UX newsletter — November 2019
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Message from the Editor
Somebody asked me recently if the discipline of user experience will fade away. They argued that technology will become so sophisticated that today's UX problems will disappear. My response is that we'll see more, not less, demand for UX expertise in the future. History shows that product teams push out technologies before they are ready for prime time. These technologies work when the omens line up and the wind is blowing in the right direction. But problems arise when the user's context doesn't match the product team's expectations. The user's internet connection is patchy. Or their screen is too small. Or their accent is hard for the system to understand. If we could fast forward 30 years, we may well have solved most of the UX problems created by today's technology. But tomorrow's technology will bring a new set of problems for us to solve.
This month's article is about common traps in user needs research. I hope you find it useful.
— David Travis
Whether you call it a field visit, a contextual inquiry or a customer discovery interview, the goal of early stage research is the same: to uncover users' needs. Here are 5 mistakes I've seen crop up time and again in this kind of research. Read the article in full: Common traps in user needs research and how to fix them.
Some of the problems we work on as UX researchers are simple and are easily solved by getting users in front of our product. But other problems can be complex and it's hard to know how to start solving them. In situations like that, a simple 2x2 diagram can cut through the 'what ifs', the 'how abouts' and the edge cases and provide a simple way of looking at the problem. Here are 10 examples of 2x2 diagrams to simplify UX research discussions. Read the article in full: 10 diagrams to help you think straight about UX Research.
What we’re reading
Some interesting UX-related articles that got my attention over the last month:
Like these? Want more? View more posts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
The UX Tea Break
Some videos I published on YouTube last month:
Like these? Want more? Subscribe to my YouTube channel.
Upcoming UX training courses
In this fun and hands-on training course, you'll practice 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 BCS Foundation Certificate exam. View the full syllabus: Foundation Certificate in User Experience.
UX quotation of the month
"Never delegate understanding." — Charles Eames.
Did I mention I've published a book?
It's titled Think Like a UX Researcher. Grab your copy here.
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