See if any of these tensions sound familiar:

• Should we do more Learning or start Building?
• Should we focus on Innovation or Efficiency?
• Should we prioritize Deadlines or Quality?
• Growth vs. Consolidation?
• Short-term Gains vs. Long-term Organic Growth?
• Centralization vs. Decentralization
• New Features vs. a Stable Codebase?
• Generalist or Specialist?

We could go on, listing more of these tensions. And if we’re like most organizations, we’d rush to analysis to determine the best or right answer. I’d argue we should first stop and ask a more fundamental question: Is this A Problem… Or a Polarity?

Too often, we treat conflicts — like those listed above — as problems to be solved, when in reality they’re “polarities”.

Problems vs. Polarities

A problem is something that can have a right — or best — answer. A solution exists. If we’re deciding between two incompatible tech stacks, this is a problem to be solved. We do our analysis. Weigh the pros and cons, determine which is the best choice, all things considered, then commit. Problem, solved.

This is approach is fine, if there truly is a decision to be made.

• Which tech stack do we commit to?
• Which department should I move to?
• Where should we shift our funding?

But, when we level this same problem-solving mindset at things that needn’t or can’t really be solved, frustration follows. “Should we focus on delivery or quality?” Yes. Yes we should focus on these things. That is the honest answer. But this doesn’t sit right; it doesn’t feel resolved. That’s because these aren’t resolvable. These are polarities,  “dilemmas that are ongoing, unsolvable and contains seemingly opposing ideas“.

Problems give us two ideas that are directly opposed and in conflict.
Polarities give us  two ideas that are complementary and interdependent.

Problems push an either/or mindset.
Polarities push a both/and mindset.

Problems need decisions, and resolution.
Polarities do not.

Here’s the rub: Polarities are not a problem to be solved, but rather a paradox to be balanced. Here’s an elegant analogy:

“Think of it like breathing. Breathing isn’t a choice between inhaling or exhaling. If you inhale to the exclusion of exhaling, the negative results show up quickly. And the reverse is also true. The polarity approach says, we must both inhale and exhale.”

Here’s where the polarity map enters the picture.

On the surface, it looks like a simple “pros/cons” matrix. But, as with most things, the devil is in the details.

First, this little loop is vital. It says we are constantly moving between these four quadrants.

Second, the language: You have two poles, yes. But you’re not evaluating the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’. Rather, it’s the Benefits and Unintended Consequences. Language matters.

The Tool in Action:

When we treat a polarity like a problem, looping back and forth is what inevitably happens over time (often over a very long, agonizing, period of time!). For our explanation, let’s use the tension of “planning” vs “building” a new software app.

Suppose we decide to double down on “learning”. We have good reasons for this:

• We’ll be able to make faster decisions, when we do move into building
• We’ll generate deep context / insights that are more useful to ops.

This is all well and good until months later, our zealous focus on “learning” has led to some unintended consequences:

• Teams are stuck in analysis paralysis
• And hey, competitors beat you to market. Bummer.

So what do we do? We swing to the other extreme! We double down on jumping into building. Insert some lean-slash-agile-slash-design sprint Kool-aid here.

At first, things go great.

• We’ve got something built and released into the market that we can iterate upon.
• We’re delivering real customer value

But then…

• That new feature you want, it’ll take a ridiculous amount of time, because we didn’t plan for anything like that.
• Oh, and we were so busy building things that we forget to do any real customer research. Turns out no one wants this thing we built.
• And who knows what better ideas we missed out on, as we sped along with our first idea.

We didn’t intend for any of these things to happen. And so the pendulum swings back to the other extreme. Most of the folks that would remember the previous extreme have moved on, so few people recall the follies of the other extreme.

And on it goes.

Polarity Mapping let’s us explore all these issues and concerns in an afternoon, setting teams up to work together, with a shared sensitivity to all these issues.  You get the benefit of discussing all of these tensions upfront, before living through them. The goal isn’t a decision, but rather recognition of all these simultaneous Benefits and Unintended Consequences — on both sides. And reconciliation, as a team. And the valuing of competing perspectives. And… we could go on listing the goals. The conversations I’ve seen as a result of this activity have been quite remarkable. Aside from bringing Product Managers and Designers together,  it’s also broken down stereotypes about what ‘“the other side” values.

“Are there any actionable outcomes from this?”

While I’ve focused on the core of Polarity Mapping, mapping the Benefits and Unintended Consequences of two polarities, there is more to this tool. Once you’ve identified this core information, you can move out into the margins to address:

1. What are the Action Steps to gain or maintain these Benefits?
2. What are the Early Warnings of unintended consequences?

Done as a group, and pinned to a wall, this should set up teams to successfully navigate many difficult conversations. Hopefully, you’ll find this tool as useful as I have.

The Polarity Map in action!

Downloadable Files:

• Poster of the Polarity Map, for workshops (PDF)
• Complete Polarity Map (PDF)

Further information:

• “Are You Facing a Problem? Or a Polarity?“ — Center for Creative Leadership — a great introductory article
• The Polarity Map  — there are lots of versions of the polarity map; I prefer the clarity of this version, as you may have noticed! (PDF)
• Polarity Thinking, Polarity Mapping  — a longer overview with more examples (PDF)
• [BOOK] Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems Yes, there’s a book on this topic, authored by the creator of this tool, Barry Johnson

You can also get more detailed information and consulting services directly from Polarity Partnerships, co-founded by Barry Johnson Ph.D., the creator of The Polarity Map^® and Principles

The post The Joys of Polarity Mapping appeared first on UX Mastery.

Body language experts Barbara and Allan Pease have been researching this domain for over thirty years. In their book, The Definitive Book of Body Language, they reveal what many of us fail to recognise and understand when others try to communicate with us.

The Mirror Neuron

Research has identified a Mirror Neuron which attributes this behaviour to a physiological phenomenon. We are wired to mimic the reactions of those we interact with on a daily basis.

Unsurprisingly, scientists call this effect mirroring. It also works the other way around—a frown may yield a frown from the other party. Researcher Ulf Dimberg conducted experiments on 120 volunteers, measuring their facial muscle activity while viewing pictures of both happy and angry faces. When told to do the opposite of the pictures (e.g. smile while looking at a picture of an angry person) their facial twitching suggested that they were unconsciously trying to mirror the same reaction as the picture they were viewing, even though they were told to do the opposite.

While smiles are infectious, so are frowns and angry faces. After a long gruelling day of research it’s important for us as researchers to put on a happy face as best we can, even if it pains us to do so. Any hint of discontent might rub the participant the wrong way, making them feel bad or, even worse, neglected.

Strategic Gestures

Strategically smiling—knowing that the participant will likely smile back—sounds like you might be leading them, the way you are told not to when running a research session. But the tendency for humans to mirror one another’s gestures is so powerful that whether you remain neutral-faced or smiling, you’ll be leading them regardless.

The last thing you want a participant to do is to tell you what you want to hear. As a moderator, one of your primary goals is to make your participant feel comfortable enough to speak their mind about “the good, the bad, the ugly.” Gesturing positively builds the rapport required to get them feeling more at ease. Ultimately this will enable them to provide more truthful (and useful) information than they would if they were not relaxed.

Smiles reveal deeper aspects of human emotions. Not all smiles are created equal. Body language experts Barbara and Allan Pease describe 5 different types of smiles. Each of these has a different MO. Two of these smiles in particular may be useful to identify to help redirect UX research sessions.

The tight-lipped smile

The tight-lipped smile is when a person’s lips are stretched tight across their face in a straight line concealing their teeth. When you see this smile, there is a good chance that the person has a secret that they are unwilling to share with you.

During a UX research session, when you encounter this gesture, you might want to ask gently: “is there anything else you would like to share with me that you haven’t already mentioned?” This last part is important. It implies that as a keen observer you suspect there is something else that they are reluctant to share with you. Always reassure them whatever they share with you will not go beyond the research project.

Consider meeting them at their level by mirroring their facial gestures. This will demonstrate empathy for their situation. They will feel like they are being heard and understood. Making gestures that oppose their own could run the risk of coming across as antagonistic and apathetic. If they are smiling, you smile. If they are frowning, then frown with slight concern demonstrating your empathy and willingness to listen. Worst case scenario, they reject your request. Best case, they feel more comfortable sharing.

Always be mindful of them trying to please you as you empathise with their cause. Revert to a neutral stance whenever you feel like you are losing the candour from mirroring them.

The drop-jaw smile

Another common type of smile you may come across is the drop-jaw smile. This smile involves the person deliberately dropping their jaw to give the impression to others that they are laughing or are happy. It is commonly used by politicians to get votes, or actors to get a laugh from their audience. The drop-jaw smile is intended to get a positive reaction from its recipient.

One of the things I insert into my research protocols before beginning the main parts of my interview guide is requesting the participant tells me what they see, think and feel, not what they think I want to hear. Participants who deliver a drop-jaw smile might be trying to tell you what you want to hear. When you see this gesture during a session, do a sanity check with your participant. Make sure what they are telling you is their opinion and not someone else’s. They might say something like: well, I think people in my field would love to have a feature like this! Redirect and make the conversation about them: while it’s interesting to know that others would use this. How about you? How would you use a feature like this in your daily work?

Micro-gestures can tell us how a person really feels

According to body language experts it is very difficult to fake body language for long periods of time. Eventually the truth reveals itself in the form of micro-gestures. These are the body’s unconscious actions revealing themselves as a person’s conscious effort to conceal their authentic self weakens. It might be pupil dilation, facial muscle twitching, accelerated blinking, sweating, blushing, a momentary sneer. Research has shown that these micro-gestures occur within a split second and are very difficult to catch. As elusive as they are, the may provide some flag to a researcher that further investigation might be warranted.

During UX research sessions, look for changes in facial expressions.

Those brief flashes of concern or stress that sail across their face disappearing (as fast as they showed up) might suggest they may have more to share. It might be a pain point that could provide insight for your research effort,or an interesting anecdote that reveals an insight for your final report. Tread carefully though. Don’t acknowledge that you’ve picked up on the cue. Use it as a speed-bump to slow down. Wait for them to come forward with more info if they feel like it. Embrace any awkward silences that come your way. Those deliberate pauses give their micro-gestures a chance to breathe.

Understanding your participant’s body language ultimately allows you to build a better rapport and achieve a deeper level of empathy. View the signals offered up by gestures as opportunities to broaden your view of their reality and gain insights for your research.

References;

Dimberg, U., Thunberg, M., Elmehed, K., “Unconscious facial reactions to emotional facial expressions,” Psychological Science 11 (2000).

Pease, A., & Pease, B. (2006). The Definitive Book of Body Language. New York: Bantam Dell Pub Group.

The post Understanding Body Language In UX Research Part II appeared first on UX Mastery.

This will give you an enhanced awareness of what to look for so that a potentially wasteful session could make for a more productive one…

A participant that you’ve been moderating a session with is sitting upright with his ankles locked next to you. His fingers are interlocked and his lips pursed. He answers your question with a head nod reassuringly, but succinctly, “Yeah sure. I’d use this tool if it were available to me.”

As soon as he finishes speaking he begins to scratch the back of his neck. He touches his nose.

In this example, should we believe what the participant is saying? Is he being forthright? He nodded his head, didn’t he? But what did he mean by scratching his neck? Maybe he was just anxious. Maybe he wasn’t. It’s very difficult to tell based on all of his gestures. You will soon find out there is more to reading body language than looking at a couple of gestures.

According to body language experts Allan and Barbara Pease, authors of The Definitive Book of Body Language, gestures must be viewed in combinations called clusters in order to be accurately interpreted; the context of these gestures also need to be considered.

The everyday gestures that we use are windows into how we are truly feeling. They give us suggestions as to whether or not someone is lying or telling the truth, interested or bored, stressed or relaxed, feeling intimidated or wanting to intimidate.

Most of the time when doing in-person UX research sessions, we ignore body language in favour of the spoken word.

As a UX researcher I admittedly spend much more time listening to the words of participants rather than reading their body language. When we listen to their opinions we try to assess whether they are truthful. Observing their actions also helps us evaluate their credibility. Reading the words on a page gets easier as we age, interpreting body language doesn’t; we get stuck in the learning stage of what psychologist Martin Broadwell calls unconscious incompetence.

It tends to get nestled into our unconscious mind, making itself inaccessible and upstaged by what we hear. We simply don’t know what to do with the information. We might visually recognise that a person is reacting to something we say but we don’t necessarily invest enough time interpreting whether these gestures actually mean anything.

Should we? Some would argue that we shouldn’t. But several studies have shown that we can reliably improve our understanding. Can we use what we learn from reading someone’s cluster of gestures to our advantage when it comes to moderating UX research sessions?

Two research-based insights that have important implications for moderating UX research sessions are:

• A persons gestures and emotions bidirectionally influence one another
• A key place to look when someone is not being forthright is the face

According to body language experts, a person’s’ gestures and emotions bidirectionally influence one another.

Research on priming proves this. Professor Daniel Kahnemann, in his modern classic book about heuristics and biases, Thinking, Fast and Slow indicates that actions and emotions can be primed by events people aren’t even aware of. To prove that actions and emotions can bidirectionally affect one another, an experiment with college students was conducted where students were asked to hold a pencil between their teeth for a few seconds forcing their mouth either into a smile or a frown while reading The Far Side cartoon and rating its humour. The students who found the cartoons funnier were the ones whose face was forced into a smile.

If changing a person’s facial expression primes them into changing their sentiment while reading a comic strip, could we not do the same in UX research sessions?

How can we prime a participant in such a way that they would be inclined to disclose more information

We would need to identify when they might be holding back information from the moderator. What stance might they take when unwilling to be as open about themselves during a session? According to body language experts, people may cross their arms or legs to form a defensive barrier between themselves and others. They may keep their palms closed and facing down.

By recognising the clusters; in this case the defensive poses. The context; in this case their unwillingness to provide more information during a session. The moderator can then find a way to prime them into a more open position.

If there is a stimulus or artefact as a part of the research protocol, use this as an opportunity to get them to hold it in their hands. If it’s on a computer, then have them move closer to the computer. They may be forced to unfold their arms or change their posture so that they can see the screen. Their palms may be opened suggesting a willingness to engage more openly. Once they change their posture participants are more likely to provide more feedback to the moderator making for more fruitful research insights.   

Body language experts suggest a key place to look at when a person is not being forthright is the face.

According to their research, we are likely to cover our eyes, ears or mouth with our hands when we hear or speak lies. A study of nurses in a role-playing situation were told to lie to their patients. The nurses who lied showed more hand-to-face gestures than those who didn’t. Those common lying gestures include: covering of the mouth, touching of the nose, rubbing of the eye, grabbing of the ear, scratching of the neck, pulling of their collar, or putting finger(s) in their mouth. Recognising these signs along with incompatible dialogue will help you weigh whether or not to consider excluding participant data.

Consider double-downing on your inquiry by rephrasing questions differently and see if the same answer is achieved. Seek clarification when body language tells you otherwise. Read back to the participant their earlier response and follow up with questions like “can you tell me more about that?” or “what did you mean when you said…?” If they respond differently than what they said earlier then there is a good chance that their gestures were revealing the truth about their lies.

In part II we will examine other gestures that hint at a person not being honest. Stay tuned!

References
Pease, A., & Pease, B. (2006). The Definitive Book of Body Language. New York: Bantam Dell Pub Group.

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Navarro, J., & Karlins, M. (2008). What Every Body Is Saying. New York: HarperCollins.

Strack, F., Martin, L., and Stepper, S., (1988). “Inhibiting and facial conditions of the human smile: a non-obtrusive test of the facial feedback hypothesis,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 54.

Valentine, J., Best Practices for Equity Research Analysts (2011). New York: McGraw Hill.
“Conscious Competence Learning Model.” (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.businessballs.com/self-awareness/conscious-competence-learning-model-63/#toc-9

The post Understanding Body Language In UX Research Part I appeared first on UX Mastery.

The colour of the stapler is no coincidence, as my first encounter with a red Swingline was the cult classic Office Space. In the movie, Milton Waddams defends his prized piece of office equipment from theft and destruction at the hands of unscrupulous coworkers.

For Milton and millions of office workers worldwide, the red Swingline has become a symbol of those pieces of our work life for which we would, if ignored, set the world on fire.

My stapler’s daily use is as a reminder that everyone has red-stapler issues in their work life, and that a failure to communicate on those issues could have dire, unforeseen consequences. 

It’s an important reminder, to be sure. Our placement in our company’s organisation and workflow means that communicating as a UX professional is both imperative and, at times, extremely difficult.

Here are a few important lessons to learn to help avoid those red-stapler situations.

Learn and translate new languages

My wife and I do not speak the same language.  

My wife is an Archivist, and I’m a User Experience Engineer. Unsurprisingly, there is very little crossover between the world of antiquities and modern technology and design. Any dinner table conversation that begins with the inane question of “How was your day?” can lead to a whole meal spent translating different professional terms and concepts into language the other can understand.

This simply goes to illustrate this point: no one speaks the same language. Our individual collections of idioms, slang, and jargon is unique to each of us. What’s more, our own language changes and evolves depending on the group of people we’re interacting with at the moment.

Nowhere is the difference in languages used within an organisation more apparent than in the world of the user experience professional. We have exposure to nearly every element of our business, from C-Level management all the way on down to individual clients.  

To be successful in what we do, it’s imperative that we learn to speak and communicate in the various languages of our business partners and clients.

Additionally, because of our involvement across the business, a large part of our job is facilitating communication of difficult concepts between different groups. We are professional translators, addressing a wide audience that speaks a relatively small common language.

To make matters more difficult, UX has its own unique vocabulary that many in the organisation simply won’t understand. This is especially true in organisations that are new to UX. The temptation to slide a word of our own native language into the conversation is overwhelming.

Whether it’s a presentation or an email, we must take a moment before we begin communicating to put ourselves in our audience’s shoes. Potentially confusing jargon, acronyms, and unfamiliar concepts all need to be addressed to effectively communicate to our chosen audience. Identifying these potential issues ahead of time will help you avoid any problems and keep the conversation moving forward smoothly.

Admit your knowledge gaps

Your words mean nothing without the trust of your audience. The quickest route to being known as the office weasel—and quite quickly “the weasel that used to work here”—is to… ahem… massage the truth.

The temptation is real, especially when put on the spot. Unlike developers or QA analysts, UX professionals are often teams of one in many organisations, which means that we often have no one else to call on for help. Additionally, our familiarity with a project from multiple perspectives often forces us to believe we should know more than we actually do.

When our expertise is called upon and the answer evades us, that answer at the bottom of the trash can begins to look really attractive.

It’s a tough lesson that many learn the hard way: audiences can spot a heap of cow caca a mile away. Give that truth a rub down in front of a group more than a couple of times in your career and you will be called out. It will be painful.

At the same time, most people understand that even experts don’t have all of the answers. Additionally, most people don’t care where an answer comes from, so long as it is accurate and timely.

If you’re put on the spot to answer a question outside of your knowledge, simply admitting that you don’t know the right answer holds a lot of power. It projects honesty, humility, and self-awareness, all rare and valued personality traits in designers.

Equally important to admitting “I don’t know” is following it up with the phrase “but I’ll find out.”

The ability to navigate multiple different teams and business partners is a huge part of what we do, and we’re well-placed to find answers or connect individuals across internal boundaries. Always follow up with the requested information or an introduction to the party who can actually help out.

Always take the high road

It’s a guarantee that, eventually conflict will creep into your professional world. Every office is full of conflict, taking a number of different forms. There are egos to manage. There’s office politics in play, at some level, in virtually every decision of importance. There are personality conflicts and disparate goals amongst different arms of the organisation.

Add to that the all-around pressure to perform well, and it means that you will, inevitably, receive some sort of communication that is less than pleasant.

Whether the slights are subtle or overt, in-person or written, when someone lobs a putdown our way, our blood boils and our brain clouds up. Responding in anger is a natural reaction, but it’s not one that will help you accomplish your goals or further your career.

In office environments, anger and resentment are often the result of poor communication. When confronted with an angry or mean communication, take a step back, breathe, and even take a few minutes to calm down before asking yourself “What is this person really mad about, and how can I help resolve their problem?”

The chances are this person is not angry just for the sake of being angry. There is an issue to be resolved, and you have been given an opportunity to help solve the problem.

With our exposure to different business partners and perspectives, UX professionals can often be the key to quick resolution. We have the ability and insight to identify issues and connect key individuals to work towards a clear consensus on difficult issues.

What’s your best communication tip? Leave a comment here, or chat with us in the forums.

The post Why UX Professionals Must be Good Communicators appeared first on UX Mastery.

The subject of the chat was empathy and active listening, and our UXpert was the amazing Indi Young. Indi literally wrote the book on the subject, launching Practical Empathy, earlier this year. An independent consultant, Indi helps teams with person-focused research, product strategy, and experience flow.

If you didn’t make the session because you didn’t know about it, make sure you join our community to get updates of upcoming sessions. If you’re interested in seeing what we discussed, or you want to revisit your own questions, here is a full transcript of the chat.

The post Transcript: <em>Ask the UXperts:</em> Empathy & Active Listening with Indi Young appeared first on UX Mastery.

Not only does the two-day Webstock conference take place in the beautiful surrounds of Wellington, New Zealand, but it is perhaps the best web conference on the circuit these days (not just my opinion!) Light on the technical content, the annual conference is more of an exploration into life and culture in our time.

Matt, Luke and I were fortunate enough to attend the ninth Webstock conference last month, and it didn’t disappoint. There were way too many notable moments to fit into one post, but here are a few of my personal highlights.

Kris Sowersby made me proud to be a kiwi (all over again). In his flat accent, he deadpanned his way through one of the most entertaining technical talks (if you consider the inner workings of the eye to be a technical subject) that I have ever had the pleasure of sitting through. After a moment of panic (along the lines of “F&#*! I only printed out half my notes!”), Kris had us in fits of laughter, and we all learned something about typography. For more details, check out Matt’s sketchnote below.

There are times when I feel that I’ll explode if I hear one more person speak of the gender imbalance in the ‘tech industry’ today, so it was with great trepidation that I sat down to listen to Janet Crawford present on The Surprising Neuroscience of Gender Inequality. I needn’t have worried. I was riveted. Crawford’s case was grounded in solid (social) science, and any biases displayed were carefully explained. I left the auditorium at her conclusion with a keen feeling of responsibility for my part in changing the story.

One of my favourite UXers, Derek Featherstone, charmed us with photos of his children, while imparting a very important message. Too often we confuse context with the way in which (or device on which) people engage with a site, and forget about a number of other important factors (time, proximity, and state of mind to name just a few of Derek’s examples). We collect enough data these days to make truly great experiences that have nothing to do with the device on which they are viewed.

Unfortunately Matt took a well-deserved break during my favourite session of the entire conference, so there is no sketch record of the amazing journey that Auckland architect Nat Cheshire took us on. If you’d like to take that journey, you can do so here.

And now for the really good bit … below you’ll find Matt’s beautifully illustrated records of most of the presentations that took place over the two days. I was relieved to hear that he didn’t sketch the after-party, but that relief was short lived, because …

Matt’s Webstock Sketchnotes

The post Musings and Sketchnotes from Webstock 2015 appeared first on UX Mastery.

However, we have some good news: our latest ebook, UX Sketchnotes, is out now.

UX Sketchnotes is an illustrated collection of over 50 sketchnotes created while attending various UX and web-related conferences over the last few years.

​There are insights and tips in here from visionary thinkers like Donna Spencer, Jeff Gothelf, Dan Szuc, Steve Portigal, Dan Willis, Kevin Hoffman, Steve Baty, Aaron Walter, and others. Plus there are a handful of random, fun sketches in there too—this really is a rich, diverse collection of illustrations and collective wisdom that will both educate and inspire you.

Grab your copy now

Complete list of sketchnotes

ProBlogger Training Event

› Overcoming Obstacles & Road Blocks • Darren Rowse & Guests

Product Bash

› Is There a Place for Entrepreneurship in Product Management?

Web Directions South

› We Are the Makers of Things • Hannah Donovan
› Lanyrd: The Accidental Entrepreneurs • Natalie Downe & Simon Willison
› Interaction Design Bauhaus • Rahul Sen
› All the Small Things • Relly Annett-Baker
› Connected UX • Aarron Walter
› How the Internet of Things Changes How We Design • Alex Deschamps-Sonsino
› Stiff and Static Sucks • Pasquale d’Silva
› People, Not Users • Rachel Binx
› Creating Good Content for an Imperfect Web • Relly Annett-Baker
› Context, Multi-Device, and the Future of TV Browsers • Rod Farmer
› Nerd, Know Thyself • Heather Gold

Web Directions Code

› What Everyone Should Know about REST • Michael Mahemoff

UX Indonesia

› Design for Innovation • Turi McKinley
› Designing a Healthier & Smarter Life • Dan Szuc & Josephine Wong

Hargraves Institute Innovation Summit

› Innovation: A Global Perspective • Jo Gray and guests
› Innovation: The Future Inspired by Our Past • Phil Kwok
› Innovation in Action • Natalie Pavuk
› Living the Innovation Program at AMP • Munib Karavdic
› How a Million-Dollar Accounting Firm Invested in Design Thinking • Maureen Thurston
› The Recipe for Innovation Success at Baxter ANZ • Marise Hannaford

Leaders In Software and Art

› Lightning Talks: Alessandro Ludovico, Celement Valla, Blake Carrington & Claire Bardainne
› Lightning Talks: Elisa Giardina Papa, Gabriella Levine, Jake Lee-High & Lauren McCarthy
› Lightning Talks: Josh Davis, R. Luke Dubois, Miral Kotb & Shane Hope
› Lightning Talks: Sophia Brueckner, Steve Di Paola, Toni Dove & Yucef Merhi

UX Australia

› Anton Sher, Rod Farmer, Dan Naumann, Sally Bieleny, Dan Szuc & Joe Sokohl
› Microinteractions • Dan Saffer
› Designing Successful Experiences for Bald Apes • Dan Willis
› Getting UX Done • Ian Fenn
› Improv Talks • Donna Spencer, Dan Szuc & Steve Baty
› Better Product Definition with Lean UX & Design Thinking • Jeff Gothelf
› Designing Meetings to Work for Design • Kevin Hoffman
› How to Run an Effective Cultural Probe • Matt Morphett & Rob McLellan
› From Faith-Based to Evidence-Based Design • Miles Rochford
› Our Billion-Dollar Baby: From Greed to Good • Chris Paton
› Design at Scale • Greg Petroff
› The Neuroanthropology Of “Us” • Stephen Cox
› Can You Wireframe Delightful? • Ben Tollady & Ben Rowe
› The Cadence of Great Experiences • Michelle Berryman
› Epic Fail: Takeaways from the War Stories Project • Steve Portigal
› Change Aversion • Hendrik Müller
› Describing the Elephant • Eric Reiss
› Finding Simple • Jason Bayly
› Graphic Facilitation: See What I Mean? • Luke Chambers
› Lightning talks: Nova Franklin, Kimberley Crofts & Jay Rogers
› Attributes & Aesthetics of Experience • Xin Xiangyang

Random Sketches & Illustrations

› Hospital-bed Sketch
› One of Those Days
› Grossly Informative

The post UX Sketchnotes: An eBook containing 50+ Sketches of Inspiring UX Talks appeared first on UX Mastery.

We started our popular community forum and our series of Ask the UXperts sessions, published two more eBooks (Get Started in UX and A Practical Guide to Information Architecture), and published over 100 articles.

Here are the 10 articles that garnered the most interest from our readers, counted down in reverse, David Letterman-style.

All of us at UX Mastery thank you for your continued support and hope you have a fantastic end-of-2014 celebration! Here’s to a fabulous 2015. Enjoy!

10. Is There a Formula for Delight?

Ben Tollady and Ben Rowe, from Thirst Studios, gave us their take on the question: “Is there a formula for delight?”

9. Course Review: User Basics

This course by Lis Hubert, an holistic introduction to the foundations of user experience, comes pretty close to a perfect 10.

8. 7 Resources to get you Sketching like Da Vinci

In April and May we focussed on sketching, sketchoting and how these skills can make you a better UX Designer. Kim wrapped up this theme with a collection of resources to get you sketching like Da Vinci in no time.

7. Better User Research Through Surveys

We updated this popular article by Chris Gray with a whiteboard animation about how to build the kind of survey that will collect the most valuable information from our users.

6. 7 Signs This Person is Not Actually a UX Designer

One of our guest writers, Emil Lamprecht, created a list of 7 things you need to know—and that recruiters should be looking for—in a world of UX wannabes.

5. 10 Inspiring UX Portfolios

Hawk brought us 10 inspiring UX portfolios that we can learn from when building our own.

4. How to Create a Customer Journey Map

Megan Grocki brought us a whiteboard animation on how to create a Customer Journey Map, a visual interpretation from an individual’s perspective of their relationship with an organization, service, product or brand.

3. 20 Tips for Selling UX to Clients

We asked 20 UX professionals to share their tips on how to convince clients that a UX process is the best way to design (or redesign) a product or service. Here’s what they said …

2. How to Conduct a Content Audit

We updated Donna Spencer’s cracking article on conducting a content audit with this sketch video.

1. 10 Steps to a Perfect Portfolio

I talked us through how to create the perfect portfolio to present to a prospective employer.

What was your favourite article of 2014? Let us know in the comments.

The post Our 10 Most Popular Articles of 2014 appeared first on UX Mastery.

I’d been to Indonesia just once before. At the age of 21, I began what is a common rite of passage for young Australians: six months of solo world travel with an enormous backpack strapped to my back. My first port of call on a six-month solo journey around Europe was Bali, and during that week I caught three things: a monster wave, a love of Indonesian spices, and a severe case of Bali Belly. Fun times.

17 years later, here I was returning to Indonesia to deliver a presentation titled What the @#$% is UX?, and teach a workshop on Sketching Experiences. In the same vein as the video on this topic, I spent 30 minutes unpacking the term “user experience”, what it means for newcomers to the field, and how to best navigate a career in this exciting, nebulous industry.

My slides from the presentation are below; there’s a lot missing from the context, but you may find them interesting to flick through as I reflect on some of my past projects (and shine the spotlight on some former workmates!).

And while Jakarta is not necessarily a must-see destination (it’s a difficult city to get around—you haven’t seen gridlocked traffic like this!) it is a convenient jumping-off point to mind-bogglingly beautiful beaches, islands, and tropical wonders. I did have some time after the conference was over to take advantage of being in a remarkable part of the world …

… unfortunately, in keeping with tradition, instead I spent my final couple of days in Jakarta clutching my stomach, unable to venture far from a restroom. Whether it was a gulp of swimming pool water or something else that got me, Indonesia had the last laugh. Again.

I’ll still be back.

The post Defining, Developing and Exploring UX in Indonesia appeared first on UX Mastery.

While we didn’t re-enact last year’s UX Brothers cabaret act, we were still pretty involved with the conference this year, teaching workshops, hosting panels, and running hands-on sessions. And in a nod to our performance from last year, we still opted to don our trademark black hats.

Sketchnoting 101 Workshop

I ran my Sketchnoting 101 course on Wednesday before the conference, and was delighted that there was so much interest in visual thinking and visual note-taking. The class created some remarkable sketches in what was an ambitious time-frame, and I was very proud of all the people sketching the conference presentations in the days that followed!

Techniques Trading Cards

This year we partnered with the conference organisers to create a deck of illustrated trading cards, each describing a different UX technique. Each attendee received a pack of the same card, and was encouraged to swap with other conference goers in order to complete the set.

It was a great ice breaker when meeting new people, and a fun theme that continued throughout both days (I still didn’t manage to find a Competitor Analysis card. Anyone? I got Personas a-plenty to swap! :) )

UX Careers Panel

On Thursday we ran another careers panel, which proved very popular, and the talented Rebecca Jackson once again captured the panel with stunning visuals. Unsurprisingly, lots of people are interested in learning about UX careers, salaries, how and when to go freelance, how to find a recruiter, what to put in a portfolio, and more. If you’re in Melbourne and interested in this stuff but didn’t get to attend the conference, we’ll be running another panel at UX Australia Redux in October.

Related: Watch a video of the UX careers panel we held in Melbourne recently

Graphic Facilitation Hands-on Session

On the final day, Luke ran a session on graphic facilitation, and the room was packed beyond capacity (some people elected to sit down the sides, rather than miss out). The group activity resulted in some stunning communication artefacts, and this is definitely a topic we’ll be exploring further on UX Mastery.

Reflections

The UX Australia 2014 conference was bigger and better than previous years. It was great to meet so many new folks from Australia and overseas, and to reconnect with old friends I sometimes see only once a year. A huge thank you to the UX Australia team for putting on a great show! If you haven’t attended UX Australia before, set aside 25-28 August, 2015 for UX Australia 2015, in sunny Brisbane. I look forward to seeing you there!

Sketchnotes

I’ll leave you with a collection of sketchnotes from the sessions I attended:

The post UX Australia 2014: Wrap-up and Sketchnotes appeared first on UX Mastery.