The UX Book

947 Pages·2012·82.872 MB·English

This book isdestinedto become aprimary referencefor just about anyone
involved inthe development ofinteractive products ofalmostany kind. It
addresses both the design processand design principlesand goes beyond
traditional usability to address all aspectsof the user experience. Theauthors
have distilledtwo careers’ worthofresearch, practiceand teaching into a
concise,practicalandcomprehensiveguideforanyoneinvolvedindesigningfor
the user experience ofinteractive products.—Deborah J.Mayhew, Deborah J.
Mayhew& Associates
The UX Book covers themethods and guidelines for interaction designand
evaluation that have been showntobe the most valuable tostudents and
professionals. The students inmy classes havebeen enthusiastic about the
previousversionsofthistextthattheyused.Thisbookwillbenefitanyonewho
wantstolearntherightwaytocreatehighqualityuserexperiences.Likegood
user interfaces, thistext has been refinedthrough multipleiterations and
feedbackwithactualusers(inthiscase,feedbackfromstudentsandfacultywho
used earlierversionsof the book in classes), and thisis evidentin the final
result.— Brad A. Myers, Professor, Human-ComputerInteraction Institute,
School of ComputerScience, CarnegieMellonUniversity
TheUXBooktakesonabigchallenge:acomprehensiveoverviewofwhatit
takes todesign great user experiences. Hartson and Pyla combine theory with
practicaltechniques:youleavethebookknowingnotjustwhattodo,butwhyit’s
important.—Whitney Quesenbery, WQusability, author, Global UX: Designand
researchin aconnected world
The UX Book
Process and Guidelines for Ensuring
a Quality User Experience
The UX Book
Process and Guidelines for Ensuring
a Quality User Experience
REX HARTSON
PARDHA S. PYLA
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“Don’t panic!”1
1DouglasAdams,TheHitchhiker’sGuidetotheGalaxy
Preface
GOALS FOR THIS BOOK
Ourmaingoalforthisbookissimple:tohelpreaderslearnhowtocreateand
refine interaction designs that ensure aquality user experience (UX). Agood
userinterfaceislikeanelectriclight:whenitworks,nobodynoticesit.(Weused
to beable to usethetelephone asasimilar example,but now multifunction
cellphones with all kinds ofmodalities have thrownthat example under the
bus.) Agood user interface seems obvious,but what isnot obvious ishow to
designitsothatitfacilitatesagooduserexperience.Thus,thisbookaddresses
both what constitutes apositive user experienceand theprocess by which it
can be ensured.
Booksneedto be designed too, whichmeans establishing user (reader)
experiencegoals,requirements,userrole(audience)definitions,andthelike.
Our goals for the reader experience include ensuringthat:
n thebookiseasytoread
n thematerialiseasytolearn
n thematerialiseasytoapply
n thematerialisusefultostudentsandpractitioners
n thereaderexperienceisatleastalittlebitfun
Our goals for the book contentinclude:
n expandingtheconceptoftraditionalusabilitytoabroadernotionofuserexperience
n providingahands-on,practicalguidetobestpracticesandestablishedprinciplesina
UXlifecycle
n describingapragmaticprocessbuiltonaniterativeevaluation-centeredUXlifecycle
templateformanagingtheoveralldevelopmenteffort
n expandingthetraditionalroleofdesignintheiterativelifecycletoembracedesign
thinkingandideationtoaddressthenewcharacteristicsembodiedwithinuser
experience
x PREFACE
n providinginteractiondesignguidelines,includingin-depthdiscussionofaffordances
andotherfoundationalconcepts
n facilitatinganunderstandingofkeyinteractiondesigncreationandrefinement
activities,suchas:
n contextualinquirytounderstanduserworkthatthedesignistosupport
n contextualanalysistomakesenseoftherawcontextualinquirydata
n requirementsextraction
n design-informingmodeling
n conceptualanddetaileddesign
n establishinguserexperiencegoals,metrics,andtargets
n buildingrapidprototypes
n performingformativeuserexperienceevaluation
n iterativeinteractiondesignrefinement.
n describingalternativeagileUXdevelopmentmethods
n providingpointersonhowtogetstartedwiththeseideasinyourown
workenvironment
Our goals for scope of coverageinclude:
n depthofunderstanding—detailedinformationaboutdifferentaspectsoftheUX
process(likehavinganexpertaccompanyingthereader)
n breadthofunderstanding—ascomprehensiveasspacepermits
n rangeofapplication—theprocessandthedesigninfrastructureandvocabulary,
includingguidelines,arenotjustforGUIsandtheWebbutforallkindsofinteraction
stylesanddevices,includingATMs,refrigerators,roadsigns,ubiquitouscomputing,
embeddedcomputing,andeverydaythings.
Aswe were wrapping up this book, the following quote from Liam Bannon
(2011) came toour attention:
Someyearsago,HCIresearcherPanuKorhonenofNokiaoutlinedtomehowHCIis
changing,asfollows:IntheearlydaystheNokiaHCIpeopleweretold“Pleaseevaluateour
userinterface,andmakeiteasytouse.”Thatgavewayto“Pleasehelpusdesignthisuser
interfacesothatitiseasytouse.”That,inturn,ledtoarequest:“Pleasehelpusfindwhat
theusersreallyneedsothatweknowhowtodesignthisuserinterface.”Andnow,the
engineersarepleadingwithus:“Lookatthisareaoflife,andfindussomethinginteresting!”
This,inanutshell,tellsastoryofhowHCIhasmovedfromevaluationofinterfacesthrough
designofsystemsandintogeneralsense-makingofourworld.
PREFACE xi
Wewere struck by thisexpressive statement ofpast,present, and future
directionsofthefieldofHCI.Itwasourgoalinthisbooktoembracethisscope
of historicalroots, thechanging perspectives of thought,and future design
directions.
USABILITY IS STILL IMPORTANT
Thestudyofusability,akeycomponentofensuringaqualityuserexperience,is
still an essential part of the broad and multidisciplinary field of human–
computer interaction. Itis about getting our users past the technologyand
focusingongettingthingsdoneforwork.Inotherwords,itisaboutdesigning
thetechnologyasanextensionofhumancapabilitiestoaccomplishsomething
and to be astransparent aspossible in the process.
Asimpleexamplecan help boost thisoft-unexplained imperative, “make it
transparent,” into morethan anice platitude. Considerthesimpletaskof
writingwithpencil and paper.The writer’sfocus is all about capturing
expressionsto conveycontent and meaning.Much mental energy canbe
directedtowardorganizingthethoughtsandfindingtherightwordstoexpress
them.Nothoughtatallshouldbenecessarytowardthewritingtools,thepencil
and paper,or computer-based word processor. These tools are simplyan
extensionofthewriter.Until,thatis,theoccurrenceofabreakdown,something
that causes an attention shift from the taskto the tools.
Perhaps the pencil lead breaks or aglitch occurs in the word processor
software.Thewritermustturnattentionawayfromthewritingandthinkabout
how to get the software towork, making the tool that was transparent to the
writer in the writingtask become the focus of abreakdown recovery task
(Heidegger, 1962; Weller & Hartson, 1992). Similarly,interaction designs that
cause usability breakdowns for users turn attention awayfrom the taskto the
computer and the user interface.
BUT USER EXPERIENCE IS MORE THAN USABILITY
Asour discipline evolvesand matures,more and more technology companies
areembracingtheprinciplesofusabilityengineering,investinginsophisticated
usability labs and personnel to “do usability.” Astheseeffortsarebecoming
effectiveatensuringacertainlevelofusabilityintheproducts,levelingthefield
onthatfront,newfactorshaveemergedtodistinguishthedifferentcompeting
products.
xii PREFACE
While usability isessential tomaking technology transparent, inthese days
of extreme competition among different products and greaterconsumer
awareness, that isnot sufficient.Thus, while usability engineering isstill a
foundationforwhatwedointhisbook,itdoesnotstopthere.Becausethefocus
isstillon designing for the humanrather thanfocusing on technology, “user-
centereddesign”isstillagooddescription.Wenowuseanewtermtoexpressa
concern beyond just usability: “user experience.”
Theconceptofuserexperienceconjuresabroaderimageofwhatuserscome
awaywith,invitingcomparisonswiththeatre(Quesenbery,2005),updatingthe
oldacronyms—forexample,WYXIWYG,WhatYoueXperienceIsWhatYouGet
(Lee, Kim, & Billinghurst, 2005)—and spawning conferences—forexample,
DUX,DesigningforUserExperience.Wewillseethat,inadditiontotraditional
usability attributes,user experienceentails social and cultural interaction,
value-sensitive design,and emotional impact—howtheinteraction experience
includes“joy of use,” fun, and aesthetics.
A PRACTICAL APPROACH
This book takes apractical, applied,hands-on approach, based on the
applicationof established and emerging practices, principles, and proven
methodsto ensure aquality user experience. The processis about practice,
drawing on the creativeconcepts ofdesign exploration and visioning tomake
designsthatappealtotheemotionsofusers,whilealsodrawingonengineering
conceptsofcost-effectiveness—makingthingsasgoodastheresourcespermit,
but not necessarily perfect.
The heart ofthe book isan iterative and evaluation-centeredUX lifecycle
template,called the Wheel, for interaction design inPart I: Process. Lifecycle
activities aresupported by specific methods and techniques spelled out in
Chapters3through19,illustratedwithexamplesandexercisesforyoutoapply
yourself.The process iscomplemented by aframework of principles and
guidelines in PartII:Design InfrastructureandGuidelines for getting the right
contentintotheproduct.And,throughout,wetrytokeepoureyeontheprize,
the pragmatics of making it all work in your developmentenvironment.
ORDER OF THE MATERIAL
Wefaced the question of whether to present the processfirstor the design
infrastructurematerial.Wechosetostartwiththeprocess becausetheprocess
containsdevelopment activities that should precededesign. Wecould just as
PREFACE xiii
well have started with thedesign infrastructure chapters, especially the
interaction designguidelines,and you can read it in that order, too.
One importantreason for coveringthe processfirstis apractical
considerationintheclassroom.Inourexperience,wehavefounditeffectiveto
teach process firstso that students can get goingimmediately on their
semester-long team project.Perhaps theirdesigns might be alittle better if
theyhadtheguidelinesfirst,butwefindthatitdoesnotmatter,astheirprojects
are about learning the process, not making the bestdesigns. Later, when we
doget into thedesign guidelines,thestudents appreciate it more because
they have aprocess structure for where it all goes.
Use the Index
Usetheindex!Wehavetriedtokeepthetextfreeofinter-sectionreferences.So,
if you see aterm youdo not understand,use the indexto find out where it is
definedand discussed.
OUR AUDIENCE
This book isnot asurvey of human–computer interaction, usability,or user
experience.Nor isit abouthuman–computer interaction research.It is a
how-to-do-it handbook,field guide,and textbook for studentsaspiring to be
practitionersandpractitionersaspiringtobebetter.Theapproachispractical,
notformalortheoretical.Somereferencesaremadetotherelatedscience,but
they are usuallyto provide context to the practice and are not necessarily
elaborated.
Anyoneinvolved in,or wishingto learn moreabout, creating interaction
designsto ensure aqualityuser experience will benefitfrom this book. It is
appropriateforabroadspectrumofreaders,includingallkindsofpractitioners—
interaction designers, graphic designers, usability analysts, software engineers,
programmers, systems analysts, softwarequality-assurance specialists, human
factorsengineers, cognitive psychologists, cosmic psychics,trainers,technical
writers,documentationspecialists,marketingpersonnel,andprojectmanagers.
Practitionersinanyoftheseareaswillfindthehands-onapproachofthisbook
to bevaluable and can focus mainly on the how-to-do-it parts.
Researchersinhuman–computerinteractionwillalsofindusefulinformation
about the current state ofuser interaction design and guidelines in the field.
Softwareengineers will find thisbookeasy toread and apply because it relates
interaction designprocesses tothose insoftware engineering.