Some stuff for peeps I met at CanberraUX meetup

@Matt

You mentioned you were working with a client who has a lot of technical domain knowledge. They referred a lot to messaging and copy components as objects. To understand where they are coming from have a look at this.

Source:Object-oriented UX | A list Apart | Sophia Voychehovski, October 2015.

My favourite bits

“Thinking myopically worked okay when we were designing in pages on fixed screen sizes; we could get away with quilting together pieces designed in silos. I was pretty clueless about responsive design, but I did know that we’d need a clean and simple system, not pages strung together. And as all engineers and designers know, the more moving parts in a system, the more opportunities for disaster.”

“OOUX: putting object design before procedural action design, and thinking about a system through the lens of the real-world objects in a user’s mental model (products, tutorials, locations), not digital-world actions (search, filter, compare, check out). We determine the actions after first defining the objects, as opposed to the traditional actions-first process that jumps straight into flows, interactions, and features.”

Matching your users mental model not your own

“Defining objects that mimic the mental model of your users provides a scaffolding for team communication. It gives you a shared language.”

This next bit speaks to the limitations of the style guide – system of implementation but not matched to users mental models

“While a tight collection of reusable templates and modules is invaluable, those design patterns don’t hold meaning for a user unless they’re backed by a system of real-world objects that matches that user’s mental model. Focus first on designing the system of real-world objects, then on designing a system of implementation to bring it all to life. This is the linchpin of all my design work, because it transforms goals into an executable system that meets those goals.”

Prioritising is always a challenge

“This ordered list does not necessarily provide a direct representation of what will be at the top and the bottom of the screen. In design, priority might manifest in size or color. Low-priority content might be placed at the top of the screen, but in a collapsed panel (yay, progressive disclosure!). So reassure your team that we are simply prioritizing and not designing.”

In comments

“Don’t design the DB first, start with the UI”, but now that we are mobile first, reduced UI space, etc. there is a pull back to building a UI that closely maps to the data model because the data model embodies the fundamental reality of the thing you are building. The data model is the atomic structure of the thing.”

@Maria

You expressed an interest in Service Design. I only know a little but this book was a good primer
Service design : from insight to implementation | Polaine, Andrew & Løvlie, Lavrans, & Reason, Ben | 2013, Brooklyn, New York Rosenfeld Media.

@Berenice

You expressed an interest in UX courses. I haven’t pursued this one but if I had enough time/money I would check this out
Cooper U | UX Bootcamp

@Chris

You expressed an interest in learning a bit more about usability and user experience in general.
If you haven’t already seen them
Don’t make me think, revisited Steve Krug is good on user testing

Just enough research Erika Hall is good on user research

@Ross

We have similar roles in our respective organisations. You may be able to use some of this material Global Accessibility Awareness Day presentation.