User Research Flashcards

1
Q

What does ‘design’ in user experience design mean?

A

The process of enhancing the usability and accessibility of a product, system, or service for the benefit of the user.

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2
Q

What is your role as a UX designer?

A

My role as a UX designer involves conducting user research, wireframing and prototyping useful, usable products, collaborating with developers and other designers, and much more.

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3
Q

What is the difference between UX and UI design?

A

The main difference to bear in mind is this: UX design is all about the overall feel of the experience, while UI design is all about how the product’s interface’s look and function.

  • User experience design is the process of developing and improving the quality of interaction between a user and all facets of a company.
  • User experience design is, in theory, a non-digital (cognitive science) practice, but used and defined predominantly by digital industries.
  • UX design is NOT about visuals; it focuses on the overall feel of the experience.
  • User interface design is a purely digital practice. It considers all the visual, interactive elements of a product interface—including buttons, icons, spacing, typography, color schemes, and responsive design.
  • The goal of UI design is to visually guide the user through a product’s interface. It’s all about creating an intuitive experience that doesn’t require the user to think too much!
  • UI design transfers the brand’s strengths and visual assets to a product’s interface, making sure the design is consistent, coherent, and aesthetically pleasing.

“UI is the saddle, the stirrups, and the reins. UX is the feeling you get being able to ride the horse.”

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4
Q

What does UI stand for and what is it?

A

User Interface Design. It’s all about the presentation, look, and feel of the product. Closely related to visual communication and graphic design.

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5
Q

User experience design is a ____-first way of designing products.

A

User experience design is a human-first way of designing products.

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6
Q

What does a UI designer do?

A
The look and feel of the product:
Customer analysis
Design research
Branding and graphic development
User guides and storylines
Responsiveness and interactivity:
UI prototyping
Interactivity and animation
Adaptation to all device screen sizes
Implementation with developer
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7
Q

What does a UX designer do?

A
Strategy and content:
Competitor analysis
Customer analysis and user research
Product structure and strategy
Content development
Wireframing and prototyping:
Wireframing
Prototyping
Testing and iteration
Development planning
Execution and analytics
Coordination with UI designer(s)
Coordination with developer(s)
Tracking goals and Integration
Analysis and iteration
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8
Q

Why do companies often advertise UX/UI roles as one?

A

UX and UI are still relatively new fields—and, as already mentioned, they tend to be specific to the tech industry.

Many companies will deliberately seek out versatile designers who can cover both UX and UI, or who at least have an understanding of UX or UI principles in addition to their main skillset.

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9
Q

What are some soft skills user experience designers require?

A

empathy, a penchant for problem-solving, and an approach that is both creative and analytical.

UX designers also need first-rate communication skills and a little bit of business know-how.

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10
Q

A career in UI also requires an understanding of user experience principles, but it’s much more focused on what?

A

It is much more focused on the visual and interactive aspects of design.

If you’ve got a keen eye for aesthetics and like the idea of making technology beautiful, user-friendly, and accessible.

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11
Q

What is CX?

A

Customer Design.

Encompasses all of the interactions the customer has with all aspects of a company—including a specific product within a brand or a specific service they provide. In this way, CX sort of envelopes user experience. Various companies hire CX designers to analyze and assess how customers feel about their brand as a whole and to improve how customers interact with them.

CX takes into account the customer’s perception of an organization’s advertising strategy, brand reputability, customer service, pricing, delivery methods, product usability, and the general sales process.

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12
Q

What are the key differences between UX and CX?

A

Although UX is very much a part of CX, there are still some key differences to consider—especially if you’re weighing up which field to build a career in or ways to improve your already well-seasoned design skills. We’ve broken down the main differences in terms of focus and daily responsibilities, key metrics, and typical client base and target audiences.

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13
Q

The goal of user experience design is to improve ______, ___-__-___, and ________ in a user’s interaction with a product or service.

A

utility, ease of use, and efficiency

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14
Q

User interface refers to?

A

It refers to the actual interface of a product or service as opposed to the holistic end experience someone has with a product or service.

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15
Q

1 is focused on the user’s journey to solve a problem. 2 is focused on how a product’s surfaces look and function.

A
  1. UX

2. UI

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16
Q

What is the ux quadrant model?

A

It organizes UX design into four main disciplines or quadrants.

The four quadrants:

  1. ExS: Experience Strategy
  2. IxD: Interaction Design
  3. UR: User Research
  4. IA: Information Architecture
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17
Q

UX without ___ ____ is not UX.

A

user research

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18
Q

The ultimate goal of the UX designer is to utilize ______ and ______ data to determine a problem and formulate a solution.

A

qualitative and quantitative

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19
Q

Interaction designers must have a deep understanding of what?

A

How users interact with their products and services.

The ultimate goal for them is to reduce friction between the user and the product or system being designed.

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20
Q

What is design thinking?

A

A helpful framework for how to approach real problems from a design perspective.

21
Q

Who coined design thinking?

A

Coined by Peter Rowe and pioneered by IDEA and the Stanford Design School.

22
Q

What is included in Tim Brown’s CEO of IDEO’s holistic business strategy?

A
  1. Customer desirability
  2. Technical feasibility
  3. Business viability
23
Q

What is a competitive analysis?

A

An assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors.

It gets us thinking about some solutions taht have already been proposed to address the problem.

24
Q

What is an on-boarding process?

A

The onboarding process is a user’s first impression of your app, and when designed correctly, increases the likelihood of successful adoption. When a user launches your app for the first time, the onboarding process reinforces your app’s value and provides instructions that highlight key benefits and features

25
Q

What is a Persona

A

User personas help us better understand user demographics, needs, goals, emotions, behaviors, fears, and limitations.

26
Q

What is a User flow?

A

User flows outline the journey the user takes through a system when completing tasks and transactions.

Once you understand what your users are trying to accomplish, you can map out user flows.

27
Q

User-centered design (UCD)

A

User-centered design (UCD) is a design method that focuses on placing the users of a system at the center of all development decisions.

“user-centered design means understanding what your users need, how they think, and how they behave—and incorporating that understanding into every aspect of your process.”

28
Q

Attitudinal vs. Behavioral

A

Attitudinal research focuses on how people think and feel, while behavioral research observes what people actually do when it comes to a particular product or service.

29
Q

Qualitative vs. Quantitative

A

Qualitative research involves direct observation of a subject. In-person interviews, for instance, would be a great example. Quantitative research, on the other hand, represents data-driven, indirect observations such as survey responses or users’ usage data.

30
Q

Surveys

A

Surveys are a common, indirect method of obtaining attitudinal information on how people feel about your product or service. Survey results can be qualitative if participants are prompted to respond to open questions, but surveys are most useful when collecting quantitative data from a statistically significant amount of participants. There are any number of ways you could recruit survey participants. For example, you could “intercept” users while they’re interacting with a website or application using what are appropriately called intercept surveys, or you could send your survey to a target group of users via email.

31
Q

Participatory design

A

also known as cooperative design or co-design, is a collection of methods, both qualitative and quantitative, aimed at engaging every single stakeholder—colleagues, clients, and customers alike—in the design process. One example is a design workshop, in which developers and designers work on a prototype together. Another is a card sort, a method for organizing and creating intuitive structures and categories. We’ll be looking more at card sorts later in the course.

32
Q

Usability tests,

A

like their name implies, involve testing the usability of your product on a set of users. They’re a great way to evaluate what people say and do when interacting directly with your product or service. Most often, the users are given a specific set of tasks to complete, and the efficiency, ease, and speed with which they can complete them are recorded. Keep in mind that it’s not the participants themselves being tested, but the effectiveness of the product or service you’ve designed.

33
Q

User interviews

A

are a qualitative method of user research comprising an in-person interview aimed at better understanding a user’s attitude towards a product or service. Similar to surveys, the quality of information you obtain is entirely dependent upon the questions you ask; however, you’ll also have the chance to ask follow-up questions for more detailed information.

34
Q

Cons:

A

There are very few negative aspects about directly communicating with your customers. Most businesses don’t do it enough. It can, however, be difficult to gain access to certain target audiences if the project involves sensitive information, but you shouldn’t have that problem with your course project.

35
Q

When to Use

A

The keys to a good interview are a solid script and an environment that allows for natural conversation. This can be achieved in person or online and is a great way to kick off a project or explore a new problem space.

36
Q

What are the six guidelines to writing a script for your user interview?

A
  1. Know what you’re looking for (Tailer your scripts to address various elements of the problem you’re trying to solve.)
  2. Keep your questions simple.
  3. Don’t ask leading questions.
  4. Ask questions that reveal actual behavior
  5. Keep asking “Why”
  6. Don’t ask yes or no questions
37
Q

What are the 5 best practices for user interviews?

A
  1. Keep it natural
  2. Focus on people over paper
  3. Use the script as a guide
  4. Embrace the silence
  5. If you record, let them know!
38
Q

User personas are a way of humanizing your potential users and highlighting their goals and behaviors.

A

By bringing your customers’ perspectives to the forefront, you can give meaning to your research, which will, in turn, lead to more concrete ideas and strategies. Personas help you hypothesize clear actions your users might take while using your product or service

39
Q

proto-personas, a more basic version of the persona.

A

Using these proto-personas, you’ll be able to craft meaningful user stories, problem statements, and hypotheses that will come in handy during the ideation phase further along in the design thinking process.

40
Q

user persona

A

user persona

41
Q

What is competitive analysis definition?

A

A competitive analysis is a comparison of features, methods, goals, and/or products or services of competitors in a matrix format.

42
Q

A competitive anlaysis is not an in-depth research report, so what is it?

A

It’s an overview comparison tool that can quickly get everyone on the same page.

43
Q

What is affinity mapping?

A

Sometimes called affinity diagramming.
A simple but effective tool for grouping and understanding information.

  • One of its strengths lies in the identification of relationships between many individual components, which is what makes it so useful for UX researchers.
44
Q

How do you conduct an affinity map exercise?

A
  1. Choose one of your sticky notes, move it to a clear area on the wall, then hunt through your data for additional similar notes.
  2. Find similar notes (similar in whatever way you deem most useful) and place them near the first, creating a cluster of notes that all share a particular theme.
  3. Once you’re done with the cluster, write or post a label beneath it to remind yourself why the notes are clustered together.
  4. Repeat this process with new themes until your research area is filled with labeled clusters of notes. Feel free to duplicate notes if you feel like they belong in more than one cluster.
45
Q

What is a finding?

A

Usually, a fact that tells us “what” is happening, but it doesn’t tell us the “why” nor provide us with a way to find a meaningful solution.

46
Q

What is an insight?

A

Something that describes an aspect of human behavior/motivation and enables us to see how we might take actions to solve a problem.

47
Q

Lisa Long has written out research insights and feedback on sticky notes and is organizing them into related clusters on the wall. Which UX research method is she practicing?

a. affinity mapping
b. reflection
c. user personas
d. prototyping

A

a. affinity mapping

48
Q

What can you do with affinity mapping that will help you get more perspectives on your data?

A

Conduct multiple rounds