Interplay between User Experience (UX) evaluation and system development

Evaluation is a key activity in developing high level UX. This paper argues, however, that the early phases form the basis for UX, and evaluation should be seen only as a supportive role in ensuring UX. Four (4) main early activities are identified and their challenges briefly discussed. INTRODUCTION Good user experience (UX) and usability are key factors for successful products and systems. For developing good UX and usability, a general paradigm ‘user-centered design’ (or ‘human-centered design’) is being established over the last few years. A well-known reference is ISO 9241-210 (ISO/IEC, 2010). ISO 9241-210 identifies four main activities: (1) understanding and defining the context of use, (2) specifying the user requirements, (3) producing design solutions, and (4) evaluating the design. These activities are of general nature, and more or less included in other models of UX development. Much of the research and pragmatic work around UX – and also usability – is around the evaluation activity (for example this workshop). Although evaluation important, this paper argues that there are several reasons why the earlier activities are probably even more critical for successful UX. Four such early UX activities are identified, and there challenges briefly discussed. EVALUATION IS ALWAYS A LATE, REACTIVE ACTIVITY Before any evaluation can be made, some design solutions need to be produced. Moreover, the design solutions need typically be developed to be ‘working ones’ in the sense that a user can try to use them. The only way to make evaluation effective is to make changes to the design solutions, based on the results of the evaluation. Making changes to design solutions is always a reactive activity where resources are needed. The more and bigger problems are found in the design solutions, the more work is needed for redesign and possibly for many sets of iterative design – evaluate cycles. Further, as Cooper (Cooper, 2003) argues, evaluation is useful for correcting small problems. If major design problems are found, their redesign is always a big challenge. If the product has ambitious UX targets, the less effective evaluation-driven development will be. The author argues that in-depth ‘thinking’ is needed for the generation of design solutions with high level UX. Evaluations reveal which design solutions work and which do not; but evaluations are not ‘design solution generators’. Overall, it is more effective if the design solutions would be of ‘good quality’ before any UX evaluation is started. This would lead to less need for changes and redesign during evaluation. Well-thought and elaborated design solutions reduce the need for redesign. But how one can achieve high-level design solutions, before evaluation? In the following, key activities are identified. KEY PRE-EVALUATION ACTIVITIES OF UX What should then be done, to produce design solutions of good quality form the beginning, before any UX evaluation? In the following, four interrelated early activities are identified that can, and should be done. But each of them is challenging. 1. Defining the desired business impact of UX This is a key, fundamental activity. Before any project starts, one should define what do we want to achieve with good UX in the first place? What is the desired business impact of UX? Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. I-UxSED 2012