Monika Halim | UX & Digital Stategy

user experience notes and findings

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An organization that reaches the 'managed UX' stage still has far to go to reach usability nirvana. Attaining these higher maturity levels requires many years of effort.

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As their UX approach matures, organizations typically progress through the same sequence of stages, from initial hostility to widespread reliance on user research.

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...there are similarities between being a UX individual contributor and a UX leader, such as requirement gathering, research, storytelling, listening, and general design thinking skills. The biggest difference between the two roles that emerged was that in order to be an effective UX leader, one has to be comfortable being hands-off with certain elements of projects. (Sounds easy, right? Wrong, according to our interviewees). You have to be able to let go of the spotlight and project details. You have to be selfless. It’s not about the power or recognition—it’s about your impact in elevating your staff so that they can manage project details successfully. You’re also the ultimate person responsible when things go wrong, so every once in a while, it is also about being able to graciously take the fall.

Emerging Roles of VP of UX

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Users typically skim text when reading online, reading more at the beginning of the description than the end, and more at the start of a line than at the end of a line. Don’t waste the first few lines of product descriptions on text that doesn’t help the user understand the product.

3 Tips for Better Product Descriptions on Websites http://www.nngroup.com/articles/product-descriptions/

[monikahalim-blog]

Since we are talking mobile, you need to remember that your user is mobile. When drawing up a mobile website test, one of your top priorities is to consider the location of the user. For example, let’s say that you are a retailer really interested in getting users into the store after browsing your site. Including important store information, like available products, the user’s distance from the store, and directions to the store are all ways you could increase the likelihood of a user coming in to shop. The goal of making this information readily available is to relieve any anxieties (e.g., price, distance, availability) the user may have about coming into the store.

What to ask when optimizing mobile experience? https://uxmag.com/articles/4-questions-to-ask-when-optimizing-your-site-for-mobile

[monikahalim-blog]

For some reason, in order to browse and shop on mobile apps the user is often required to log in. It’s a very strange thing to do, as you don’t see this on desktop websites at all. Simply don’t do it. Allow the user into your app so they can browse first. It’s such an inconvenience to ask them to sign up for an account up front. Rue Lala and Wayfair, are just two apps that won’t let a user into their app before singing up or logging in first. It’s a bit easier to by pass this gate if you already have an account but it still makes no sense to ask for this. Let a user see what you’re selling first, then worry about them logging in, as it can still pose issues when people don’t recall their information. It’s a truly unnecessary roadblock as people who can see your products are significantly more likely to purchase something then ones who never get to see them because they never got into your app in the first place. If someone put in enough effort to download your app, let them actually use it.

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2014/12/4-simple-ways-to-perfect-the-ux-of-mobile-ecommerce/

[monikahalim-blog]

Too often when people design experiences, they start from the screen. They think “oh, people need to do x” and they start laying out a screen that will support that task. The problem is that not enough designers think through what that “task” really entails. Tasks don’t live in a vacuum. People come to them from somewhere. They go somewhere afterward. They perform them in different environments with different levels of attention and varying amounts of time. An interaction on a screen represents a single moment in time. The user interaction encompasses that moment and everything that surrounds that moment. Good interfaces take these differences into account. They support most of the likely behaviors and environments and prevent the truly undesirable ones. Good design doesn’t lose data or state just because a user has performed an action in a surprising way. Good designers need to think through all possible flows and take user context into consideration before even thinking about screen interactions.

“Mobile First? Not So Fast.” by Laura Klein https://medium.com/p/728dd6a6c5fd

[monikahalim-blog]

In the age of social media, doing something that creates a real smile on somebody's face is much cooler than attaching a smiley face. 

[monikahalim-blog]

Sheena Iyengar: How to make choosing easier

We all want customized experiences and products -- but when faced with 700 options, consumers freeze up. With fascinating new research, Sheena Iyengar demonstrates how businesses (and others) can improve the experience of choosing.

[monikahalim-blog]

This advice may be fifty years old, but its highly still relevant today because it respects both the process and the creative people involved in, it by promoting hiring decisions that are based on personality and past performance, not on how well a designer is judged to have passed the challenges set by a request for proposal.

[monikahalim-blog]

How I Can Get Taxi Faster By Understanding The Driver

I always took taxi in the morning to go to the office and booked it from their official mobile app because it's practical and it has GPS tracker so I can see where the car is to estimate my time.

Initially when I setup the pick-up address I simply wrote down the address and additional addresses to get to my place easily. Here's my initial format:

"Jalan Cibeber I no.17 Blok S, through Jalan Ciranjang then Ciniru"

After several times ordering taxi using this address format I realized that there are some problems with it:

Most drivers are mistaken 'Ciranjang' with 'Cikajang' which is understandable because these two streets are nearby but located at the opposite directions. And the streets around it are one-way, so if you missed the turn then you'll have to go around and deal with the morning traffic all over again.

Most drivers got confused after they drove to the wrong address and once they found my place they're mood are already ruined. Some just laughed it out but some others are obviously upset although they still tried to be professional.

Even if they've found my address, it's still hard to find the house number because it's not obvious enough. It's located on the upper area of the fence, which if you drive a sedan or any car with similar height then you'll probably missed it.

Overall it took me longer to get the taxi to pick me up.

Knowing this, I decided to change the address format a little bit and mentioned the common mistaken street name rightaway. Here's how I changed the address format to:

"Jalan Cibeber I no.17 Blok S, cream house fence, through Jalan Ciranjang (not Cikajang) then Ciniru"

The result was amazing! Most of the drivers find my place more accurately and very quickly.

Once in a while there are still a few of them who has difficulties to find it but that's because they're not familiar with the area at all, so they don't know that 'Ciranjang' and 'Cikajang' is nearby anyway.

Takeaways:

Understand the user and what's language they're talking/understanding. What's the most common, most user-friendly, or most helpful format. In my case, the initial address format was correct, but it's not helpful enough.

Observe for behaviour and knowledge patterns, help user eliminate irrelevant knowledge to lead them directly to do specific action. After several events, I realized that these drivers has similar knowledge about the area and thinks the same way, what's on top of their mind is 'Cikajang' instead of 'Ciranjang'. So I helped them eliminate 'Cikajang' right away by including it in the address format.

Look out for other elements that can help user achieve their goal. My house number is already at the front fence and high enough to not got covered by a parking car, but still, it's hard to find. But there are not many cream fenced house in the area, so by including it I helped the driver narrowed down possibilities and helped them find my house faster.

[monikahalim-blog]

Intermarché - "Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables"

Eating 5 fruits and vegetables a day can seem like a difficult task if you aren’t counting fries within that number. Sadly, approximately 300 million tons of food is wasted in a year; including those vegetables you never got around to eating. Intermarché, a chain of French supermarkets decided to do their part by purchasing the fruits and vegetables their suppliers usually throw away and sell them at a discounted price.

For people to realize that the misshapen vegetables and fruits were just as good as their regular produce, they distributed “inglorious” fruit juices and soups. The end result? A success! They quickly sold out, and brought both attention and an easy solution to food waste.

[monikahalim-blog]

How to Create a Customer Journey Map

A Customer Journey map is a visual or graphic interpretation of the overall story from an individual’s perspective of their relationship with an organization, service, product or brand, over time and across channels. Occasionally, a more narrative, text-based approach is needed to describe nuances and details associated with a customer experience.  The story is told from the customer’s perspective, but also emphasizes the important intersections between user expectations and business requirements.

Inspired by user research, no two journey maps are alike, and regardless of format they allow organizations to consider interactions from their customers’ points of view, instead of taking an inside-out approach. They are one tool that can help organizations evolve from a transactional approach to one that focuses on long term relationships with customers built on respect, consistency and trust.

All organizations have business goals but leveraging customer journeys as a supporting component of an experience strategy keeps customers (or members, patients, employees, students, donors etc.) at the forefront when making design decisions. They can be used in both current state review and future state visioning to examine the present, highlight pain points and uncover the most significant opportunities for building a better experience for customers.

Read complete article >

[monikahalim-blog]

My biggest fear is rejecting an idea that may have been great. Hard ideas are so easy to say “no” to and I worry that I might dismiss an idea that has extreme potential simply because I didn’t comprehend it correctly when presented in an early phase. That is why I always look for the merits in any proposal and why I usually always give ideas a second glance a day or two later rather than rejecting something instantly.

David Rubin, U.S. marketing director for haircare at Unilever

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 JP GRAZIANO Concept by Jen Serafini and Jack Muldowney

Jen and Jack wanted to collaborate on a branding project together, so they decided to rebrand their favorite sandwich shop, JP Graziano, as a concept design.

JP Graziano is one of the oldest and most recognized sandwich shops and Italian grocer here in the West Loop of Chicago. They pride themselves on a rich history and generations of a family owned business, which is something Jen and Jack wanted to focus on and celebrate in their new concept. The colors lend themselves to a more traditional Italian look, while the clean and simple typography balances out the style by bringing in some more modern touches. They had a ton of fun building this brand out, from postcards to stickers and sandwich wrappers. 

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[monikahalim-blog]

Dear my self, I know you have a lot that you want to achieve. I know you can, so you will. But be patient. Be present. One step at a time. It's okay. You'll get there. Trust me.

monikahalim

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Dicover.typography From the designers at H&Co http://discover.typography.com/