UX Panel: Wireframing

Join us for a panel and discussion about wireframing and wireframing
tools. We will be exploring a variety of tools and techniques used in
developing interface designs for desktop applications, mobile
applications and web applications.

Presenters:

• Ryan West (SAS)
• David Charboneau (IBM)
• Jackson Fox (Lulu.com)
• TBA (Motricity)

WHEN: Tuesday, September 19th, 2006, 6:00pm

WHERE: Lulu.com (see directions below)

Sponsored by TriUPA (http://www.triupa.org)

Where is Lulu?

Lulu.com
860 Aviation Pkwy Suite 300
Morrisville, NC 27560

From Durham, Chapel Hill and western NC

• Take I-40 east towards Raleigh
• Exit at Aviation Parkway (exit 285)
• Turn right at the top of the exit ramp onto Aviation Parkway
• Go south on Aviation Parkway approximately 1.3 miles to Southport Dr
• Turn left on Southport Dr
• Turn left into the second driveway on the left

From Raleigh and eastern NC

• Take I-40 west towards Durham and Chapel Hill
• Exit at Aviation Parkway (exit 285)
• Turn left at the top of the exit ramp onto Aviation Parkway
• Go south on Aviation Parkway approximately 1.5 miles to Southport Dr
• Turn left on Southport Dr
• Turn left into the second driveway on the left

Upcoming TriUPA Events

• Coming in October: So how does UX design work in the Real World?
• Coming in November: World Usability Day 2006!

Job Post: Web Designer / Developer

Motricity Customer Engineering — Web Designer / Developer

Motricity is looking to hire a Web Designer/Developer to work within the customer engineering department. The primary role of the designer/developer is to translate the deliverables of the user experience design (UXD) group into functional WAP and Web templates for the development engineers.

SKILLS / QUALIFICATIONS

Must Have

• Expert-level XHTML and CSS coding skills
• Familiarity with and adherence to web standards
• No dependence on WYSIWYG editors
• Some experience with JavaScript
• Basic image creation / editing skills using standard software packages (e.g., PhotoShop, Fireworks)
• A keen understanding of the web as a unique design and transactional medium
• Experience translating comps and wireframes into flexible, usable code templates
• Familiarity (not necessarily hands-on experience) with other aspects of the web development process: information architecture, interaction design, usability analysis, web analytics, search engine optimization
• Familiarity with the Software Development Lifecycle
• Proven success working both independently and as part of a development team
• Flexibility and self-direction

Nice to Have

• JSP development experience
• Prior experience with WML, WAP and/or the wireless industry
• Prior experience developing e-commerce web sites

Need to Know

• You will be working in an extremely fast-paced environment
• This is not a visual design position
• Applicants will be required to complete a tech test before being considered for an interview

Please send a resume to Julianne Puckett

IDEA Conference: Incoming!

What it is: “A conference on designing complex information
spaces of all kinds.”

When it is: October 23-24, 2006 (Discount ends August 27th! Apply NOW)

Where it is: ’nuff said.

Why you care: “…this is not airy-fairy theoretical stuff. These presenters are practitioners, people actually doing this cross-channel, cross-media work with complex information. A primary goal of this conference is to give you the confidence to cross boundaries and engage with a wide range of problems.” Check out the list of said practitioners.

How do I…: Start here.

Web Visual Designer Wanted

Duke Creative Services in now recruiting for a talented Web visual designer, willing to work on an annual contract basis in the Office as part of the existing Web team.

Primary design responsibility will center on expansions of the main customer site, DukeHealth.org. Must be well-versed in the principles of user-centered design and demonstrate some experience with coding in HTML as well as the ability to work through an entire production cycle, from wireframe to final design.

A minimum of four years experience designing Web sites is required along with a portfolio that demonstrates successful executions of key aesthetic principles.

Please send resumes and Web links to: white071@mc.duke.edu

Job Opening: User Experience Designer

Buildlinks is in search of a UXD (User Experience Designer).

This position will turn product requirements into intuitive, efficient, and satisfying client and web-based software interfaces. They would lead all user-centered design activities for a key product line, working independently but with the support of Product Management and Software Development.

Things such as:

• User and Competitive Research
• UI Design
• Usability Testing

If interested please contact:
Colin B. Boatwright, President – BuildLinks, Inc.

http://www.buildlinks.com/

fax: 919-655-0541

email: colin@buildlinks.com

Redesigning: A Case Study in Several Parts

I’m the editor of DukeHealth.org, Duke University Health System’s patient Web site. I thought I’d post a series of entries that follow our progress of redesigning a section on our site, detailing decisions made along the way and hopefully getting suggestions from all of you as to how we can make it better.

We’ve decided that our health library has to go. Or, more precisely, it needs to be wiped out and rebuilt from the ground up. Better, faster, stronger.

Piece by piece we’ve improved our site over the last year, creating more flexible designs that are attuned to user needs. We began with a new services template that we’re rolling out to all areas in that section, along with an A to Z index. Then we revamped the locations section.

Now it’s time for the educational materials.

Processing

My first step is deciding on the process to follow. We had success with this approach on a previous project:

1. Content inventory
2. Analyze existing research — internal and external
3. User and business requirements
4. Wireframes
5. Content gathering
6. Prototype
7. User testing
8. Revisions
9. Content editing
10. Visual design
11. Development
12. QA
13. Go live

I’m always looking for a better way. A search led me to Usability.gov, which has a fairly develop user-centered design process laid out. Has anyone had success following that method?

In a project post mortem we determined that a missing step was touchpoints — links in and out of the existing section.

The user impact is fairly significant, since missing this step could have resulted in broken links all over the place. We skirted that issue by keeping all the old pages live until we can fix the links.

But now users are getting two different locations experiences, old and new, and that’s not good, especially since the old way sucked.

So with the touchpoints step added we got:

1. Content inventory
2. Touchpoints
3. Analyze existing research–internal and external
4. User and business requirements
5. Wireframes
6. Content gathering
7. Prototype
8. User testing
9. Revisions
10. Content editing
11. Visual design
12. Development
13. QA
14. Go live

I wasn’t sure I placed the touchpoint stage in the right order. It could come later. It may be best to have it near the end so we understand all the links out. Should I split touchpoints in two: links in and links out? I kept playing with the pieces and remembering steps I was leaving out.

And several hours and a few charts later, I ended up with this:

1. Content inventory
2. Touchpoints
3. Research analysis
4. User interviews
5. Business interview
6. User and business requirements
7. Review
8. Wireframes
9. Review
10. Content gathering
11. Prototype
12. User testing
13. Revisions
14. Content editing
15. Visual design
16. Review
17. Finalize all documents
18. Development
19. QA
20. Go live
21. User testing
22. Iterate

Going through this exercise made me realize this: Without a clearly defined process before you begin, the project will fail users.

When you’re straying without purpose, the project ends up catering to the whims of what’s convenient and what the business wants.

And if you don’t plan for user inputs throughout the project, you can be sure the user needs won’t be taken into account when timelines get crunched.

I’m sure most of you can relate.

In my next post I’ll discuss our research analysis and user interviews.