Userfocus Usability Newsletter, December 2015

Welcome to the Christmas edition of the Userfocus usability and user experience newsletter!

• Message from the Editor
• Uncovering user goals with the Episodic Interview
• From our archives: Communicating errors
• What we're reading
• User experience certification
• User experience quotation of the month

Message from the Editor

As regular readers will know, I've been working with a team of experts at the BCS over the last year to help create a new Foundation Certificate in User Experience. The purpose of this certificate is to show that you can 'speak UX'. I'm pleased to announce that BCS officially launched the certificate on November 5th. I'm also pleased to announce we're running our first course to help people gain the certificate in the new year. You'll find more details at the end of this newsletter.

This month's article is about an interviewing technique known as the 'Episodic Interview'. It's a great way to help you understand user needs when you're not able to get into the user's context. I hope you find it useful.

Finally, being December and all, it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. So I'd like to wish you all the best for Christmas and the New Year.

— David Travis

Uncovering user goals with the Episodic Interview

Contextual research is the gold standard in user research. But sometimes the user researcher is called upon to run an interview out of context. How can you structure a face-to-face interview to best help users tell their stories? Read the article in full: Uncovering user goals with the Episodic Interview.

From our archives: Communicating errors

Ideally, you'll design your system to prevent errors from occurring in the first place. But no matter how simple your system, someone, somewhere, will make an error when using it. The difference between a great user experience and an awful one is what your system does next. Read the article in full: Communicating errors.

What we’re reading

Some interesting usability-related articles that got our attention over the last month:

• The best UI animation is the animation you don't notice.
• Now that UX has got the attention of business leaders, how do we keep it?
• A collection of form design 'trends'. Not so much patterns as anti-patterns.
• "Apple is destroying design…revitalizing the old belief that design is only about making things look pretty."
• Some great examples here of why you need to start the ideation process with dozens of design ideas, not just a few.
• If you like stats like, "Less than 1% of companies report success with a mobile first strategy", here's 49 more of them.
• Running a mobile usability test? Here's a useful step-by-step guide to recording the phone's screen.

Like these? Want more? Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

User experience certification: Now booking

Foundation Certificate in User Experience, Jan 6-8, London.

1 week of early bird pricing left! Save £300 if you book in the next 7 days.

Be amongst the first cohort of people to gain the BCS Foundation Certificate in User Experience. You'll gain hands-on practice in all the key areas of UX from interviewing your users through to prototyping and usability testing your designs while you prepare for and take the exam.

More information about this training course: Foundation Certificate in User Experience.

User Experience quotation of the month

'The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.' Linus Pauling.

Hungry for more?

Read previous newsletters.