function

What is the best way for the user to interact?

6. Form Follows Function

95% of users don’t read 80% of your content

7. Content is King

31Content auditing and mapping

7. Content is King

32Once they’ve got you, they’ve got you…

8. Persuasive Design

33Designing Seductive Interactions

8. Persuasive Design

34

Guide the user to the ‘desired outcome’ using scarcity and visual cues

8. Persuasive Design

Don’t forget mobile…

9. Access is for Everyone

36

10. Learn From Failure

37Split Testing

10. Learn From Failure

38

Usability Testing

10. Learn From Failure

10 Steps to User Experience

• User is always Right

• Understand the User

• Plan Before you Design

• Understand Your Goal

• Avoid Solutioneeri

ng

• Form Follows Function

• Content is King

• Persuasive Design

• Access is for

Everyone

• Learn From Failure

40

Know the Lingo…

Why do you make us wait?

The Importance of Form Design

42

The Importance of Form Design

Forms make or break the most crucial online interactions: checkout (commerce), registration (community), data input

(participation and sharing), and any task requiring information entry.

43

Gradual Engagement

Make the process transparent and not overwhelming…

Required Information FieldsBeware Bad Buttons

Beware Bad Buttons

Get your chicken s**t together

Form FAIL!

Phone number. Seems reasonable.

Form FAIL!

Personal Information…

WTF?

Form FAIL!

Error handling.

So, I screwed up.

Quelle surprise.

Form FAIL!

Postal Code?!! Really?

When do I get my chicken?

Form FAIL!

AAARGHHHHH!

Form FAIL!

Field Length• Use field length as a visual guide

(affordance)• Otherwise, consider consistent length

that provides enough room for all inputs

Content Grouping• Use relevant content groupings to

organize forms

Actions• Avoid secondary actions (expand

options, go back)• Align primary actions with input fields

for clear path to completion

Label position• Top Aligned labels for reduced

competition times• Right aligned when vertical screen is

limited• Left alignment for complex data entry

Required Form Fields• Avoid Optional fields• If MOST fields are required: Indicate

optional fields• If MOST fields are optional: Indicate

require fields• Associate indicators with labels

Form Checklist

Progressive Disclosure• Not all users require all available

options all the time• Progressive disclosure provides

additional options when appropriate

Feedback• Inline validation to provide assistance• Errors should indicate and provide

clear resolution• Provide feedback when action is in

progress• Verification of success

Path to Completion• Remove all unnecessary data requests• Illuminate a clear path to completion• Employ flexible data entry• Enable smart defaults• Show progress & save on long forms

Help & Tips• Monitor usage of help and tips (user

activated exposure)• Recommend ways of providing data

Tabbing• Remember to account for tabbing

behaviors• Ensure tabbing works as expected

Form Checklist

• Focus on the end of the conversion funnel

• Optimize site copy, titles and labels to improve SEO

• Add Location Cues > the user knows where they are on the site

• Eliminate unused content

• Prevent ‘No results’ site keyword searches

• Prioritize home page content to align with user goals and increase cross-sell opportunities

• Put key functionality on the home page

• Tweak the location and appearance of key buttons

Optimization

Questions…

Credits: Nick Finck & Raina Van Cleave: http://www.slideshare.net/nickf/the-ten-commandments-of-user-experience

Organizing for Site Optimization, Joe Stanhope, August 2010, Forrester Research

Small Web Site Investments That Pay Off by Adele Sage,with Harley Manning and Andrew McInnes, August 2008 Forrester Research

Contact Me: john@consultconiferous.catwitter: @john_hutchingslinkedin.com/in/johnhutchingsconsultconiferous.ca

Credits & Suggested Readings

User Experience Design Form Design

Books:• Steve Krug, “Don’t Make Me Think”• Jesse James Garrett, “The Elements of User

Experience”• UX books:

smashingmagazine.com/2008/01/24/usability-and-interface-design-books/

Sites:• Boxesandarrows.com• Adaptivepath.com• Jjg.net• Xplane.com• Lukew.com• Ewardtufte.com• Backofthenapkin.comTwitter:• @davegray• @sunnibrown• @@brandonschauer

Books:Luke Wrobleski, “Web Form Design, Filling in the Blanks”Sites:About the Challenge Disaster: Edward Tufte: edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0001yB Twitter:• @lukew• @use_this• @smashingmag• @mikaellindh