UIE Newsletter: Preparing Organizations to Become Design-Infused

In this week’s UIE newsletter, I define a design-infused organization as one where every decision is made with design at the forefront. Here’s an excerpt from the article: It takes a long time to become a design-infused organization. Many have yet to make the transition. Some organizations are approaching it. These organizations value design enough […]

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The Wearables Market Is Exploding, And Apple Is Stealing The Show

12+ Ways to Use Web Analytics for Better Content Marketing

Bounce rates, time on site, page views – the availability of data about your website can astound even the best content marketer. How do you know what data is important and how to analyze it for your needs? The experts share their tips. Continue reading →

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Nishant Kothary on the Human Web: Buy Him A Coffee

You’re Managing Your Customer Journeys All Wrong

Native Advertising Is Not Content Marketing

When you see the phrase “native advertising,” do you think of content marketing? Well, a lot of people do, so much so that I felt compelled to write about it. Know the difference and why it’s important we speak the same language. Continue reading →

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Kim Goodwin – Using Scenarios to Solve Problems

Understanding is what user experience as a field hinges upon. After all if you don’t understand how users are interacting with your product or service, you don’t know what to design for. But how, as a team, do you come to that understanding? Telling the story of a user’s journey highlights areas where you’re right on point and where you’re missing the mark.

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12 tips for better data informed design

Practising good data informed design isn't easy, but these 12 invaluable hints and tips will certainly help.

The post 12 tips for better data informed design appeared first on UX for the masses.

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14 Tools for Collaborative Brainstorming

Harness the creativity of your team with online collaboration tools. Brainstorm and visualize ideas together, regardless of location. Here is a list of tools for collaborative ...

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Learn to Design Responsive Email Templates this Weekend

With some experience in HTML and CSS, you can learn to design your own responsive email templates in just about a weekend. With your fresh new skills, take control over how your email marketing messages look on nearly any device

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Simplify Your Projects by Using a UX Checklist

August 24, 2015

One of the more interesting things I’ve been able to do in my career is establishing a user experience team’s design process. Obviously, there are standard phases and steps all UX processes share—some form of discovery and research, iteration, documentation, etc.—but how you approach these phases, how much time and “weight” you apply to each part of the design journey, is challenging to define.

No design checklist survives contact with the client

A key decision I made, and the most impactful thing about the process I set up, was to implement a checklist. Checklists are helpful, simple, and give everyone an easy-to-understand baseline of what steps are involved along the way.

Checklists allow team members to start with something: a simple task list that can be extended or revised as needed. This lets people protract the process as much as much as...read more
By Joseph Dickerson

             

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Responsive Upscaling: Large-Screen E-Commerce Design

Multimodal Perception: When Multitasking Works

Word on the street is that multitasking is impossible. The negative press may have started with HCI pioneer Clifford Nass, who published studies showing that people who identify as multitaskers are worse at context switching, worse at filtering out extraneous information, worse at remembering things over the short term, and have worse emotional development than unitaskers.

With so much critical attention given to multitasking, it’s easy to forget that there are things our brains can do simultaneously. We’re quite good at multimodal communication: communication that engages multiple senses, such as visual-tactile or audio-visual. Understanding how we process mixed input can influence the design of multimedia presentations, tutorials, and games.

When I began researching multimodal communication, I discovered a field brimming with theories. The discipline is still too new for much standardization to have evolved, but many studies of multimodality begin with Wickens’s multiple resource theory (MRT). And it’s that theory that will serve as a launch point for bringing multimodality into our work.

Wickens’s multiple resource theory

Luckily, Wickens saved us some heavy lifting by writing a paper summarizing the decades of research (PDF) he spent developing MRT. Its philosophical roots, he explains, are in the 1940s through 1960s, when psychologists theorized that time is a bottleneck; according to this view, people can’t process two things simultaneously. But, Wickens explains, such theories don’t hold up when considering “mindless” tasks, like walking or humming, that occupy all of a person’s time but nevertheless leave the person free to think about other things.

Several works from the late 1960s and early 1970s redefine the bottleneck theory, proposing that what is limited is, in fact, cognitive processing power. Following this train of thought, humans are like computers with a CPU that can only deal with a finite amount of information at once. This is the “resource” part of MRT: the limitation of cognitive resources to deal with incoming streams of information. (MRT thus gives credence to the “mobile first” approach; it’s often best to present only key information up front because of people’s limited processing power.)

The “multiple” part of the theory deals with how processing is shared between somewhat separate cognitive resources. I say somewhat separate because even for tasks using seemingly separate resources, there is still a cost of executive control over the concurrent tasks. This is again similar to computer multiprocessing, where running a program on two processors is not twice as efficient as running it on one, because some processing capacity must be allocated to dividing the work and combining the results.

To date, Wickens and others have examined four cognitive resource divisions.

Processing stage

Perception and cognition share a structure separate from the structure used for responding. Someone can listen while formulating a response, but cannot listen very well while thinking very hard. Thus, time-based presentations need ample pauses to let listeners process the message. Video players should have prominent pause buttons; content should be structured to include breaks after key parts of a message.

Visual channel

Focal and ambient visual signals do not drain the same pool of cognitive resources. This difference may result from ambient vision seemingly requiring no processing at all. Timed puzzle games such as Tetris use flashing in peripheral vision to let people know that their previous action was successful—the row was cleared!—even while they’re focusing on the next piece falling.

Processing code

Spatial and verbal processing codes use resources based in separate hemispheres of the brain. This may account for the popularity of grid-based word games, which use both pools of resources simultaneously.

Perceptual modes

It’s easier to process two simultaneous streams of information if they are presented in two different modes—one visual and one auditory, for example. Wickens notes that this relative ease may result from the difficulties of scanning (between two visual stimuli) and masking (of one auditory stimulus by another) rather than from us actually having separate mental structures. Tower defense games are faster paced (and presumably more engaging) when accompanied by an audio component; players can look forward to the next wave of attackers while listening for warning signals near their tower base. Perceptual modes is the cognitive division most applicable to designing multimedia, so it’s the one we’ll look at further.

A million and one other theories

Now that we’ve covered Wickens’s multiple resource theory, let’s look at some of the other theories vying for dominance to explain how people understand multimodal information.

The modality effect (PDF) focuses on the mode (visual, auditory, or tactile) of incoming information and states that we process incoming information in different modes using separate sensory systems. Information is not only perceived in different modes, but is also stored separately; the contiguity effect states that the simultaneous presentation of information in multiple modes supports learning by helping to construct connections between the modes’ different storage areas. An educational technology video, for instance, will be more effective if it includes an audio track to reinforce the visual information.

This effect corresponds with the integration step of Richard Mayer’s generative theory of multimedia learning (PDF), which states that we learn by selecting relevant information, organizing it, and then integrating it. Mayer’s theory in turn depends upon other theories. (If you’re hungry for more background, you can explore Baddeley’s theory of working memory, Sweller’s cognitive load theory, Paivo’s dual-coding theory, and Penney’s separate stream hypothesis.) Dizzy yet? I remember saying something about how this field has too many theories…

What all these theories point to is that people generally understand better, remember better, and suffer less cognitive strain if information is presented in multiple perceptual modes simultaneously. The theories provide academic support for incorporating video into your content, for example, rather than providing only text or text with supporting images (says, ahem, the guy writing only text).

Visual-tactile vs. visual-auditory communication

Theories are all well and good, but application is even better. You may well be wondering how to put the research on multimodal communication to use. The key is to recognize that certain combinations of modes are better suited to some tasks than to others.

Visual-tactile

Use visual-tactile presentation to support quick responses. It will:

• reduce reaction time
• increase performance (measured by completion time)
• capture attention effectively (for an alert or notification)
• support physical navigation (by vibrating more when you near a target, for example)

Visual-auditory

Use visual-auditory presentation to prevent errors and support communication. “Wait, visual-auditory?” you may be thinking. “I don’t want to annoy my users with sound!” It’s worth noting, though, that one of the studies (PDF) found that as long as sounds are useful, they are not perceived as annoying. Visual-auditory presentation will:

• grab attention when working with a large screen (PDF), such as when you accidentally miss a button and quickly look elsewhere
• provide status information of background tasks
• increase learning speed (PDF)—this improved learning includes better recognition, recall, and application of knowledge (PDF)
• support finding a known target (much like visual-tactile)

Mode combination

You might also select a combination of modes depending on how busy your users are:

• Visual-tactile presentation is more effective with a high workload or when multitasking.
• Visual-auditory presentation is more effective with a single task and with a normal workload.

Multimodal tension

A multimodal tug-of-war goes on between the split-attention effect and the redundancy effect. Understanding these effects can help us walk the line between baffling novices with split attention and boring experts with redundancy:

• The split-attention effect states that sequential presentation in multiple modes is bad for memory, while simultaneous presentation is good. Simultaneity helps memorization because it is necessary to encode information in two modes simultaneously in order to store cross-references between the two in memory.
• In contrast, presenting redundant information through multiple channels simultaneously can hinder learning by increasing cognitive load without increasing the amount of information presented. Ever try reading a long quote on a slide while a presenter reads the same thing aloud? The two streams of information undermine each other because of the redundancy effect.

Which effect occurs is partially determined by whether users are novices or experts (PDF). Information that is necessary to a novice (suggesting that it should be presented simultaneously to avoid a split-attention effect) could appear redundant to an expert (suggesting that it should be removed to avoid a redundancy effect).

Additionally, modality effects appear only when limiting visual presentation time. When people are allowed to set their own time (examining visual information after the end of the auditory presentation), studied differences disappear. It is thus particularly important to add a secondary modality to your presentation if your users are likely to be in a hurry.

Go forth, multiprocessing human, and prosper

So the next time you hear someone talking about how multitasking is impossible, pause. Consider how multitasking is defined. Consider how multiprocessing may be defined separately. And recognize that sometimes we can make something simpler to learn, understand, or notice by making it more complex to perceive. Sometimes the key to simplifying presentation isn’t to remove information—it’s to add more.

And occasionally, some things are better done one after another. The time has come for you to move on to the next processing stage. Now that you’ve finished reading this article, you have the mental resources to think about it.

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Thinking Responsively: A Framework for Future Learning

Taking A Brand Beyond Commodity Status

If you’re a marketer, commodity status is a bad thing for your brands. It indicates that your product or service is undifferentiated, that it rises and falls with the market and that it carries no inherent value beyond that. That’s fine when things are going well, and supply cannot keep pace with demand – it’s […]

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How Leading Brands Should Respond To Attacks

Branding Strategy Insider helps marketing oriented leaders and professionals like you build strong brands. BSI readers know, we regularly answer questions from marketers everywhere. Today we hear from John, a VP of Marketing in Dallas, Texas who writes… “We are a global B2B brand and the the market leader in our sector. We have a […]

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The New Chip-Equipped Credit Cards: Safer, And (For Now) More Confusing

Credit-card issuers are racing to get new cards with embedded chips into customers' hands. But merchants aren't ready for the shift.

If you live in the U.S. and have a credit card, you've almost certainly received a replacement card out of the blue in the last three months, often paired with an elaborate explanatory booklet. Your new card, the booklet explains, features a special chip that will protect your transactions more effectively, reduce fraud, and make your life better. The first two parts of that statement, at least, are true.

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What’s Holding You Back from Doing UX Design Remotely?

By Marg Laing Published: August 24, 2015 “What UX-specific challenges exist with remote work?” “I like the idea of working remotely, but I’m worried that I won’t produce great work if I’m cut off from the team.” Does this statement ring true for you? It did for me six months ago, as I struggled through a remote contract. I hadn’t worked remotely before. As I feared, I did not produce great work, and I felt lost as to how to improve the situation. People had often asked me why I couldn’t work from anywhere like developers do. But, usually, I just shook my head. I couldn’t explain exactly why not. Was it because I couldn’t talk with users? Not really. I’ve worked on many projects on which I couldn’t speak with users. I realized that it was something to do with communication. But why should doing UX design remotely be any different from remote visual design?

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Presumptive Design: Design Research Through the Looking Glass

By Leo Frishberg and Charles Lambdin Published: August 24, 2015 “You haven’t done any user research, but various internal stakeholders already strongly feel they know what the solution should be. They’re wrong, of course, but how can you dissuade them from believing in their assumptions and ideas?” You’re on a project team. The team has just formed, so you haven’t done any user research, but various internal stakeholders already strongly feel they know what the solution should be. They’re wrong, of course, but how can you dissuade them from believing in their assumptions and ideas? You could protest, stressing the need for up-front user research, but that would generate thrash. You could wait until you’ve prototyped something, then have the stakeholders watch usability testing with users, but the time that would take would likely be too much of an investment—especially given how early in the development cycle it is and how little there is to go on. As our new book Presumptive Design argues, there is a third way—a middle way. Instead of telling the stakeholders they’re not going about things right or allowing them to overinvest in what’s most likely a bad idea, you can accept their ideas without judgment, get them to unpack the assumptions that lie behind them, build junk artifacts representing their current assumptions, then, without hesitating, test these artifacts with users and watch them fail.

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The Data-Informed Customer Journey

By Pamela Pavliscak Published: August 24, 2015 “Thinking about what data you need to inform the customer journey, there are clear gaps. You have a lot more data about your Web site or app than about the other sites and apps that may make up part of the experience, or the user experience ecosystem.” In actuality, most people spend most of their time on Web sites and apps other than those our organizations have created, and we may not know much about what those experiences are really like. However, your organization can map the customer journey. There is no one right way to map a customer journey. Journey mapping can mean defining an ideal path that we’d like customers to take. Sometimes it means seeking a more nuanced understanding of what people do on a Web site. Less often, we look at an experience globally, mapping touch points for a product or brand, both online and offline. Whether people are making direct comparisons or just moving from site to site, the most common user experience is the multi-site experience. Booking travel typically involves more than ten sites. Finding a place to eat might involve a mix of sites and apps, very few of which are about the actual dining experience. Even watching a favorite TV show—something we used to think of as a fully engaged or directed activity—can involve other sites.

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7 Surefire Ways to Get More Impact From Your Content Marketing

Why is there a disconnect between doing content marketing and getting results from content marketing? Follow this checklist of tips, tricks, hacks, techniques, and practices to improve the impact of your content marketing.
Continue reading →

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I Joined Google At 19. Here's What I Learned

I got thrown in at the deep end from my first day at Google, and it's made me a better entrepreneur.

As an eager, fresh-faced 19-year-old, I turned up at Google—at the time, a 3,000-person tech company—ready to dive headfirst into anything. Over the next six years, I discovered that the Google lifestyle meant more than just an on-site laundry service and free gourmet meals. I was one of the youngest employees on staff, but nobody held my hand. Within weeks, deadlines, duties, and complex projects began to pile up. I hadn't even taken a finance class, yet I had two weeks to put together a strategy for entering Africa and Eastern Europe. I had to be resourceful.

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Partners by Design: Why UX Design Benefits from Ongoing Customer Collaboration

By Hilary Basch Published: August 24, 2015 “In our digital, mobile world, at nearly every moment, user experience (UX) matters. Google calls these micro-moments….” Do any of these experiences sound familiar? A cleverly designed shopping app in which you can’t find the Buy button. A Phone number text box where it’s unclear whether you need to type dashes, so you waste time typing it both ways to see what works. An illegible CAPTCHA standing between you and the 30 seconds you have remaining to complete your Taylor Swift concert-ticket purchase. Micromoments In our digital, mobile world, at nearly every moment, user experience (UX) matters. Google calls these micro-moments—hundreds of fragmented, in-between, in-the-now, on-the-go times when we turn to technology to research, discover, connect, share, set goals, buy stuff, and do a million other things.

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The Pleasures and Pain-Points of Panera 2.0

August 18, 2015

Thirty years ago, Panera Bread founder Ron Shaich wanted to improve the fast dining experience. Over the years he became a leader in the fast-casual movement, working to make warmth, deliciousness, and trust key elements of the Panera experience.

Today Panera is a multi-billion dollar restaurant chain in the middle of an 18-month innovation and service-based revamp called Panera 2.0, a multifaceted strategy to differentiate themselves from their fast-casual competitors and improve the guest experience.

According to a 2011 Experian Marketing Services Survey, the typical Panera customer is female (their target customer is 24-54 years old), has a higher than-average income, and is working towards a healthier lifestyle. The Panera customer also seems to be...read more
By Will Scott

             

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Pros and Cons of Developing No-Server Mobile Apps

August 20, 2015

Mobile backend tools for developers are changing the way apps are developed. Apps that used to require expensive teams of experienced engineers can now be developed in a fraction of the time, and at rates that were unheard of before. Everyone from the smallest independent startup to industry giants like Microsoft and Google is trying to win a share of the no-server, no-infrastructure mobile development market on a global scale. When it comes to choosing to go without a server, however, it’s important to understand the pros and cons of each approach.

Every project is different, and demands its own set of tools and a correct methodology that best fits its needs and objectives. And of course there are development frameworks perfect for server-based projects, and others that are better tuned for...read more
By Valentin Bazarevsky

             

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