The UX Book: Process and Guidelines for Ensuring a Quality User Experience

973 Pages·2012·15.37 MB·English

by  Rex Hartson

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
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The UX Book
Process and Guidelines for Ensuring
a Quality User Experience
Intentionally left as blank
The UX Book
Process and Guidelines for Ensuring
a Quality User Experience
REX HARTSON
PARDHA S. PYLA
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1
“Don’t panic!”
1DouglasAdams,TheHitchhiker’sGuidetotheGalaxy
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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