Userfocus Usability Newsletter, July 2011

Welcome to the July edition of the Userfocus usability newsletter.

• Message from the Editor
• Feature article: Games Usability Trainers Play
• What we're reading
• Resources for usability testing
• Upcoming training courses
• User experience quotation of the month

Message from the Editor

Nearly every client I speak with seems to be recruiting for their user experience team at the moment. But as everyone knows, there’s more to creating a team than taking on staff. Teams need building. The problem is that corporate team building events are usually excruciating (adventure week-ends, anyone?). So this month I’ve written about a usability training game you can play with your colleagues in the comfort of your office. No raft building skills necessary.

Talking of training, we have a 3-day Axure-fest at the end of the month. If you’re new to prototyping with Axure, you’ll find the Essentials course a great way to gain mastery. And if you’re a seasoned expert, the Advanced and Mobile Axure courses will provide you with a bonanza of tips, techniques and ideas to exploit. You’ll find more information at the end of the page.

— David Travis

Feature article: Games Usability Trainers Play

Lecturing to people is a poor way to help them learn new facts. People learn better when they are actively engaged in their learning. Here's a training game that we use on one of our training courses to help people learn about usability heuristics. Why not play this game with your user experience team during your next team meeting? Read the article in full: Games Usability Trainers Play.

What we're reading

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

• The UK train ticket, redesigned for usability.
• Why gadgets flop: "The real problem is simple human nature".
• A video series highlighting the most intriguing psychological research being published today.
• Why persuasive design should be your next skill set.
• Examples of truly awful PowerPoint slides.

Like these? Want more? Follow us on Twitter.

Resources for usability testing

If you're interested in learning more about usability testing, you might want to try one of these articles from our archives.

• Creating usability test tasks that really motivate users
• Log usability tests like a pro
• Usability testing with hard-to-find participants
• How to prioritise usability problems
• What every usability test moderator ought to know about good listening
• Writing the perfect participant screener

Like these? Want more? See all 28 of our articles on usability testing.

Usability Training: Now Booking

Web Usability: Designing the user experience, July 25-26, London.

A fast-paced, 2-day immersion seminar that shows you to use usability techniques to boost sales and conversion rates, increase usage and improve customer satisfaction. More information about this training course: Web Usability: Designing the user experience.

Axure Essentials, July 25, London.

Learn how to use Axure to build wireframes and generate HTML prototypes. More information about this training course: Axure Essentials.

Advanced Prototyping with Axure, July 26, London.

Learn how to use Axure to prototype rich internet applications (RIAs) and use the advanced features of Axure RP Pro. More information about this training course: Advanced Prototyping with Axure.

Prototyping mobile interfaces with Axure, July 27, London.

Learn how to use Axure to develop interactive prototypes for mobile apps and mobile friendly web sites. More information about this training course: Prototyping mobile interfaces with Axure.

User Experience quotation of the month

“It's art if it can't be explained. It's fashion if no one asks for an explanation. It's design if it doesn't need explanation.” — Wouter Stokkel.

Hungry for more?

Read previous newsletters.