5min UX

Can I have more infos about the mood map and how to create it?it sounds really interesting

Fri, 02 Oct 2015 10:06:38 -0400

Hello there,

I have no idea when you posted this comment, didn’t even know we could receive messages at Tumblr….my bad! Anyway, I still think mood maps are important and a great tool to map out the user feelings when interacting with your product.

You need to describe their journey, step by step, if its a product that already exists, and by interviewing or even just imagining how they feel in different parts of their journey. Create scenarios, see what steps they will take and map the mood. You can also apply this to a prototype or to a process you are trying to review.

Will be happy to talk more about it.

UX my friend (part 1)

Tue, 29 Sep 2015 13:29:40 -0400

Oh no, again? Since I stopped using the alarm clock to wake up my life got crazy. I’m always late and in a hurry. I’m glad I did though, the snooze button became my worst friend and best enemy. Do you imagine hitting the snooze button nine to ten times before finally waking up? It was hell. Well, enough complaining, I need to swallow my breakfast, burn my mouth with my espresso and run to the train station. I have such an important meeting today and can’t be late. The company that I work for got a new lead, big one. They want to build a huge portal, their idea, or dream, is that people will spend a good amount of time navigating and sharing their content.

I leave in a two bed apartment, suburb of Philadelphia, my commute is ok, 30 minutes in the train and 10 walking, that’s really good comparing to some crazy people commuting almost 3 hours a day. I have time to read my tweets in the morning, listen to the random songs my radio app will suggest or even read one or two chapters of my book. Well, that’s when I’m not sleeping. The company that I work for is big, in Brazil, here in the US is growing, 40 people total, mostly managers and executives taking care of clients we already have and trying to find new ones. I’m the only UX expert-designer-specialist, whatever the market wants to call me. We have a lot of pharmaceutical clients. Despite all the heavily regulated websites and apps we also create some fun products.

This meeting that I have today is ‘one of a kind’ opportunity. I will lead all the discovery phase. Big responsibility that makes me nervous and a little insecure. I have experience in my career and know that every new project, every new client, will be a different experience. Different politics that I need to deal inside their companies. Sometimes is who needs to approve the material, sometimes is ego fights from who had the best idea or who has the final word. But that’s normal, I just need to keep my ego down and battle for the right causes. Focus my energy on the correct direction. Adapt to the context, client and ideas. This is an never ending battle, just like life, we can’t just expect to replicate exact the same concepts, we need to re-evaluate every new challenge. Anyway, I’m ready for this, I feel that it’s time to move to the next level, to lead like someone that naturally needs to be followed.

My ride to the office just happened as expected, sometimes I wish something crazy happen, not bad, just out of normality, like an interesting person start a smart and exciting conversation or a beautiful girl realizing she is in a first sight love or even a midget fight. Just something to make my day run around it. My station arrived and I’m ready to start my 10 minutes walk. Its cold, this year has been specially cold, was a freezing autumn and has been a annoying windy spring. Thats my fifth year in the US, came from a warm city in Brazil, not sure if I will ever adapt to the cold weather. Leaving the station there is a homeless guy, I thought he was talking to me as he approached: - ‘Oh how I miss you! Long time no see my friend!’. I looked around to make sure it was really happening, nobody was that close or engaged in his conversation, was clearly with me, when the guy start to walk in my direction I got inevitably nervous, I’m not afraid of homeless people, most of them are harmless. I stopped for a second, frozen, he walks by me and hug the street pole, not any hug, I warm hug in a friend he really missed. That’s the story I needed, made my day, thanks to the humor of this homeless guy.

“This is the first part of what could turn to be a webserie. PLEASE send me your feedback and let me know if this has any value to you.”

What Soccer Teams and UX Teams Have in Common | UX Magazine

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:08:41 -0400

What Soccer Teams and UX Teams Have in Common | UX Magazine:

My new article at UX Mag

Future trends in web design: predictions for 2013

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 09:33:10 -0500

Future trends in web design: predictions for 2013:

Take a look at my predictions for 2013 on the excellent WebDesignerDepot website.

"Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes. – Oscar Wilde"

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 22:53:00 -0400

“

Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.

– Oscar Wilde

”

- Oscar Wilde

Know Your Product Owner

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 22:38:10 -0400

Know Your Product Owner:

My first article at UX Mag!

"Dreams feel real while we’re in them. It’s only when we wake up that we realize..."

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:10:00 -0500

“Dreams feel real while we’re in them. It’s only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.”

Mood Map

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:04:00 -0500

If you understand the pain points and where your user will potentially leave your product, you know how to solve the biggest problems you have. The mood map consists in identifying the key steps an user will take in your system, site, app, etc… and associate emotions on it.

For example, if your system starts with a long form in a mobile phone, there is already stress associated to this step, so you can add a red and frustrated face on this key step. It means you need to pay a lot of attention and try your best to make this process as easy as possible, helping them to go through it. If after the form your user will win a beautiful and expensive gift (that never happens) so you can associate a crazy smile face with it.

Understanding the key points of your system, understanding the emotions it may cause in your users and trying to be as friendly as possible is what a good UX can contribute to the success of the user journey.

"You have to give people something to dream on."

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:29:02 -0400

“You have to give people something to dream on.”

- Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix, the UX designer

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:19:00 -0400

Hendrix knew how to bring experience to his songs. You don’t just listen to his music, you feel it. He is also an innovator, an inventor and one the most creative minds in the history of the entertainment industry.

His product was not ‘more of the same’, he was bold and creative enough to do it in his own way. He played with the guitar in the opposite side and even though nobody believed he could sing he did it and it worked. Is this courage or what?

He understood better than anyone that creating a product was not enough, he created an experience, a way of enjoying and being happy just by listening to his creations. It was not a common product, it was not made to be unnoticed or just to be one more song on the radio. It was made to shock, to amaze or to hate, why not.

All these qualities can be implied in a description of a great UX designer, someone that creates amazing products for people to enjoy, brave enough to suggest innovative solutions, passionate with the result, always hoping to create the new greatest song ever!

"All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit,..."

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:57:15 -0400

“All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire.”

- Aristotle

Start small, fast and cheap

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 23:58:00 -0400

I feel things are about to change, it started already actually. There is a common sense about how to approach projects right now that is just changing the game. Small pieces at a time. No more waterfall model, it just doesn’t work. No more separation between design and development as two different phases. More tests, user tests, bug tests, design tests.

It is obvious that it is better for any client to spend less money upfront, test their product, get real feedback and then enhance it. It’s better to understand if the idea was really great faster and cheaper, right? It also gives the opportunity to produce more small projects than a huge white elephant.

For the client less risk, for the producer the possibility of long term relationship, continuous work, more creativity, more success cases. Everybody wins! But….nothing is perfect, clients will need to change how they see their digital projects. They will even need to change how they organize their budgets.They will need to trust more in their partners.

All these changes are coming specially with the influence of mobile projects. The MVP (Minimal Viable Product) has been proven to be the smarter way to build success products, and it is changing how companies and clients are looking at new projects. Be prepared, it’s real.

What do you think about that?

"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:41:58 -0400

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

- Steve Jobs

UX is creative

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 20:31:00 -0400

UX is a creative practice, no doubt. Our deliverable by essence is a creative approach to a problem. We propose, suggest, test, we are wrong sometimes, very fell times :) but the most important: we need to pursue innovation!

We are responsible and accountable for various success factors in a project, don’t hide yourself, don’t pretend you were not part of that direction when it is proven wrong. Show that without your wrong decision the correct one would probably never appear.

UX people need to master brainstorm sections, ideation meetings and discovery phases. This is the best way to influence and be part of the most creative discussions. A lot of people associate the term creative just to design work, but the innovative thinking should come from the UX studies. Actually there is no such a thing as UX phase, UX is the result, UX is the success measure.

If your work is not innovative and exciting by nature, if your routine is not full of creative decisions, you should be aware that a better world exists outside your company. And if that’s the case I have no question that something is very wrong with the way you are doing your work.

"Have no fear of perfection - you’ll never reach it."

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:59:23 -0400

“Have no fear of perfection - you’ll never reach it.”

- Salvador Dali

"Taking control of the feedback process is one of the hardest challenges, but get it right and you..."

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 23:12:55 -0400

“Taking control of the feedback process is one of the hardest challenges, but get it right and you can turn negative, arbitrary criticism into valuable critique.”

- Undercover User Experience Design by Bowles, Cennydd

Tell a story!

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:08:11 -0400

It is important to note that a great story can be told in many ways: a poem, a movie, a song, an ad campaign, iPhone app, etc.. I’m talking about a communication process where the end result is perceived and consumed as a well-told story.

Probably in the course of a project you are asked about key issues: the message is being communicated clearly? The brand is being exposed in the best way? Aspects of design are attracting attention to the correct points and directions in the screen? All really comes down to a fundamental and basic aspect: the story is being told in a clear and interesting way?

The important thing is to always keep in mind that someone with his virtues and defects, concepts and ideals, will interact and consume your creation. Strange and basic as it sounds, it is not difficult to lose this mindset throughout the project. There are external and beyond our control issues that affect the way our audience receives the message, such as:physical, ergonomic, emotional factors, style, rhythm, and many others.

What some professionals insist on not understand is that what really matters is not personal taste, but what will be effective to tell the story. This doesn’t means that you don’t have to be happy and excited with the result, but if you need to simplify, change or even redo, look at to with maturity and security. What we all want is a happy end, right?

Good storyteller in UX

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:07:40 -0400

The main job of an UX professional is to establish connections with their audience. Create a remarkable and unique experience so the message, the brand and the product could represents something for those who are consuming it. Regardless of the channel like websites, newspaper ad, anillustration or banner, consciously or not, we’re all creating and telling stories.

With a good story we hope to give knowledge, information, different points of view, break taboos, transform and influence people. The public, in the other hand, must be willing to listen our stories and If it happens we have achieved the first major barrier, get their attention. Some things facilitate this interaction, one is able to evoke memories in people and make them identify with the story, be part of it.

With public involvement we make our way to get our messages, so it is important to understand how to communicate, how many seconds we have the person’s attention, which way we want it to go and what should be recorded in their memories after the experience we provided. We’ve all heard the hype about the amount of information we receive every day, so imagine the role of our work in this scenario. The challenge is to be remarkable, honest and entertain the public and there is no better way than telling a good story.

If our history is deep, compelling, subversive, profane, clear and mysterious, it depends on the way which we desire and the perception of our audience. The more you can control these emotions and feelings, the best you control the experience you want to provide.

"I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing..."

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”

- Leonardo da Vinci