Apply to tell your story at EX2019 – if chosen, you’ll attend for free!

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Want a free copy of Card Sorting?

No problem: purchase a subscription to OptimalSort, one of the leading card sorting applications. A 30 or 90 day subscription includes Donna Spencer’s Card Sorting: Designing Usable Categories in PDF format; an annual subscription nets you the lovely paperback edition as well. Here are the details, and more information on OptimalSort.

Question: How do I win a free Rosenfeld Media book?

Answer: Follow us on Twitter (rosenfeldmedia) and you’ll automatically be entered in a monthly drawing. Win and we’ll ship you the book of your choice. That’s it!

Following us on Twitter also means that you’ll be the first on your block to learn about our new books and webinars, and you’ll receive nice discounts on our products and more, such as industry conferences that our pals put on.

Raffling off a free IDEA registration

In a not-so-subtle ploy to get you to subscribe to our brand new mailing list, Rosenfeld Media is raffling off a seat at the IA Institute’s IDEA conference (Chicago, USA; October 7-8), a US$550 value. This year’s event, of which we’re a proud sponsor, includes such honchos as David Armano, Jason Fried, and Jesse James Garrett.

To be eligible for the raffle, subscribe to our list by 9am ET September 29.

The list postings will be exactly the same as our announcements feed’s content: infrequent, irregular, and brief notices about new books, discounts, author events, and a few other tidbits. We just thought it might be nice to provide an alternative (and hopefully more viral) way to keep up with Rosenfeld Media.

Updated, October 3: We have a winner: Madhura Chavan, an MDes student at the IIT Institute of Design. Enjoy IDEA, Madhura!

Interview with Whitney Quesenbery

Whitney Quesenbery will be sharing some essential bits of advice in our upcoming event, 31 Awesomely Practical UX Tips! It’s a one-day virtual conference in which 6 experts offer…you guessed it…31 Awesomely Practical UX Tips!

This week we pick Whitney’s brain about universal design principles and the content of her forthcoming book. Here’s what she had to say:

Rosenfeld Media: You and Sarah Horton have a new book coming out, Web Design For Everyone—can you tell us about it?

Whitney Quesenbery: Almost three years ago, we started talking to Lou about an accessibility book. As important as the technical standards are, I knew that a Rosenfeld Media book has to start with the user experience. And I’m not that technical. I wanted a way to think about a project that would start with people, and would acknowledge all of the different considerations that go into making a web site or app.

Think about what it takes to do something as simple as putting a heading on the screen. There’s user research and IA, content strategy and HTML markup, graphic design and CSS coding, the structure of the site and the server it sits on. All of them have to pull together to make that heading show up in a browser. If we can get all of that right, adding accessibility doesn’t seem so hard.

We’ve organized the book around the way we think as UXers. It starts with personas, so we don’t forget that UX is about people. Then, each chapter looks at one principle of UX design:

• Clear purpose
• Solid structure
• Easy interaction
• Helpful wayfinding
• Clean presentation
• Plain language
• Accessible media
• Universal usability

The principles also take in the many disciplines that contribute to UX, so we hope that any practitioner can explore how their own skills and method contribute to making a web for everyone.

RM: You mention “Universal Design Principles” in your book? Could you tell us a little about those?

WQ: One of the things I like about the Universal Design Principles is that they really are principles – not rigid rules for design. I think of them as 7 questions to ask about any UX project. The answers guide the design towards a product that can be used by everyone.

• Is it an equitable experience, appealing to all equally?
• Is it flexible, allowing for people to choose how to use it?
• Is it simple, consistent, and clear?
• Does it present information in multiple ways, supporting all senses?
• Does it tolerate errors without punishing users?
• Is it comfortable and efficient to use?
• Does it allow people with different physical abilities to use it?

Those sound like questions I’d want to ask about anything I worked on. The big leap to universal principles is thinking about people with many different abilities and preferences, not just dictating one experience.

You might also notice that these principles can be applied to physical objects and spaces, not just to the web. The group that created them in 1997 included architects, industrial designers and engineers. They were concerned with how people interacted with anything in the world — which now includes the online world. That makes a lot of sense to me now that user experience includes both software and hardware devices.

(You can read the official version at the Center for Universal Design)

RM: We heard that we should be designing for Mobile First, but you’re actually addressing Accessibility First. Are these themes in conflict? Or do they complement one another?

WQ: They are absolutely not in conflict. In fact, I think we’d have better web sites if we combined them. Both of them say that we need to start by designing for constraints. In both cases, there are both technical and human constraints.

In mobile, for example, you have a small screen, limited bandwidth, and a device that is often used by someone on the go – certainly not a person sitting at an ergonomically correct desk, paying complete attention to the interface. Mobile First simply says to design for that situation. Find the most critical features. Make the screen easy to read. And make sure that people can tap on buttons or other controls without accidentally doing the wrong thing.

In accessibility, the constraints are the human senses and the need for alternatives. What if someone can’t see the image or hear the video intro? Can they use the site? The same responsive design approach that lets a site or app work on different size screens also lets it work when users need larger text, or different colors.

Both mobile and accessibility also rely on sites built to strong standards. This may sound pretty boring, but it makes all sorts of things possible because accessibility relies on two things that standards provide: flexibility (for different ways of displaying content) and interoperability (so that people can choose the technology that fits their needs). This solid structure is a foundation for a great user experience for everyone.

RM: Thanks, Whitney!

There’s still time to sign up for 31 Awesomely Practical UX Tips! Join Whitney along with five other experts for this awesome virtual event on May 29th.

What we learned from Amy Bucher’s AMA: a recap

During our “Ask Me Anything” with Amy Bucher, author of Engaged: Designing for Behavior Change, we touched on subjects ranging from career advice to climate change, social justice, and the intersection of science and UX. Read on for a recap of the session, and please join our Slack here to stay informed about when our next #rm-chat author AMA will be!

Q: How have you applied your own behavior change design principles in your personal life? Give us an example! -DJ H.

A: Good question! Probably my most successful personal behavior change is becoming a runner. I didn’t run at all until I was almost 30, then one day I went on a jog on a whim and got really pissed by how bad I was at it. So I put together a training plan and somehow stuck with it, and now running is a major part of my life and identity. I would say writing Engaged is also an example. I used a lot of milestones, goal setting, and accountability tactics to get it written.

Q: Molly Stevens recently gave the closing keynote at the UXR conference and pointed to a series of next steps for the research community. One of them is “First, be seen as the scientists that we are. The work we do is grounded in years of study and scientific principles. We should emphasize and celebrate this, instead of diminishing or ignoring our foundation.” Molly is speaking about research specifically, but my question for you is more general, around the dynamic that you’ve found between science and UX—what have you seen? How have you navigated? What would you like to see? -Steve P.

A: This is a really thoughtful and thought-provoking question. I have found there is some tension between science and UX, but it’s inconsistent. I personally experienced the tension entering the design workforce with a PhD—when I first applied for roles I got quite a bit of pushback and remember being told in one interview that they knew I wasn’t seriously interested in the job (well, not after that response I wasn’t!). I’ve discovered I thrive working for companies that explicitly embrace science and value that part of my background. Where most of my work is in health, I think we still struggle to create products that are based on strong science and also have beautiful, elegant design. Health IT is typically a UX wasteland, and a lot of consumer health tech is not based on strong science. I try to think of this as an exciting opportunity and not a horrifying miss. I would like to see more collaboration and less ego. One person who I think is doing this effectively is Sherry Pagoto at UConn—she’s really into putting academic testing frameworks around consumer health tech so that it can gain the type of evidence base it needs to be accepted in healthcare settings.

Q: How is behavior change design (BHD) different from user experience design (UXD)? Are they both different labels for the same thing? -Nitya R.

A: I do think they are different. The main differences in my view are the use of established scientific frameworks in BCD, and the focus on behavior as the target of design. I see BCD as a subset of UXD.

Q: Let’s say someone falls in this BCD subset. A psych background and a significant amount of HCI knowledge and research experience, but not formally trained in the design-specific elements of UI/UX. How many companies make the distinction between these two roles in their organizations? (It seems nearly all jobs in behavior change tech require UI/UX design skills. But in doing this, companies are missing an opportunity: what the psych-heavy side has to offer.) -Mary M.

A: Great point, and I do not know the answer, but that reminds me of a fabulous resource! Ingrid Paulin of Rally Health made this great spreadsheet of companies around the world that hire people with behavior science expertise.

Q: Aside from your home turf of healthcare, what are the areas you’re seeing as having the most potential for designing for behavior change? Maybe better to ask: where are designers working now, and where might the be working in five years? -Lou R.

A: Climate change! There is SO MUCH opportunity there for behavior change work. So far the main obstacles I’ve seen to doing the work is that the money isn’t there, but the projects definitely are.

Q: Any other areas that stand out?

A: I attended an event at the World Wildlife Foundation about 2 years ago with the theme of behavior change and was blown away by some of the incredible work being done around the world on things like sustainable fishing practices and clean cooking fuels. Right now that’s all NGO-driven. As the economics around climate change shift I hope we’ll see more companies wanting to fund this type of work.

I also think politics is ripe for shaking up. There were a couple of behavior change type interventions around the 2016 election that I thought were interesting (Jane McGonigal worked on an app for example that encouraged people to get their friends to vote). The Environmental Voter Project is an organization using behavior change principles to get people to vote. There’s so much reform needed that I hope we see more focus there.

Q: Like you said above, with climate change, the projects are there but the funding isn’t. Is there a space where design for behavior change can move money toward these projects? -Katya H.

A: Easier said than done. I think the economics will shift around climate change as more organizations either realize the existing way of doing things is not sustainable, or they see that their consumers are interested in better alternatives. As I think about it, maybe the focus should be on helping to create buzz and desirability around more sustainable products or ways of doing things.

Q: There’s a revolutionary (and counter-revolutionary) spirit in the U.S. today, similar but different to what I saw in the 1960s. What role can government institutions and businesses play in encouraging behavior change when it comes to diversity and inclusion? And by this, I mean more than simply sending us daily emails about how much they care about BLM. -Bob T.

A: You hit on a great point here, which is that words without actions are (almost) meaningless, and people perceive words without actions as inauthentic at some point. One big role they can play is demonstrating through action what the change looks like. Organizations that actually have diverse leadership, for example, have a lot of credibility in talking about what it takes to hire a diverse work force and leverage the talents and perspectives of their people. What sucks right now is realizing how few companies are in a position to model anything. One thing I was very inspired by in writing my book was talking to Sheryl Cababa and hearing about the Tarot Cards of Tech she co-developed at Artefact. I think those kinds of design methods are a process-based way that orgs can start bringing more diverse perspectives into their work. I thought it was great this year seeing so many organizations acknowledge Juneteenth. We had to delay finishing a project because our client org made Juneteenth a paid day off on short notice—best reason ever to be late.

Q: When choosing a solution type, do you have a preference for a particular method/framework for prioritization of interventions to solve ability blockers? -Jeff G.

A: Yes! I tend to reach for motivation-based tools first because I truly believe that behavior change happens when the actions align with people’s motivation. That said, I work in a consultancy so my projects are for clients, and often I need to adjust my toolkit to fit the client’s parameters.

One example: I did a construction worker safety project, and we uncovered a lot of environmental adjustments that could be made at worksites to limit people taking unnecessary risks. But the client wanted to develop a training—so our output was a training. We presented on the environmental adjustments but I have no idea if anything became of that.

Q: Do you have any advice for those just jumping in the BCD pool? -Jode K.

A: I have been recommending recently that people start with a few more accessible activities that are part of the BCD toolkit. The three I’ve pulled out are doing a lit review of peer reviewed papers related to your project, creating an outcomes logic map that articulates the behaviors you’re trying to influence, and using a BC framework for a lensed brainstorm. The lensed brainstorm in particular is extremely accessible. I do versions of it with clients often.

A Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day

 

• We’ll make the ebook versions (PDF, ePub, and MOBI formats) downloadable from your account today. Unfortunately, this is a manual process, but your copy will be downloadable before the day is out.
• We’ll also email you a code to download another of our titles for free. It’s the least we can do.
• And we’ll let you know when we have an ETA for sending you the paperback.

In the meantime, I’m looking to move to Australia.

—Lou Rosenfeld

Help Defend Net Neutrality This Giving Tuesday

Update—November 29, 2017: thanks to you, we sold 77 books on Giving Tuesday—and raised US$385 for the Electronic Frontier Foundation! Thank you very much!

Back in the late 1980s, when I was a student in library school, we debated what the dawning “information superhighway” should be. Some classmates saw it as a huge boon to the global economy. Others argued that “information wants to be free,” and money shouldn’t taint public access to the Internet’s information bounty.

I’ve worked at both ends of the spectrum—as a librarian and as a publisher—and have always taken the middle road: “Information doesn’t want to be free–it just wants to be used.” Although the pendulum has swung back and forth, we’ve managed to find a middle road that works well enough for most of us.

Until now.

It all may change in the US if the FCC’s proposed changes to Net Neutrality are approved.

Companies like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T would likely transform their policies from customer-unfriendly to completely hostile to the free and open exchange of information. It could jeopardize your career, your kids’ education, free speech, independent journalism, and just about every aspect of contemporary life.

That’s why this Giving Tuesday—Rosenfeld Media is donating US$5 for every book purchased to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Please consider making a purchase—or simply donate to the EFF directly.

I’ll leave you with links to learn about Net Neutrality and the FCC’s proposed order from two of our great nation’s most trusted and respected sources: the American Library Association and The Oatmeal. Please read them and spread the word. Thank you.

Videoconference recording now available: “Merging Improv with Design” with Cheryl Platz, March 7, 11am EST

Videoconferences (and past recordings) are available for free to all Enterprise Experience Community members. Join here for invitations.

Our guest, Cheryl Platz, applies her extensive experience as a professional improv performer and educator to her design work in “unexpected” ways. Improv is more than a performance technique – it’s a mindset that helps us energetically embrace constraints and uncertainty. Join Cheryl for a Q&A session to ask questions about Cheryl’s DesignOps Summit 2018 improv talk, questions about improv theory, or how to apply improvisational techniques to your storytelling and facilitation.

About Cheryl:
Cheryl Platz is a principal interaction designer whose work on emerging technologies has reached millions of customers across multiple industries. Her professional passions include natural user interfaces, applied storytelling in design and research, and taming complexity in any manifestation. As a Principal UX Designer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, she is tasked with exploring and improving the Foundation’s employee experience around the world. Past employers include Amazon (Alexa), Microsoft (Azure, Cortana), Electronic Arts (The Sims), Griptonite Games (Disney Friends), Disney Parks (PhotoPass), and MAYA Design. In her free time, as Principal Designer and owner of design education company Ideaplatz, Cheryl shares her experience with conferences and companies worldwide – providing designers with the skills needed to work thoughtfully (and responsibly) with emerging technologies. Cheryl is also a professional actress and improvisor: as a member of the Unexpected Productions ensemble and teaching faculty for over a decade, she’s entertained and inspired tens of thousands of audience members.

Todd Zaki Warfel’s “Prototyping” now on sale!

It’s here! Well, technically, your copy of Prototyping: A Practitioner’s Guide is sitting in a crate in our fulfillment center in Ypsilanti, Michigan, awaiting swift shipping and tender handling on its way to your loving hands. Order your copy today to learn the ins and outs of this most practical design tool in a most practical fashion. Todd Zaki Warfel covers the gamut of prototyping approaches, from low-tech (paper prototyping) to high-tech (Axure and its ilk).
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