# Approach  

## Define the guiding principles  

We kicked off the project by gathering stakeholders and working with them to define the product’s guiding principles. This exercise served to understand team members’ perspectives and drove consensus on high level design goals.  

## User research, personas, and user stories  

We then conducted interviews with FlashRay’s target users: enterprise storage administrators. FlashRay was a new system that had not yet been launched, so we focused on understanding where these users’ needs were not being met, especially with respect to evaluating and implementing new storage systems.  

While our team had the benefit of working with personas that we had helped NetApp develop in previous projects, we still needed to conduct user research to make sure these personas were still accurate and relevant. Based on this research, we updated the persona definitions that we would use to guide our design decisions.  

This combination of user research and persona development resulted in a list of prioritized use cases, presented in the form of user stories. These served as the basis for our designs as well as the usability testing we performed throughout the design process.  

## Conceptual design  

As we transitioned from research to design, our process involved understanding the basic functionality of FlashRay and what it was trying to accomplish. We spent a lot of time white-boarding our understanding of the system with both the NetApp and EchoUser teams, and came to establish three major components to the FlashRay system: an Installer, a Dashboard, a Manager, and a Framework to hold it all together.  

![FlashRay Designs](https://echouser.s3.amazonaws.com/images/cases/body/netapp-body1.jpg)  

## Wire-framing, iterative design, and user testing  

With the conceptual designs for the major FlashRay components fleshed out, we started to generate wireframes. We kicked off a process of regularly generating design drafts, reviewing them with the NetApp product team, and updating the designs based on feedback. With each iteration, we increased both the scope and depth of the designs. We also built interactive prototypes and conducted two rounds of usability tests to solicit user feedback.  

## Creating the visual design  

An overarching component of our design effort was to create a look and feel that reflected a specific product personality. NetApp knew they had a groundbreaking product and it was paramount that users would get that impression. In conjunction with the conceptual and wireframe design activities, we held an internal branding workshop to identify the product traits and personality that the NetApp team wanted from the FlashRay project, and subsequently created moodboards to reflect their vision and serve as a feedback mechanism. After defining an overall visual design direction, we crafted a style guide and library of assets to bring it to life.  

![FlashRay Designs](https://echouser.s3.amazonaws.com/images/cases/body/netapp-body2.jpg)  

![FlashRay Designs](https://echouser.s3.amazonaws.com/images/cases/body/netapp-body3.jpg)


A complex project that demanded a comprehensive, user-centered design approach to crafting the solution from the ground up. 


NetApp FlashRay Full-Service Research & Design

Entertainment

User Test a product early to rapidly validate ideas. Test later to establish benchmarks. Probe uncertainty throughout. 

For any development format: paper, wireframes, mockups, prototypes, and live products.

Usability Testing

Interviews are the baseline method for user research. Everything else is a proxy.

They provide deep insights on user behaviors, values, motivations, and desires.

User Interviews

Design reviews are expert and heuristic reviews to identify and prioritize design and usability issues. 

They can identify immediate fixes, define near-term goals, and outline larger projects.

Design Review

Interaction Design is designing how users users will interact with products, environments, systems, and services. 

It is architecting the flow of giving and receiving information in an experience.

Interaction Design

Full-Service

Full-Service Research & Design

NetApp was in the process of building a brand new flash storage solution called FlashRay. The team knew it represented a truly revolutionary leap in the enterprise storage space, and wanted to craft an administrator experience that would be modern, simple to use, and emphasize the game-changing performance of their new solution. EchoUser was put to the task, and defined the product in an end-to-end design engagement. 


Challenge

We ultimately delivered end-to-end specifications for the FlashRay administrator user experience, including an information architecture document, annotated wireframes detailing key elements and interactions, and a comprehensive visual style guide and asset library. 


Impact

NetApp FlashRay

# Approach  

Based on Nordeus’ needs we suggested conducting a heuristic evaluation — a quick way to find usability issues of your UI in a short period of time by having usability experts review the product and compare it with a set of heuristic principles.  

![Nordeus Stage](https://echouser.s3.amazonaws.com/images/cases/body/nordeus-body1.jpg)  

# Heuristic Review  

This method can provide some quick and relatively inexpensive feedback to designers anytime in the design process. While the concept of heuristic review has been around for almost 30 years, it has largely only been applied to software design. In our case, we applied the method to video games.  

Customization was involved to adapt standard heuristics to evaluate games. After investigating existing literature around the topic, we developed our own set of heuristics — similar to Nielsen’s, but with the consideration and inclusion of gaming elements.  

We wanted to look out specifically for areas where gaming elements are missing, or not appropriate. For example, does the game engage users by establishing a background story? Does it provide the right amount of guidance to allow players to level up, or is there too much hand-holding? Does the game feel repetitive after a while? What are the reasons/mechanics behind the repetitiveness?  

# Our Process  

In our heuristic review, six usability experts played the game for one to two hours, and individually took notes on usability and playability. We then consolidated feedback and attributed surfaced issues with severity rankings, as to let the Nordeus team get an idea of what issues they should prioritize in the upcoming Spellsouls redesign.  

![Nordeus Spellsouls Duel of Legends](https://echouser.s3.amazonaws.com/images/cases/body/nordeus-body3.jpg) 


Customized heuristics and usability testing to enhance the gaming experience.


Nordeus: Gaming Heuristics and Usability

Gaming

Startups

Mobile

Diary studies track users and product use over time. 

They provide a rich insights across a long timeline that otherwise are missed in short design cycles.

Diary Study

Game Usability

[Nordeus](https://nordeus.com) is an award-winning independent mobile game developer, with 160 employees based in Belgrade and international offices in London and Dublin. Their mobile game, [Top Eleven](https://nordeus.com/games/top-eleven/), is the one of the most successful online sports games ever made, boasting over 140 million registered users.  

We teamed up with Nordeus to conduct heuristic reviews and user research on their new game, [Spellsouls](https://nordeus.com/games/spellsouls/), to discover opportunities for gameplay improvement. 


We concluded the project by delivering a comprehensive findings deck, a presentation that outlined our process, usability insights, issues we surfaced, how we prioritized them, and ultimately our recommendations for how the Nordeus team should continue with the design and development of Spellsouls. By applying a modified take on heuristic review to the gaming experience, we were able to dive deep into usability and retrieve qualitative insights that will guide not only future iterations of the Spellsouls mobile game, but inform the creation of new gameplays and stories for Nordeus’ future products.  


Nordeus

# Approach 

Data without context is difficult to interpret, so we proposed the following: a multi-month user research activity focused on in-person ride-a-longs to collect human, personal sentiments regarding the transportation system and its use. 

We deployed our researchers to accompany BART riders on their daily commutes and ask targeted questions. While placing ourselves within the live environment of the rider, we were able to capture more honest and accurate responses from participants, and pick up on the sentiments that charged their answers. 

Dozens of user experience issues were identified and observed over the many ride-alongs. Riders’ top issues included cleanliness, safety, transferring, cost, and timeliness of trains. While riders care about the basics, time and money spent, they cared more about what contributed to the ride as a whole, or in other words, the trip experience. 

![BART train](https://echouser.s3.amazonaws.com/images/cases/body/bart-body1.jpg) 

Many BART cars are originals, dating from when system was first inducted in the 1960s.

![BART train interior](https://echouser.s3.amazonaws.com/images/cases/body/bart-body2.jpg) 

The interior hasn't changed much since. 

# Impact 

By the conclusion of our engagement, we discovered that BART and AC Transit riders are a tolerant, resilient bunch. Not only is BART experience more than riding the train itself, but a process that includes taking the BART, a bus, a taxi, and even walking to get from one destination to the next. 

While we uncovered pain points regarding the rider experience, the transit experience is encapsulated by the many facets of getting to and from any destination, including those outside of simply being on a train. We reported these quantitative and qualitative findings back to BART management to help them better understand and cater towards their dedicated riders.

Identifying pain points in the transit experience by riding alongside Bay Area passengers on their daily commutes. 


Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART)

Any Experience

Contextual Inquiry is observing users in natural environments for overall insights on real product use. 

It helps identify challenges beyond hyper-focused design & development.

Contextual Inquiry

Transit Experience

BART and AC Transit had thousands of data points from their survey teams on the “rider experience.” However, they needed help extracting information from fields of data. EchoUser partnered with the BART to add a human perspective to the rider experience challenge. 


BART

# Approach  

## Branding Workshops and Moodboard  

We initiated our redesign effort by digging deeply into Ultimate’s vision for their the new “look and feel.” We held multiple workshops with Ultimate’s stakeholders to collect their insight and input regarding the redesign, which enabled us to transform their feedback into a cohesive and prioritized set of design goals.  

To translate these design goals into visuals, we generated moodboards to articulate more general visual styles. This gave the stakeholders tangible artifacts that they could easily react to, further enabling us to refine the visual style and ensure that it encapsulated their vision.  

![moodboard](https://echouser.s3.amazonaws.com/images/cases/body/ultimate-body02.jpg)  

## Iterating and Refining the Designs: User Feedback  

Our next step was to create user interface elements that represented the vision we pieced together. We purposely created several alternatives so that Ultimate could react and provide feedback. As the designs evolved, we were able to whittle down the alternatives and decide upon a single direction.  

A key component of our approach was the incorporation of formal user evaluations to assess more qualitative goals of the design. We worked with Ultimate’s UX team to plan and run user feedback sessions on the visual concepts, the results of which were then used to refine the concepts into the final visual design.  

![welcome marsha](https://echouser.s3.amazonaws.com/images/cases/body/ultimate-body01.jpg)  

# Impact  

We successfully created a visual design for Ultimate Software’s UltiPro product that satisfied the guiding principles that we collaboratively defined: Clean, Simple, Friendly, Human, Engaging, and Brave. This is captured in a detailed user interface design specification that defines the UI to the level of component descriptions, object pixel dimensions, color codes and font styling.  

![welcome marsha](https://echouser.s3.amazonaws.com/images/cases/body/ultimate-body6.jpg)  

![welcome marsha](https://echouser.s3.amazonaws.com/images/cases/body/ultimate-body5.jpg)


Creating a visual style guide to differentiate Ultipro with a look and feel that is “bravely human.” 


Ultimate Software: Visual Design

Enterprise

We gather stakeholders and users at one location over 3-5 days to collectively define problem areas and design objectives as well as brainstorm solutions , prototype and test low fidelity ideas.


Sprints

Workshops are hands-on group sessions. They have many uses to spur design thinking and share knowledge.

Visioning, training, brainstorming, design sprints, project debriefs and more.

Workshops

Visual Design

Ultimate Software wanted a new look and feel for the next release of their UltiPro product, one that would differentiate them from their competitors and reflect their unique culture. Our first challenge was to understand what Ultimate really wanted: what did “differentiate” mean? Who were their competitors? What were the shortcomings of the existing product?  

The next challenge was to interpret their wants and needs into a visual design that would satisfy the adamant opinions of their wide variety of stakeholders. 


Ultimate Software

EchoUser is a full-service user experience (UX) research & design firm. We work with the biggest companies in the world to 1-person startups with an idea. 

Projects range from _<highlight>years</highlight> of design team support, <highlight>months</highlight> of user tests, to <highlight>single-day</highlight> workshops_. 

We believe hard design problems are best addressed with a _strong understanding of the user_. We partner closely with our clients to work from your aspirational wants and pragmatic needs.

Research

![Screen-Shot-2022-04-13-at-1.57.22-PM.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Screen_Shot_2022_04_13_at_1_57_22_PM_1a2bb42a37.png)
_Image credit: [Manfred Steger](https://pixabay.com/users/manfredsteger-1848497/)_

 

Despite what society seems to expect of me, I don’t really want to talk to anyone. I am an introvert. However, I found a career where I can make “conversation” and I absolutely love it. I am a UX Researcher.

I would mostly describe myself as an introvert. I’m not overtly friendly with people I don’t know well. I’m not one of those people that say “Hi” to strangers, nor do I strike up conversations with others at say my daughter’s playground or the airport. In fact, I fear the person on an airplane that really wants to talk during the flight… excuse me while I put my headphones on and get some work done.  Frankly, I’m just not good at conversation with strangers. I find it really difficult to think up good questions to ask, or how to respond politely, or try to stay engaged. This used to make me uncomfortable and I would avoid parties, especially ones where I don’t know many people. It certainly made networking a chore.

I’m better when I am speaking with friends and family (fortunately). I actually can carry on a conversation. Probably because I have a frame of reference, and context for things that are and aren’t appropriate to ask. And I care about them, so I want to learn more. But even then, sometimes I reflect on my conversations and wish I dug deeper or wished I had asked more questions and maybe not just talked about myself. And some days I just feel so “in my head”, I feel like all I’m communicating to my partner is surface level stuff - I did this, met with this person, took out the trash… how was your day? I am admittedly not so good at telling stories (something I am actively trying to get better at… hence the blog post).

So the question I have found myself asking… myself:  Why do I love UX research so much when so much of my job is talking to people, coming up with questions, and having conversations?! On reflection, it’s clear, I actually DO like talking to people when I have a good reason: a responsibility to learn about the user’s story and uncover how to solve their problems. And in fact, I love it. I absolutely love talking to participants and understanding more about their jobs, lives, the tools they use, and what they think about a user interface. I love uncovering information that will become pieces of a solution. It is really so much fun. I find joy and gain energy from having those conversations. It is why I fell in love with user research and why I have and will continue to pursue it as a career.

Sometimes, especially after a great research study, I secretly think: “maybe I actually am an extrovert!” I feel energized and as though I could be that person at a party who is an amazing conversationalist and surrounded by people. (Insert raised eyebrow smiley face here). But then I wind up in an awkward conversation with a parent at the playground, and realize, nope, not really. And I have come to terms with the fact that it’s okay. Being an introvert is part of who I am. There are certain things that will bring me joy, and other things that will feel uncomfortable, and that is normal.

What I have found really works for me about user research are the structure and the preparedness. I know my goals, and I have detailed questions. I have time to ponder follow-up questions to further probe into responses and continue the conversation. I can create a framework within which to guide the interaction with the participant. Also, as typical for an introvert, I am a good listener and love to give other people the space to talk. Finally, after the sessions are done, I get to use my analytical skills to sit with the data and uncover insights.

If you fancy yourself an introvert and are questioning whether UX or user research is right for you, take it from this introvert: it can totally work, and you might actually find joy in it!

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UX research as an introvert: a match made in heaven

Love of Craft

Growth Mindset

Design

A miraculous thing has happened recently: as I hunker down at home and cook a lot more, I find myself making meals without referring to recipes or insights of strangers on the Internet, relying only on intuition and my ever-growing chaotic web of knowledge of food chemistry, faint memories of past recipes, and one-off tips. It is liberating to be able to go off-script, play around and taste-test, and not question if I did something “wrong”. 

But what does it even mean to do something wrong in cooking? 

My entire philosophy of cooking has changed into an anchoring belief that there is no right or wrong in cooking. There’s never a perfect equation, a process that rings true every time. Even when I replicate a familiar recipe, I am met with subtle differences in the outcome, and each time I am...familiarly surprised. Of course, it will always turn out a little different - every ingredient, every step of the recipe, every state I am in, is boundless with variation that forks off into different results. Take an orange, for example. That orange will have an entirely different flavor profile than that of an orange picked from the other end of the grove. (This actually happened to me the other day. I bought two oranges from the market, and one had a slight bitterness to it that lingered in the aftertaste. The other one was much sweeter, with a tinge of tart, bursting more robustly with juice. Was the former orange picked too early? Did it get less sun? Worse soil? Who knows?) My point is that if you can’t even compare oranges to...well, oranges, how do you expect to have total control over how a dish ends up? I think a lot of the pressure and intimidation from cooking originates in the expectation of the food turning out exactly how you imagine it, exactly how it looks in the photos in the food blog, exactly how you remember it at Grandma’s house. 

![veggies-1-1024x632.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/veggies_1_1024x632_d56659f39a.png)

I’ve faced a lot of crushing defeat from food that didn’t turn out “right” even though I followed the recipe to a T, painstakingly shaving off the top of a teaspoon scoop of garlic powder, nervously watching the timer click as if going over a minute would end in catastrophe and an exploding kitchen, and opening and closing and opening the pot of rice to make sure it’s not overcooking (which I realize I shouldn’t have done...losing all that precious steam that makes the rice so good!) Why was I so afraid? I cooked as if I were serving not myself but the recipe as if it were a religion. I was chained to it. Improvisation? No way. Substitute ingredients with what I have in my pantry? Not a chance. I was cooking as if I had eyes over my shoulder, that I placed there myself. 

 

>"That calm freedom, confident and unbound by a recipe, felt so far away."

 

I would watch people, in awe, cooking with an almost careless confidence, trust in the toss of their wrist as they seasoned, one glance, sniff, touch, gut feeling (that intuition...that goddamn intuition!) to determine if something was done, ready, needs a bit more simmering. I wondered...where did that intuition come from? How long have they been cooking? My greed for kitchen intuition felt so similar to playing the piano, how even after 11 years of playing I felt lost and incapable of playing at all if I sat at a piano without sheet music. My hands felt useless until I had someone else’s creation for me to replicate. It was the same feeling in the kitchen. That calm freedom, confident and unbound by a recipe, felt so far away. I felt like I had so far to go, and I wanted to give up. But in order to survive and save money, I kept cooking, reluctantly eating for a week a failed, disappointing dish or feeling guilty from “forgetting” to eat it and letting it spoil in the fridge. I kept cooking through tantrums - “but I did it RIGHT!”

![fried-rice-708x1024.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/fried_rice_708x1024_30b2716805.png)

Little did I know, despite my insecurities and anxieties in the kitchen, I was still learning and growing. That little by little, I was feeding my web of knowledge with tidbits that might’ve felt arbitrary and insignificant at the time. That cooking even through fatigue at the end of a long day, cooking through frustration and unanswered questions, would prove to be fruitful. I was beginning to see that the beauty of cooking is in its mysterious, fickle possibilities. Every vegetable, fruit, meat, spice, grain will be different from the last. Each stove, oven, pot, and pan is different. Each state of being you are in, each mood, is different - whether you’re rushed on time or can leisurely, lovingly slice against the old cutting board. Whether your friend called in the middle of cooking and you let something char too far in the pan. How the same bottle of olive oil will be different a few weeks later. 

All of these possibilities might sound daunting - it surely was for me. But slowly over the years, I’ve become playful with possibilities rather than resisting them. I became unafraid of trial and error. I began tasting my food while cooking, not just relying on the recipe as the end all be all - but trusting my senses, going with my gut. I was paying attention to why certain ingredients are to be cooked together and how they interact with each other, rather than mindlessly measuring them out and not questioning it. The other day I was making a pasta sauce with browned butter and cheese, and while you can’t go wrong with butter or cheese, it was too heavy and rich. But I suddenly remembered the pack of frozen Russian dumplings from months ago, which had directions to coat them in butter and a splash of vinegar. The acidity of the vinegar had balanced the creamy fattiness of the buttered dumplings, which prompted me, in the present day, to squeeze a lemon onto the pasta sauce, which made it perfect.

 

>"In order to build a repository of meaningful moments you can pull from, be observant, and curious."

 

Cooking is all about these random recollections that just make things click. In order to build a repository of meaningful moments you can pull from, be observant, and curious. Be skeptical and taste it yourself. Instead of fixating on the temperature dial of the stove, watch for when the oil starts to breathe and ripple as it warms. Listen for the intensity of the sizzle when you place the first fish fillet. Instead of muttering to yourself the recipe steps by rote, dig deeper into why they’re in that order - why should I add garlic second and not first? Is it the mince cut? How does the fat in the pork transform the oil bath that the veggies will soften in later? 

Trust that you’re absorbing all this information effortlessly, as long as you’ve shaped your cooking approach into an exploration, a big ole question mark, an easy nonchalance. And one day you will have a light bulb moment over a bubbling pot of slightly sour tomato sauce and remember that a sprinkle of sugar will balance the acidity - and you didn’t even know you knew it. 

![scallop-pasta-1024x898.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/scallop_pasta_1024x898_4cf6cbbd45.png)

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Musings in Cooking: No Expectations, Just Exploration

Creative Spirit

Harness Ambiguity

This spring, a long-term client approached EchoUser with a project straight out of a science fiction movie — or better said, a project straight out of the mid-pandemic 2022 SciFi experience that is real life. Our researchers have decades of experience tweaking research methods to meet client goals and constraints, but this one pushed us significantly.

The client had been working stealthily for years on augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), envisioning the future of virtual workplace collaboration. With the rapid shift to remote work, their prototypes suddenly had more urgency. They were coming out of stealth mode. Their customers were eager for new ways to have remote interaction feel authentic and to utilize 3D in presentation and product development. Was _“…infinity and beyond” suddenly here and now?_

The research method was fairly standard: a usability test, whereby participants are asked to complete different tasks and the product is assessed for its efficiency, effectiveness, and user satisfaction. However, **the research protocol was highly customized**. As is often the case, new technology immediately stretched common practices for user testing, and brought up key questions.

- The experience required an expensive AR headset
- _How to get the technology in the hands of the participants?_
- The experience was collaborative in nature
- _How to test with more than one user at a time, or construct a single user test that simulated real world collaboration?_
- The experience happened mostly in the user’s own headset
- _How to see what they were seeing to evaluate their experience appropriately?_
- The experience had an inherently steep learning curve
- _How to differentiate observations about AR tech itself vs. the specific product?_

#### Learnings

The learnings were rapid, and the testing involved vital piloting sessions, where we tweaked the approach. Ultimately, we encountered some key principles to take forward into future similar projects:

#### #1 In person test, virtual moderation

We solved for getting the participants the headsets by inviting them into a physical office. In hindsight, the control over the space and technology ended up being important in countless ways; while so much usability work today can be done remotely with common tools like webcams and screen share, we needed that in person support.

On the other side of the coin, we had a remote researcher moderate the test, donning their own headset. This allowed us to join and observe the participant in their AR environment, and was one tactic in helping us to form the collaborative experience important to the product. This mix of in person and virtual is something we’ll continue in the future.

#### #2 Reduce the technology

Initially, we had a tech heavy protocol with multiple computers and headsets, screen-casting, and web conferencing. Yet much of that tech we introduced was not important to the user experience we were testing: **there was so much tech to juggle, and if we misstepped, we were likely to be testing our research experience more so than the client’s product**. In this situation, we learned to be ruthless with establishing contingencies and be ready to ditch any system that was not vital to what we wanted to learn.

For example, after seeing that the process we were using to record the participant view potentially impacted the headsets’ performance, we designed a contingency plan to evaluate the research on audio recording and the researchers’ observations alone. While we didn’t end up needing the contingency, it was a vital step to thinking through what was essential and what we could potentially strip away.

#### #3 Control for expectations

We learned we’re at a stage where most people still have an initial “wow” reaction to VR/AR products. It truly is the movies come to life. Yet we needed to work hard to get beyond that first impression to the real product experience. There were a few important tactics:

- We recruited two groups of participants, 1) those who had not previously used VR/AR, and 2) those with AR/VR experience. We doubled the normal quantity of tests so that we could compare the two groups.
- We heavily coached participants through the initial experience of setting up their headset without soliciting much feedback. By guiding them through unexciting tasks like calibrating for their eyes, we were able to mimic some of the likely onboarding they would have naturally completed prior to using the product. This seemed to move through some of the initial “expensive, shiny toy” reaction, so we could spend the bulk of the test on tasks that mattered to the client.
- We added ranking questions before and after the test to measure not only their overall assessment of the product but how their baseline expectations had shifted.

Many of these are good tactics for any research project, but became so much more vital here. AR/VR brings the merging of our physical and digital lives, and demanded a research approach that thoughtfully merged the two.

So, EchoUser has officially completed its first mission to the _metaverse_. (Side note: if you’re still wondering what that word even means, check out [McKinsey’s recent podcast series](https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/what-is-the-metaverse-and-what-does-it-mean-for-business)).

Our report back is that while much was the same, the research approach needed a fresh set of eyes and constraints. What did we miss? What else have you learned in applying UX practice to new realities?

[Brian Salts-Halcomb](https://www.linkedin.com/in/briansaltshalcomb/)


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Usability Testing in the Metaverse

Designing dashboards may sound like a daunting task to many designers, at least that was how I felt when I got started. At EchoUser I’ve worked with a few clients on enterprise design projects. When it was time to design a new dashboard, I couldn’t help but procrastinate, stress eat, and pull my hair out. I dare say that dashboards are one of the most complex digital design components. It intertwines all the functions, features, and pages of the entire product; it provides a sneak peek into what the users are about to experience; and oftentimes it offers a birds-eye view of the whole system. It is entirely its own beast.

I’ve made many detours, several mistakes, and experienced occasional success by trial and error during my journey of dashboard exploration. By no means am I an expert in this domain. Yet, I’d like to share a few things that I’ve learned, steps that I’ve taken, and questions that I’ve asked in my struggling design process with fellow designers who may be staring at a blank artboard right now, pulling their hair out and struggling with the same problems I’ve struggled with before.

Before we get down to the nitty-gritty, let’s be clear on what you should have done before you start designing:

1. You’ve done or read a decent amount of user research to understand your users, their pain points and needs;

1. You’ve developed some thoughts on how the product works as a whole system; and

1. You’ve sketched some conceptual models or user flows for the system.

We believe in a research-first design approach at EchoUser, and all the design decisions should be based on solid user research. Only when the designer gains a deep understanding of the users and the product as a whole system, will you be able to deliver a dashboard that serves the users’ needs.   

#### Step 1: Start with the content, information hierarchy & jobs to be done

Take a step back and look at the app as a whole system. You want to try to understand what role the dashboard plays in a systematic view and what jobs users are trying to accomplish on the dashboard. It could be one or a combination of the following components:

- Navigation or shortcuts to the most commonly used features/pages
- Information visualization of what is happening (e.g. performance data)
- Anything that needs users' immediate attention (e.g. alerts, system updates, warning)

Lisa Battle summarized the 10 most commonly used dashboard components in [her talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqNRywpO3bE) at the UXPA International Conference 2016, which are:

1. alerts;
1. “to-do” items;
1. performance stats;
1. current status;
1. search;
1. task starting points;
1. social components;
1. recent activity;
1. news, events announcements;
1. push content.

Her list is by no means exhaustive, but I found it useful as a prompt during user interviews to find out what components were most important to them.  It also serves well as a checklist at client check-in meetings to make sure we are not missing anything.

![Dashboard-IA-1-e1560295020426-1024x555.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Dashboard_IA_1_e1560295020426_1024x555_3fd5cec3cb.png)

Once you jot down a list of dashboard components, it is time to do an exercise with your product managers, engineers, clients, or stakeholders to co-create an information hierarchy for the different layers of information. Questions to be answered based on user research:

- What information do users care about most?
- What actions do users want to perform?
- If there are different types of users, how might their needs be different? What do they want to see differently?

The information hierarchy diagram below was created for one of my clients and it served as a stepping stone to a low-fidelity wireframe.

![Dashboard-IA-2-1024x637.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Dashboard_IA_2_1024x637_5f88ea6e67.png)

#### Step 2: Craft your stories with wireframes, layouts and data visualizations

Once you get a good sense of the critical content, the next step is to play with the layout and start wire-framing. This is the most challenging step as it is like you are building the bones and muscles from scratch. There could be many different layouts possible, and sometimes it is hard to tell which one works better. My mentor Steve Fadden, who taught me everything I know about UX when I studied at UC Berkeley School of Information, refers to the “one second story” principle: by skimming through the dashboard for just one second, users should be able to quickly grasp a story of what is going on and get a rough sense if anything needs their attention or concern. Ideally, users don’t have to scroll down the page to get the “one second story”, which means you want to put the most important information on the top of the dashboard. Your “one second story” might answer these common user questions:

- What is going on?
- Has anything changed since the last time I logged in?
- Is there anything that needs my immediate attention?
- Do I need to worry or be concerned?
- Do I need to take any actions?

The information hierarchy that you developed in Step 1 should help answer these questions. Once the users have developed a good picture of the system in their minds, they might want to dig deeper into the data or navigate to other sections of the product. You want to think about the rest of the story you want to provide to the users.

After you answer the “what is your story?” question, you need to figure out how to tell the story. When it comes to the dashboard, it is often a question of what graph will best  display the data? Andrew Abela’s diagram, the [Chart Chooser](chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://extremepresentation.typepad.com/files/choosing-a-good-chart-09.pdf) (later he created a new version Slide Chooser) could help you decide which chart is a better fit for your data, and Cleveland and McGill’s levels of graphical perception can help you fine tune and choose the appropriate graphical properties that are the most effective way to convey information.

![A_Abela.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/A_Abela_e6ee1e1da1.jpg)

>Andrew Abela’s The Chart Chooser. Source: [The Extreme Presentation(tm) Method](https://extremepresentation.typepad.com/)

 

![data_viz_accuracy_levels.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/data_viz_accuracy_levels_87688e7ddd.jpg)

>Cleveland Mcgill’s Graphical Perception. Source: [Interaction Design Foundation](https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/visual-mapping-the-elements-of-information-visualization)

 

One challenge in dashboard design is information overload. There are two types of information overload: data overloading and non-data overloading. Data overloading is  often caused by lack of focus and prioritization. Designers often have to resist the temptation to dump more and more datasets, features, or shortcuts to the dashboard. When the users (and/or clients) describe what they want for the dashboard, the list could get long quickly, making the dashboard a dumping ground before you realize it. If you find yourself struggling with overloaded information, go back to Step 1.     

#### Step 3: Use visual design to convey values and emotions...a harder job than you may think

Visual design is the last step of dashboard design, and here it may introduce the second type of information overload – non-data overload, such as UI decorations, excessive icons, grids, or any other visual elements that don’t represent any content. Edward Tufte referred to them as "**chartjunk**" in "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information", one of his most famous data visualization books. He acknowledged that “chartjunk” may exist for a reason – either “to make the graphic appear more scientific and precise”, or “to enliven the display”, or to satisfy the designer’s ego by giving the designer himself/herself “an opportunity to exercise artistic skills”. Regardless of its cause, it is the designer’s job to “ruthlessly prune out” unnecessary visual elements to keep the dashboard clean and simple, and let the numbers and content gracefully stand out on their own and serve the users’ needs.  

Of all the visual attributes (typography, iconography, illustrations, imagery, etc.), color is probably the most tricky one in dashboard design. Established companies often have well-defined color palettes as parts of their design systems. As a result, designers may not have much freedom to use colors as they wish.  Nonetheless, the importance of colors cannot be underestimated in dashboard design.

Color is also a type of information that should be used with purpose. Otherwise it could introduce too much visual noise and become “chartjunk”.  Even worse, it could make the information confusing or misunderstood. Certain colors are associated with certain meanings and could bring out certain emotions, not to mention the cultural factors of different color use and interpretations. For instance, in Western culture, most people associate red with alarming, dangerous, and urgent, and think of green as good, healthy, and peaceful. When designers apply colors on the graphics and text, you need to ask questions such as:

- Does the value of information match the common interpretation of the color among your users?
- Which information is the most critical one that need users attention? - Does the color of the information communicate that urgency?
- Are you using the appropriate visual cues such as color hue or color intensity to encode the data?
- Does the information involve a positive or a negative notion? Does users’ interpretation of the color match that notion?
- Does the color enable efficient comparison of data? Does the grouping of colors follow the Gestalt law of good form, which allows the users to quickly perceive the same color attributes in the same group of information?

As dashboards are often data intensive, they is often color intensive, too. Designers should never underestimate how long it may take your team to reach consensus on the color choices. Leave some buffer time in your visual design schedule. This leeway in project planning could help keep your design projects on track. And don’t forget that colors could be interpreted as a personal and subjective matter. Be well prepared to receive strong sentiments and pushback from others during the visual design iterations. You should always be ready to elaborate on your color choices – what other alternatives you’ve explored, what constraints you’ve considered, and why you reach this design decision.

#### Test, test and test

In each step of the dashboard design, I cannot emphasize enough how crucial it is to test your design with people - real users - to verify your design assumptions. It is even more crucial with dashboards than the rest of the product, given their design density. There might be tons of use scenarios, and some of them you can only learn by talking to the people who use them on a regular basis. There might be concepts or flows that experienced users have learned to live with but make no sense to new users. Only by talking to the end users who are living in what you design, designers gain a deep knowledge on whether your design makes a delightful experience, and hopefully, improve someone’s lives.

#### Conclusion

I hope you’ve gained some confidence in dashboard design, and maybe learned something useful. Once you tear down a big design problem into chunks of small design problems, the daunting beast might not be intimidating anymore, and your life might be much easier. Of course there is no one-size-fits-all design solution, I’d love to hear your ideas, comments, and thoughts on what works or not work from your experience.

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Let’s talk about dashboards

Grit

I never wondered about cat furniture design until recently. I took care of my friend’s cat for the past two weeks while he was out of town. To be a good host, I purchased a cute and comfy-looking cat bed from Amazon to welcome my little guest, Gakki.  Its color matches my bed sheet and looks perfect and in harmony. I had the fantasy that we both sleep in our own beds and have sweet dreams. However, the moment Gakki arrived in my room, she immediately fell in love with my old suitcase located in the corner. I tried many ways to seduce her onto the perfect-looking cat bed, but she still refused to even touch it.   I even put some treats on the bed and then put the bed on top of the suitcase, that’s when she finally came over to eat the treats and then hopped off after only 5 seconds. After 20 minutes of effortless seduction, I finally had to admit that she just didn’t like it no matter how good I think the bed is for her.

![Image-from-iOS.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Image_from_i_OS_e6b37b432f.jpg)

>I wished this would happen.

 

![Gakki1-911x1024.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Gakki1_911x1024_1b997c2a19.jpg)

>In reality, Gakki was obsessed with this suitcase

 

How frustrating to be a cat's parent at this moment! You spend money on your cats and try to make them happy, and they behave like independent teenagers. They have their own attitude and are creative with new things. On the good side, because of cats’ independence, people might be discouraged and stop wasting money on buying them cute products. At least  I will not buy cat furniture again, because she will never use them properly.

![DesignThinkingStages.webp](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Design_Thinking_Stages_4002f8d5ee.webp)

This frustrating experience made me wonder how to design something that cats would love to use. As a user experience designer, I truly believe human-centered design is a universal approach that can be applied to any physical, digital, or service design process. Human-centered design is all about building a deep empathy with the people you’re designing for; generating tons of ideas; building a bunch of prototypes; sharing what you’ve made with the people you’re designing for; and eventually putting your innovative solution out in the world. When it comes to cat furniture design, the users are not human but cats. The first challenge in designing cats products is to building a deep empathy with the cats. So, would the product designer follow an approach called cat-centered design?

**Fortunately, I got a chance to connect with Jackson Cunningham, the founder of a high-end cat furniture company, [Tuft and Paw](https://www.tuftandpaw.com/). He told me that they do apply “cat-centered” design process even if they don’t use this term. And they do follow the five stages of human centered design to design the cat furniture.**

The first stage of the cat-centered design process is to start with a problem and gain an empathic understanding of the problem you are trying to solve for cats.  To find out more about the problems with my human clients, I usually do interviews, surveys and observation. Since, we can not engage with cats in conversation, the best way is to spend time observing them to gain a deeper understanding of the issues involved.  For instance, cats seem to enjoy destroying the couch by scratching it. Do they mean to destroy furniture? Why do cats scratch? Empathy allows designers to investigate assumptions and gain insight into cats’ needs. I started observing Gakki when I was with her. She is an energetic cat and enjoy spending her nap time on my chair , bed and old suitcase.

![cat-in-box-1024x683.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/cat_in_box_1024x683_8c5ffb4e97.jpg)

Designers gather a lot of information from observation, and it is time to do something with it. During the define stage, researchers and designers analyze the observations and synthesize insights in order to define the core problems. They consult cats behavior experts to learn the reasons behind each observed phenomenon. Conversations with experts help the designers to gather ideas and establish features and functions that can solve the problems.

Let’s apply these steps to a known observation: cats like to squeeze in tiny cardboard boxes. There are two useful insights we can take from this behavior. Most cats enjoy playing with cardboard as a material because they can dig their claws into it to scratch or stretch. Additionally, the enclosed space can make cats feel safe inside it.  Another cat owner’s problem is that a cat scratches the carpet. But this is not the cat's fault—the cat doesn't know it's ruining the carpet, they only scratch because they are trying to get a horizontal stretch. If you use techniques to teach the cat to use the new post, they will no longer scratch the carpet. Inspired by this approach, I analyzed and made the assumption based on my observation. Since Gakki spent most of her time lying on my chair, she might not like the soft cushion in bed.

In the ideate stage, designers can start asking questions “How might we…” to help look for ideas for design opportunities. Before generating ideas, they do a competitive analysis. They collect the information on the best and worst products, and interview cat shelters and veterinarians to analyze what makes them good or bad. It is important to get as many ideas or problem solutions as possible at the beginning of the Ideation phase. Designers sketch out design ideas during the brainstorming session. Later, considering the product constraints, they should pick some design ideas to create prototypes and test.  

The team produce a number of quick and inexpensive prototypes. The purpose of building a prototype is to test if the design can solve certain problem. So, they need to define what they want to test before prototyping. I did a quick adjustment on this bed, which is to remove the cushion.

The most challenging phase is the test stage. It’s not easy to do usability test with cats. The Tuft and Paw team test inside a cat cafe or cat shelter; and they use some tricks to encourage cats to interact with the prototypes. Cats have all sorts of preference (angle, material, and size), but you can get most cats to scratch on a scratcher by sprinkling catnip on it, or spraying it with catnip spray.  If that doesn't work, you can try dangling a wand toy (or treat) just over the top of the scratching post so the cat has to reach up to get the toy or treat; in the course of getting the toy/treat, they usually realize that they're leaning on something that is fun to scratch. Positive reinforcement (with treats, sweet-talk, petting, or play) will let the cat know that good things happen when they use the product, and that always helps establish a new habit. I put her toys and favorite treats inside the bed, and placed her in front of it. Bang! She stepped in the bed, and stayed for more than three minutes, which is a huge achievement.

![Gakki2-943x1024.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Gakki2_943x1024_4ec9a10ccc.jpg)

>Gakki was in the bed!

 

When users are not human, human-centered approach still can be applied with little adaptations. Every cat is unique and has its own preference. We have to respect the cat's need. We like pat our cats all the time but cats like to hide and spy. And if you give them the opportunity to be comfortable, then they will come visit and be social when they are ready. It's never a good idea to force the cat to do things they don’t like. A happy cat has a happy owner.

5 Stages of Cat-Centered Design

National Cat Day is on October 29th -- and we’re already celebrating.

At EchoUser, our pets have a special place in our hearts.

Jie Tang, experience designer and pet enthusiast, sharing avatars for pups on National Dog Day. She decided to iterate the process this month, cartoonifying four of her favorite feline faces.

Check out these charismatic kitties:

 

#### Oscar, the Ocicat.

![Ocicat@2x.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Ocicat_2x_89d4d878f2.png)

This furball may seem a little obnoxious at first, but you’ll come to love Oscar for what he is: a sociable, loyal, and fun friend. A warm-blooded wild child at heart, you may wonder if Oscar is really just a dog in a cat’s body.

 

#### Sidra, the Siamese.

![Siamese@2x.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Siamese_2x_4fadbbb93d.png)

What’s she staring at? You’ll find yourself asking this a lot, because Sidra is one spacey cat. While she’s on another plane of existence, you can still enjoy her company at home on Earth. It’s OK, because she loves you, probably.

 

#### Percy, the Persian.

![Persian@2x.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Persian_2x_0d979f41a0.png)

Percy is a plush and pampered aristo-cat, whose hobbies include watching mice come and go as they please, eating the fanciest of fancy feasts, and lounging on furniture you bought exclusively for him from IKEA’s [pet collection](https://www.ikea.com/us/en/cat/pet-accessories-pt001/). The only thing greater than his innocence is his cuteness.

 

#### Shirley, the British Shorthair.

![British-Shorthair_2@2x.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/British_Shorthair_2_2x_8402419bf9.png)

Shirley is one cool cat, and she knows it. Just look at that smug little mug! This good-humored, affectionate kitty shares all of your inside jokes, gets all of your obscure movie references, and is more beloved to your friends than you are.

 

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If you enjoy these avatars as much as we do, feel free to download them all and share with your fellow cat-lovers. :)

Many thanks to Jie Tang for her creative way to celebrate National Cat Day!

Designing Avatars for Cats

August 26 marked an auspicious occasion: National Dog Day!

‘Tis a joyous day, one for us to celebrate the pups and paws that fill our homes with companionship and our hearts with laughter.

Experience designer Jie Tang decided to add a little artistic flair to her day’s festivities by creating avatars… for dogs!

Here’s how Jie cartoonified some the most familiar puppy faces in a dog-lover’s world:

The process began with browsing the net for reference photos, and then sketching a rough draft of each avatar on paper, which were then be scanned into .jpg files to edit in Adobe Illustrator.

Jie traced over the sketches using a digital drawing tablet, refining the iterations, and twisting every line, curve, and shape hundreds of times.

“Who doesn’t love dogs!” Jie commented. “I love how they look at me with eager of love.”

She also put careful thought into selecting which kinds of dogs to sketch, watching pet videos and studying photos to help distinguish her favorite breeds.

“Each dog has a strong personality,” she says. “Frenchie, I’m a big fan of his look -- like a fat bunny with a pig nose!”

All four of her avatars made for some charismatic canines:

 

#### Frenchie, the French Bulldog.

![Frenchie.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Frenchie_151dae2ad4.jpg)

This silly dog is most likely to be found drinking out of the toilet, chasing his own tail, or spaced out and staring at you from the edge of your bed. Despite it all, he’s still a good boy and the star of your Instagram account.

 

#### Bueller, the Black Lab.

![BlackLab.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Black_Lab_cc6e2c1608.jpg)

This playful pup is always ready for a game of fetch, and will scare your neighbor’s kids until they come to learn that he’s harmless, and love him almost as much as you do. He also knows lots of cool tricks -- like balancing treats on his nose..

 

#### Penny, the Pug.

![Pug.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Pug_1e54e5a16c.jpg)

Penny is a petite yet philosophical pooch. She’s well-read, even though dogs can’t read (allegedly). Her somber eyes light up to welcome you home after a long day at work. If you ever feel like you’re in the middle of an existential crisis, this furry quadruped is probably right there with you.

 

#### Corn, the Corgie.

![Corgi-1.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Corgi_1_75c2e8857f.jpg)

This little one has spunk, and she knows it. Cultural adoration for this poofy floof (floof? Is that a word?) has spread across the internet in recent years, and rightfully so. What’s not to love? She’s feisty and as yellow as buttered corn.

 

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Release the hounds!

If you enjoy these avatars as much as we do, download them all here. :)

Many thanks to Jie Tang for her creative abstractions of some of the most beloved friends known to humankind. We can’t wait to see what she comes up with next month for National Cat Day!

Designing Avatars for Dogs

NASA held it's annual Big Think conference, a one-day, interdisciplinary workshop that pools the acumen and expertise of scientists, engineers, and other top industry minds to identify an innovation goal for NASA’s Frontier Development Lab over the course of the following year.

We were invited to supplement scientific conversations with the lens of human-computer interaction and user perspective, taking into account who would be implementing the solutions proposed by the attending experts in space weather, asteroid hunting, planetary defense, and machine learning. Needless to say, it was a cool way to apply UX in such a bold and undefined field.

To change things up, we proposed to graphically facilitate the session by recording the workshop in a live sketch. And NASA said yes.

Equipped with colorful markers and fresh notepads, our illustrator captured the day’s presentations, presenters, notes, and conclusions in a colossal sketch. At the end of the workshop, we were able to present the paper artifact to NASA and participants as a physical asset and graphic recording of the workshop.

![nasa-article.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/nasa_article_6f6e92addf.jpg)

#### What is Graphic Facilitation?

Graphic facilitation is an emerging practice, one that companies are starting to recognize for its unique value in documenting and transferring information, as well as visualizing information during meetings to help with understanding and retention.

The results of our graphic recording session were pretty cool.

#### Value-add.

By illustrating the day’s presentations, we were able to accomplish several key outcomes:

- _Promoting active listening_: Watching someone else take complex information and distill it into note form helps the audience understand and retain what they’re seeing, and helps humanize complex data. The concepts presented at NASA’s Big Think workshop dealt with highly nuanced, complicated concepts, but processing information and actively translating it into another medium helped both viewers and our illustrator better understand the subject matter.

- _Visualizing information_: For our illustrator, it was a matter of translating data-centric ideas from engineering and physical sciences into readable, digestible visuals. This aids memory and subject matter comprehension.

- _Revisiting information_: After a full-day workshop strung with back-to-back presentations, it can be difficult to ensure retention, especially when sharing complicated yet critical pieces of information. Graphic recordings are a way of traveling back in time to remember when people talked about what, capturing the day’s proceedings in one fell swoop.

- _Summarizing findings_: At the end of the day, the live sketch captured conclusions and critical next steps, documenting the thought process behind how ideas were formulated and conceived.

 

Participants were enthused by the end result, and snapped photos of the graphic recording with their mobile devices to refer to at the conclusion of the workshop. After receiving such critical acclaim, we’ll continue to promote graphic recording as a valuable tool for not only understanding, sharing, and recollecting important information, but re-living the workshop experience.

-- 

(And after an all-day workshop at NASA, a live sketch sounds like a stellar souvenir.)

Live Sketching at NASA's Big Think

Featuring, [Londa Overbeck](https://www.linkedin.com/in/londaoverbeck/). 

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#### Tell us about your career journey and what brought you to EchoUser.

As a kid, I was always drawn to giving a voice to people who didn’t necessarily have one or weren’t able to speak up. In my family, I was the one to ask the questions. At school, I was drawn to people who were left out and bullied, making sure they had some kind of ally.

That ultimately led me into my first career as a psychotherapist. It was a valuable experience for me in many ways, but over time it became hard for me to hold so many painful stories and deal with life and death situations.

I hit a turning point where I needed to make a pivot. I wanted to continue impacting people’s lives in a meaningful way, but from a different angle. After a lot of exploration, I discovered UX and user research — I already had the soft skills and it matched what I cared about doing and how I wanted to spend my time. It was a way for me to continue helping to give others a voice.

![Meet-the-Echousers-Londa.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Meet_the_Echousers_Londa_55f6bb1c85.jpg)

#### Do you remember the moment when you decided to pursue UX, or anything that stood out about UX and user research?

I remember the moment when I first learned that it was a field. I was on that path of discovery and I went to a open house at Stanford for the MBA program. When they started talking about the d.school my ears perked up and I was like “Oh, I’m much more interested in that than I am in this MBA.” But you have to do another program to participate in the d.school. It ultimately kicked off a rabbit hole of research into the field.

At the time, I was leading a team of consultants at Edgewood Center for Children and Families who worked with nonprofits to help them improve health services for youth. I introduced my team to this user research model and over time we adopted it as our consultation framework. We got scrappy and learned a lot through trial and error. But, we also learned from some pros by developing partnerships with Adaptive Path, a d.school bootcamp instructor, and Catapult Design. I joined a Leading By Design fellowship at CCA to gain a lot more experience in UX, build my network, and lead a healthcare-focused project with Adaptive Path.

#### What brought you to EchoUser?

I was making a big jump from nonprofit to for-profit, from me being the evangelist for UX in a world that knew nothing about it to being one of many UX practitioners. I knew I wanted to be around other people who appreciated UX and could be mentors to me — on our team here, we’re all swimming in the same water.

Software is a big part of what we focus on and I wanted to gain product experience. I was also drawn to EchoUser projects on education and the BART because they went beyond products and targeted services and experiences. And, I liked the culture – it was just a good vibe when I came and interviewed.

#### What are the similarities between psychotherapy and user research?

As a therapist, I learned to straddle thinking rigorously about questions with listening for what emerges in the moment. The way in which you ask a question – tone, wording, format – can profoundly impact the response you get. You’re trying to get underneath the problem, understand what’s driving them, what really matters to them, what barriers are getting in their way.

The other thing that comes to mind is that both professions are grounded in understanding people in the context of their lives. As a therapist, you want to understand the larger ecosystem in which your clients live. Seeing couples and families interact with one another gives you a different view than having one person tell you their individual perspective. In UX, when you observe someone using a product or service at home or at work, you pick up on things that you might not see in a lab.

#### What is your process for interpreting what users want?

People might not know what they want. If you ask them directly they might give you a surface answer that doesn’t fully address the problem. This is where the art of questioning comes into play. Observing people in context, probing and listening for unmet needs and discrepancies between what people say and do. Asking people to imagine what things would be like in their ideal world.

#### If you could redesign any experience, what would you pick and why?

One area of interest is improving how people access healthcare. In my last job, my team did some work in Western Addition to figure out what gets in the way of accessing mental health care and came up with new ideas for how this can be improved. I’d love to do more projects like this — working towards more of an integrated health model.

I’m also interested in the postpartum experience. There are so many misconceptions and misguided expectations about what having a baby _should_ be like. It can be a really isolating time for many people. I was really lucky to find a core crew of folks to go through postpartum and beyond with. I’d love to find ways to make that kind of communal support more of the norm.

--

>_"Immerse yourself in the field in whatever way you can. Read articles and books. Go to events. Be a participant in a research study. Putting yourself out there and meeting people in the field is really important."_

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#### What advice do you have for people just entering the industry?

Immerse yourself in the field in whatever way you can. Read articles and books. Go to events. Be a participant in a research study. Putting yourself out there and meeting people in the field is really important. The CCA community was huge for me in making my career transition.

Do whatever you can to get some projects under your belt. If you’re not in a job where you can do projects, find other ways to do it. Try Code for America or openIDEO.

If you’re looking to make a transition, start with recognizing what you already know. Figure out what your story is and practice talking about it. Being able to communicate what you will bring to the table and why you are choosing this path, is a really important part of being able to land a job.

#### What do you like to do outside of work?

I’ve gotten really into rock climbing lately. It’s what I do for me-time. My daughter recently got over her fear of the ocean so we’re running with our newfound freedom and spending a lot of time on the beach. My friends are like an extended family to me so we end up hanging out a lot on the weekends.

#### What are some fun facts that not everyone knows about you?

- I have a fear of flying, but I’ve also been skydiving.

- I’ve met the most significant people in my life in unexpected ways. When I started 5th grade at a new school, my sister was annoyed that I was following her around and cramping her style. So, she went up to one of my classmates and said “She’s looking for a friend”. Many, many years laters we’re still besties. She just texted me that her daughter came home from school saying “I think I met my Londa”.

- When I first met my now-husband in college, we went on a date it didn’t work out. Five years later we reconnected. I’d say round two was a success!


From Psychotherapy to UX Research

Featuring, [Laura Mattis](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauramdesigner/)

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#### Could you share with us your career journey and what brought you to EchoUser?

I studied both English and Graphic design in undergrad because I wanted to consider the design pieces holistically – content and form. For 6 years, I was kind of a jack of all trades; designing banner ads, doing front-end development, managing a printer. I decided to go to grad school because I wanted to drive the strategy behind what I was designing.

I went to IIT Institute of Design in Chicago and spent 2 years re-engineering my design process: learning about design thinking and practicing service design. It was an incredible experience that confirmed my love for design and my desire to work on problems that positively impact people.

When I moved to SF a few years ago, I went to every possible design event, meeting up with anyone I could to understand the design community here. During design week, I came by the EchoUser office and chatted with Aaron and a researcher. I was really impressed.

![MeetEchoUsers-LauraM.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Meet_Echo_Users_Laura_M_e734ac42c3.jpg)

#### What’s special about EchoUser that caught your eye back then?

“Any experience”. Design here is not just about the surface, but it’s about diving into problems and pushing boundaries. While job searching, I was looking for companies that would encourage me to apply service design to real problems and EchoUser really stood out. People here are not afraid to study challenging topics or try new methods, like Hello Toilet or running a 100-people study in a week. I saw a lot of opportunities.

#### Tell us more about service design.

UX design in SF is focused on the product, like digital apps and websites. Service design says you’re actually designing experiences. That product is part of a larger ecosystem of people, physical and digital products and processes.

Take Uber. You aren’t buying a car, you’re buying convenient transportation. Yes, you need an app to access it, but designing Uber requires tools and training for drivers, a sustainable pricing model and working with (or challenging) public policy. You need a lot of people to work together to make that happen and service designers keep an eye on the whole system; they collaborate with lots of different pros in policy, interaction design, visual design and more. to stitch together the whole customer (and driver) experience. We try to bring everything together to make sure systems talk to each other in a seamless way.

#### What inspires your work?

I get inspired by putting myself in uncomfortable situations. I’m not an early adopter, but I’d like to try things just to see what it’s like. Maybe I’ll discover it’s not that uncomfortable and actually really cool. I’m a person who really likes structure and order, but I still put myself out of my comfort zone.

For example, I volunteered to live and work in Mumbai for 4 weeks working on a crazy fast design project on healthcare innovation in India. It was the first time I’d ever left the country, but an incredible experience about the power of design and how diverse (and awesome!) the world really is. I’ve even participated in a flash mob as part of a dear friend’s week-long wedding in Bangladesh.

![MeetEchoUsers-LauraM-flashmob.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Meet_Echo_Users_Laura_M_flashmob_2f265af0ca.jpg)

>Figure 2. Wedding flash mob. Photo by Wedding Chapel for Nabila Nowrin.

 

#### Any advice for people who are new to the UX industry?

You can learn design tools and go to meetups, but there are intangible things to me that are more valuable.

Foster curiosity and nerdiness. You should be nerdy in the way that you dive into topics to understand them. If you think biking to work is cool, live that biking culture and contribute to that community.

Do non-design stuff and do it with passion. Learn about different things outside of design that make design more exciting. Because we borrow so much from other different fields – science, art, technology, philosophy – and they impact the people we design for.

#### How do you tell a great designer from a good one?

For me, a great designer isn’t scared of hard questions and they’re okay living with ambiguity. You can’t solve a lot of problems in a day. Design isn’t easy but these designers have confidence that the problem can be solved. Great designers question themselves: “Are we really asking the right question? Are we caught up with our own ego?”

Great designers know that they are not the greatest. Sometimes designers can have ego when they are really good at something. I really respect those designers who strive to learn from those around them and recognize that design is collaboration.

#### What are some fun facts that not everyone knows about you?

- My high school job was as a PetSmart certified dog trainer and I did it for 5 years. I trained dogs to do all kinds of commands and tricks. Imagine a big hound dog riding a skateboard down the main aisle in a PetSmart.
- I knitted all my Christmas presents one year — it was not the best idea, haha! It was fun, but so much work! All the women in my husband’s family knit and that’s where I got inspired to pick it up. I have tons of projects in the works, but one of my next one is Christmas stockings.

Becoming a UX Designer

Upon its release, Pokémon Go rose to the top of the App Store charts in almost every conceivable metric. Just four weeks since its release, some 20 million Pokémon Trainers log into the app daily to catch new Pokémon and grow their collection. But what is the root of this explosive growth? Certainly, a large part of it is due to the wave of Pokémon nostalgia that the game has generated. However, Pokémon Go’s ability to pull in more and more users each week, even a month after its release, is due to more than just its branding. Throughout this post I’ll highlight some of the ingenious usability and design choices made by Niantic that elevate this game from a novelty gimmick to the cultural phenomenon it has become.

![PokeLibrary.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Poke_Library_992f737897.jpg)

>Figure 1. With so many adults playing Pokémon Go, it’s easy to forget how popular it’s been with children as well.

 

#### You teach me, and I'll teach you.

One of the most important high-level design choices for any product or service is how much complexity to present the user with. Many of the modern industry leaders such as Google and Apple gained their popularity by simplifying their competitors’ more complicated designs, making them much more accessible and intuitive. This simplification, however, can come at a cost; the less there is to learn, the less there is to actually do. That translates to less ability to hold people’s attention, which for a free-to-play game like Pokémon Go that makes most of its money from microtransactions rather than a one-time cost, is a very dangerous prospect.

So how did Niantic solve this dilemma? It certainly seems to have the best of both worlds, having managed to build a huge user base despite some incredibly complicated and unintuitive systems. The answer is that they understand how to design the same app for wildly different users.

To begin with, they only present players with the most basic level of gameplay when they start – the simple act of catching Pokémon. This is a fairly intuitive process which is supported by a brief tutorial. As soon as the users catch their first Pokémon they’re presented with a page full of grey silhouettes, only one of which is filled out. The message is clear: there are hundreds more Pokémon out there to catch. And for a large portion of Pokémon Go’s user base, that’s all the game they’ll ever need. The simple act of building your collection is a satisfying one, and Niantic understands that some of its users won’t care about the systems they layer on top of it.

They also understand, however, that some users will want a bit more to dig into than just catching Pokémon. So how do they present the users who want to go beyond that basic gameplay with more complicated systems, without alienating the players who simply want to build out their collection? Simply put, they don’t. The tutorial only covers the basics of catching Pokémon, and everything else is left up to the players to discover on their own.

This may seem counterintuitive, as leaving something unexplained typically only makes it more confusing. By leaving additional systems out of the basic tutorial, Niantic allows players to organically discover the parts of the game that will appeal to them. Players will only ever need to engage in as much complexity as they want. For example, if you never select a gym on the world map, you will never be presented with an explanation of gym battling. This layering of complexity ensures that the game is enjoyable no matter how many of its systems you care to learn about.

#### Arm in arm, we'll win the fight.

By this point it should be apparent that Pokémon Go’s tendency to get people talking about it, both on social media and in person, is no accident. Seemingly small design choices, like Pokémon not disappearing for everyone when caught by one person, transform what could have easily been a very isolating and even competitive game into one that encourages you to seek out fellow Pokémon Trainers.

Interestingly, the obvious features Niantic chose to leave out of Pokémon Go highlight their design philosophy just as readily as the ones which they chose to implement. Namely, there is no ability to directly communicate, trade, or otherwise interact with other players within the app itself. Any social interaction is done either face to face or through third party communities which means that, despite the game’s social focus, any direct social interactions are purely optional. Those who would prefer to avoid interacting with others, or even just take them at their own pace, will never feel as if they’re missing out on important features or worse, being forced into social interaction they didn’t seek out.

![Mass-Transfer.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mass_Transfer_67f1d98634.jpg)

>Figure 2. Some users have already taken to mocking up much-requested features, so as the ability to ‘transfer’ multiple Pokémon at once.

 

#### I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was.

So far I’ve highlighted several design choices that worked out well for Niantic, but that does not mean that the game is perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Like any application, Pokémon Go launched with aspects of the design that didn’t quite meet the intended standards. However, Niantic has been quick to fix these issues as they become apparent.

For example, one of the most popular complaints was that the button for transferring Pokémon (a task at the heart of evolving Pokémon and thus one most users will do many times) was hidden away at the bottom of a long page, making it awkward to transfer multiple Pokémon at a time. This has been rectified, as the transfer button is now in the bottom right corner and scrolls with the user. Similarly, Niantic was quick to realize that they hadn’t taken rural users into account in their designs given that the vast majority of Pokéstops were in urban areas. Since this left rural users starving for Pokéballs and in some cases unable to play the game for long stretches of time, Niantic began a long process of adding more Pokéstops to areas outside of cities.

More than anything this shows that Niantic understands one of the most important realities of design in our current day: It’s not a step, it’s a constant process. User experience isn’t something that will ever be ‘complete’. There will constantly be unforeseen use cases, shifts in user goals, and areas where you can improve your designs. No matter what your product or service is, it won’t launch perfectly. Constant iteration, both before and after launch, is how to hone your design into a satisfying and intuitive experience that will keep users coming back for more.

Ultimately, no single factor is solely responsible for the success of Pokémon Go. Without the Pokémon name, it’s unlikely that this game would have reached the level of mass recognition that it currently has. But Pokémon Go’s success lies in the fact that it was ready to meet that surge of popularity with intelligently targeted and constantly iterated design. After all, there’s no debating that the game has more than met its goals of promoting outdoor activity and building community. From people setting up real life Pokéstops to animal shelters creating special ‘Pokémon Go’ walking programs, it’s clear that Pokémon Go’s elegant design not only shaped the game itself for the better, but is affecting the real world in a powerful, positive way.

The User Experience of Pokémon Go

Featuring [Yalu Ye](https://www.linkedin.com/in/yalu-ye-ux/).

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#### Could you share with us your career journey and what brought you to EchoUser?

Growing up in China, I was always fascinated with what people could do on computers. Before I entered college, I thought Software Engineering would be a good fit for me. However, after exploring in many other areas throughout my college years, I realized that in addition to technology, I also enjoyed doing a lot of other creative activities such as designing posters, writing drama scripts and playing in a band. In the search of my potential future path that involves both technology and creativity, I came across Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). As I learned more about it through online research and book reading, I felt more passionate about it and decided to apply for grad school in the US since there are more HCI-related education and career opportunities here.

After all sorts of ups and downs throughout the application process, I made it to the HCI/design program in Indiana University Bloomington. The program was totally a life-changing experience. I felt fulfilled and grateful everyday to have had the chance to learn from and to collaborate with inspiring professors and cohort. Carrying on that passion, I interned at Autodesk for a summer, coming out with more self-confidence and design competence, as well as a love for San Francisco. Right after graduation, I joined EchoUser as a full-time experience designer, and this is where I am now.

![yalu-1.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/yalu_1_ddcc28ed1b.jpg)

#### What drew you to EchoUser?

First of all, EchoUser’s focus on “Any Experience” really resonated with me. I believe that UX design is a problem-solving process that can be applied to any field and beyond just screens. It’s about an experience. And I love to explore a variety of things. Therefore, seeing how EchoUser has tackled a wide range of projects, I saw a lot of potential for myself by contributing my skills and growing as a multidisciplinary designer. In addition, EchoUser is full of people with diverse backgrounds and passions for outdoor activities and adventures, which really speaks to my heart!

#### What's your favorite type of project?

I’m more drawn to projects with broader scopes where I can design for the whole experience from end to end rather than just focus on designing solutions for a particular screen. For example, Hello Toilet is one of my favorite projects I did at EchoUser. It was a self-initiated project, which goal was to improve people’s public restroom experiences. It’s such a universal topic that I collected a lot of interesting stories from interviews and surveys. A common theme emerged from the research – anxiety. From there, I decided to focus on mitigating people’s anxiety throughout the whole process of searching, waiting, and using public toilets. I then started brainstorming design ideas and I’m now in the process of prototyping and bringing some ideas to life!

#### Thanks to your initiative, EchoUser just started a brand new mentorship program, where we paired mentors and mentees together based on their skills and interests. What made you decide to take the lead on this?

As a designer who just started out, I’m lucky to have a few senior designers addressing my concerns and self-doubts, as well as providing feedback and encouragement. However, I noticed that company-wise, people don’t always have the opportunity or the right context for a natural mentor/mentee relationship to happen. Initiating the mentorship program made me fulfilled by knowing that people can make use of this opportunity in many ways. No matter what topics the pairs ended up discussing, as long as they get something out of it, I feel great seeing them empowered.

#### Do you have any advice for people who are new to the UX industry?

Be open-minded and proactive. The UX industry changes really fast and there are new technologies and challenges coming out every day. It’s important for a designer to feel comfortable stepping out of his/her comfort zone and to embrace change as well as to contribute new change to the industry.

Be reflective. This would help a designer level up faster. There are always some lessons learned in every project, and being reflective is the best way to capture the growth along the career path.
Where do you see the future of UX going?

In terms of design media and techniques, I see the future will still be in a flux for a little while. As technology advances, designers have more and more opportunities to inject new forms and objects into many aspects of people’s lives. New design methods, such as user journey maps, and system maps, were also introduced to improve end-to-end user experiences.

On the other hand, I think the basic nature of design will still remain the same for a long time. I’m really inspired by the “principles for good design”, introduced by Dieter Rams in the 1970s, which focus on both minimalism and usefulness. If you look at the development of the design industry in recent years, those principles still apply. Thus, at a high level, I see the future of design still being built upon the same principles, but with different forms and methods.

#### We all know that you're always up for the next outdoor challenge. What has been your biggest adventure so far?

Without much experience, I hiked John Muir Trail alone for 26 days, 240 miles total. Inspired by a lot of other EchoUsers, I wanted to challenge myself and gave myself a chance to reflect about my past year in the middle of the beauty of nature.

Lesson learned: First, go with the flow. In the middle of the trip, I encountered serious mountain fire smoke from nearby area. I was indecisive about whether I should keep going or quit until I met another hiker at the resupply point. He told me, “Be the river, not the rock.” Let it play out its own way. Looking back, I’m glad that I did and finished the trail. I also became more grateful about civilization. There were no showers, toilets, or trash cans along most of the trail. Learning how to take care of all those basic human needs was the first thing I had to overcome. Coming back to the city life, I no longer take all the infrastructures for granted and am more mindful of making decisions that help sustainability of the earth.

![yalu-2-JMT.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/yalu_2_JMT_62f15289b8.jpg)

>FIgure 2. Photo Credit: Matthias Ciprian. Camped after a snowstorm on JMT trip. _“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”_

 

#### What would you do if you weren’t a UX designer?

I am always fascinated with learning about different people’s stories and discovering unknown things. Also, I see sharing rarely told stories as a way to empower and inspire even more people. So if I were not a designer, I would probably film documentaries or write stories, especially for underrepresented groups major media usually chooses to ignore.

Adventuring into UX

It was time to run a family experiment. I’d heard about how COVID sparked rapid, deep shifts in the way people were working, and I wanted in.

The easy story about COVID and work is the abrupt move to remote work and the accompanying questions that arise:

- When an office location loses importance, what happens to 9-5? (Anytime) 
- With reliable internet, when do we need to be physically together? (Anyplace)
- With freelance work becoming more viable, do workers need to be bound to one employer? (Anywhere)

![monkees.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/monkees_f87d4737b7.png)

Side note: “Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere” also happens to be an obscure release by _The Monkees_ in their 1986 compilation album, but somehow I don’t think they were writing about the workplace or experimentation.

These key questions [hit businesses hard in ‘21](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/10/great-resignation-accelerating/620382/). They hit me hard personally as well. I had been working remotely for a year, I was looking for new work, and I wanted a more dynamic setting for UX Research than I thought I would find working for one specific company. My spouse faced similar uncertainty in her work future.  We were staring at incredible privilege and a wide open opportunity that we had never quite seen before. We are also parents of two boys under five, and feel daily the soul-crushing challenge to introduce variety into a life that demands routines and stability.

![bungalow.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/bungalow_b6c0ceb561.png)

As a design thinker, I _sometimes_ at least _somewhat_ practice what I preach. I knew there was a more measured approach to testing the waters than quitting all jobs and selling our house. We decided to run a small experiment across six weeks in December and January, where we moved from our suburban home in Longmont, CO to a rental in the heart of Portland, OR. I had just joined EchoUser, and was working here while I also wrapped up outside projects. It would mean working at odd hours to meet all the demands, but in a fun location, with a forced change of pace. We wanted to see if this anytime, anyplace, anywhere was for us.

You might explain the hypothesis for our trip as something like this:

_If I temporarily live in a new setting and work for multiple employers, my life satisfaction will increase._

I sense this is an experiment many people are running variations on, or may like to in the coming years. So what did I conclude? Let’s look at three themes from the experiment which speak as much to research design as they do if I should spend my work life on the road.

#### Theme 1: Clarify Your Objectives, Control Your Variables

Completing our six week experiment, I have a ton of data. Many feelings about day-to-day life. The [best coffee shop within walking distance](https://theredecafe.com/) of our rental house. Good memories of creaky stairs and puddle-splashing with my kids. Yet, I don’t know if I really validated the hypothesis or not.

In hindsight, I think “Salts-Halcomb Portland Getaway 2021” suffered from the same symptoms of many rounds of product research. 

Because the objectives weren’t well-defined at the beginning, the research design wasn’t optimal, and the data are wide and speak more to obscure questions than the vital ones.

Our experiment took place over the holiday season, and in an area of the country where we have friends and family. In reality, our experiment has much more to say about questions like “How does it feel to live near family without staying with them?” and “What is it like to juggle a lot of different new things during Christmas?” than it does about anytime, anywhere, anyplace. My satisfaction with the experience was high, but I think it’s clear that work wasn’t the most important factor to that satisfaction.

![family.jpeg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/family_3674a00583.jpeg)

This is endemic to UX work. How many times have you begun a study that really taught you more about your workplace culture than it did your customers? Or, realized that your usability concerns couldn’t be addressed until you first cleared up issues around desirability and a deeper understanding of the user experience?

Sure, there is still a ton of learning (more on this later), but we don’t have a lot of time in life or research to learn something that isn’t the most important thing. I’m not sure when school schedules and projects will align to give us another opportunity at this.  The only antidote I know to this problem is planning, asking vital questions up front about what we really want to learn. Had I really wanted to test the workplace questions above, at the least, my wife and I would have chosen a more normal time of year and a location with fewer people we were excited to see.

#### Theme 2: Jump in fully

Still, I’m more research pragmatist than research purist, so I want to spend some time on the other side of the coin from Theme #1. While the learnings could have been more precise, I did encounter so much. Furthermore, few of those learnings would have come forward from a quiet Christmas at home in the same 9-5 I’d been working. I think as life researchers and product researchers alike, we’re always working within imperfect context, and the real skill is being able to extract the valuable data from the cluttered missteps and noise.

What I did well in this experiment was to encounter enough friction to produce meaningful results. 

Some takeaway thoughts include:

- **In this new era of work, focus is everything**. We should all know by now that [humans are poor multitaskers](https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/07/15/why-you-shouldnt-multitask-and-what-you-can-do-instead/?sh=5488790ad01b), and some of these new ideas about work add layers of complexity. Anytime, anywhere, anyplace means we’re essentially merging work and life rather than trying to seperate the two. I don’t think the answer is writing emails at the dinner table. Rather, I think the biggest skill of the next decade is being able to quickly drop into context: there was prepping for a meeting in the couple hours between holiday gatherings, having laser focus for 30 minutes with client A even when the bulk of the day was spent on client B. There are also vital and known strategies to block similar work that I have begun to experiment with. (New Year’s Resolution 2022: Focus!)
- **My longing is for new creative routines** more so than tectonic shifts in how I do work. The best elements of the work experiment included the walk-ability of our neighborhood. I would break up my day with a walk to the produce stand, an hour in the coffee shop, and a quick train track built to connect with my boys. Those were easier byproducts because of our experiment, but they didn’t need a new job or a new house. I am looking for a state of mind that is fluid and creative. While I’m curious how my work choices aid that, I’m glad to have that insight to implement anywhere.

 

My encouragement to all of us in UX work is to pursue routes that might spark significant insight. Slight shifts around the edges of a user experience are easier to get right but seldom transform a business. If the recipe is 3 parts good planning, and 1 part right methodology, there is also a good dash of chaos to bring learning. The chaos of this month will spark change in our lives.

#### Theme 3: Your timeline be damned, the research never ends

As a last thought, I’m getting comfortable with the fact that many of my questions couldn’t be answered in six weeks. I have a lot to unwind before undertaking changes to my work life that have been established over almost 20 years. 

I am committed to advancing independence, variety and freedom around my work life - and I chose EchoUser in part for its commitment to this culture. I’m convinced that sticking to my home office chair for 8 straight hours is the next thing that needs to go. But we have a lot of thinking to do before the upheaval to our family of a trip like this is worth the regular cost.

I notice the research parallels with every time I see UXers or product teams try to tie a nice bow on the learnings because of an external timeline. Yes, our contract ended, dev needed to ship, priorities changed. But we fool ourselves into thinking that means the learnings need to be complete, final, authoritative. I need to cultivate a mindset of “I learned X but it made me wonder Y”… for that is much more true to experience. I think it will actually help our products, which are always evolving. We act off the incomplete data, we take our best next step, and we start learning again.

![coldBeach.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/cold_Beach_f0f76e6372.png)

I’ll have to report back later on the advancement of anytime, anyplace, anywhere. It has some legs. I’ll do it better next time. I have a whole set of new questions. Six weeks well spent.

An experiment in Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere

Take a long, deep breath... Breathe in relaxation… Hold it for a moment… Now, exhale, slowly... Let out any tension… Feel your body relax into stillness between breaths... 

Do that 3 times, 10 jumping jacks, and a 30-second plank, and your brain will be ready for this post. 

--

We recently had an intriguing Talk-O Tuesday session (our weekly internal lunch meeting). We brain exercised, in a way. It was definitely different from our normal talking sessions, which can get quite heady and stimulating in their back and forth. 

For this session, our Talk-O moderator, Jiyoon, started by laying out some simple rules that set the stage for an interesting mind-bending journey. At least for me. Still not sure if it led to nirvana, or possibly somewhere more dark. Nevertheless, I couldn’t stop thinking about the experience and how others might find it useful for their own brainstorming and creativity workouts. 

The simple rules:

- Sketch something that comes to mind once you hear the prompt. 
- Don’t stop moving your pen/pencil until told to. 
- You do not need to share anything that you create. 

Would this even work? Would I feel more creative? Would it become easier over time? Such simple rules within a one-hour timeframe. That’s a long time to just sketch! (At least there was music.) Meetings are already too long. Now do it without talking and stay inside your own head. Go! 

So here are my sketches. I am definitely not a sketching artist. But I also feel no shame in sharing the results. I’ll do my best to describe each prompt, but I don’t quite remember most of them, which is an interesting aside, as I do recall feeling myself drifting deeply into each theme while sketching.

![feet.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/feet_8de1fbf348.jpg)

**Feet**

I’m just going to say the first prompt was “feet”. I don’t remember. But I do recall feeling somewhat mentally rigid as we got underway. Even my sketching space on the paper was cramped and almost pinching into the edge. Drawing the large foot did help break the mold and release my mind. Especially those toes.

![cookies-1024x209.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/cookies_1024x209_452d02f396.jpg)

**Cookies**

Again, I don’t recall, but maybe, “cookies”? And my bad drawings look more like pizza and donuts than cookies. Maybe I was hungry. My favorite part is the big head/face (maybe also a cookie?) and the callouts. Some sort of bizarro Homer mumblings from the upside-down. 

![danger.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/danger_91ed80fa6b.jpg)

**Danger**

This one feels like “danger”. My mind was definitely in transition at this point in our sketch exercises. I particularly like the comic strip style for giving it more of a story feeling. Also to make the _danger_ feel not so _dangerous_. I mean, why am I drawing someone lunging at someone else with a knife? Questions should be asked. 

Transcription: - | “Danger?” | “Yes!” | “Oh” .. “Mm, DIE” | “Freeze spell” | “Later...” .. “Damn”

![bliss.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/bliss_7dd58944be.jpg)

**Calm**

The most straightforward prompt; “inner calm” (or something close to that). And the result was a warm coral reef, with me stretched out in long gliding motions, with the outside world suppressed down to natural underwater noises. Looks like bliss. Felt like bliss sketching it. Perhaps my sketch brainstorming was becoming more calm, simple, and straightforward. (Spoiler: It wasn’t.) 

![space.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/space_993dae7982.jpg)

**Space**

Mind control? Actually, pretty sure it was something to do with “space”. Both are acceptable. I had recently read _The Three-Body Problem_, and without giving much away, a key plotline is one side being able to read the minds of the other side. Perhaps my favorite sketch. Does the one on the left look like Elon Musk? 

![monsters.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/monsters_bda5c3df9a.jpg)

**Monsters**

It’s gotta be “monsters”, yes? Or one overall motley monster. I think this is where my mind had fully shifted out of its initial rigidness, well past smooth brainstorming, through loose and swervy, and finally smashing into _what was I thinking_? These now remind me of 1) Game of Thrones; 2) Donnie Darko; 3) the unreleased sequel to E.T.; and, 4) a needs-to-be-made Bigfoot movie.   

![despair.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/despair_217f5c7060.jpg)

**Despair**

I have no idea what the prompt was. Looks like a pit of despair. With a fossil graveyard. And a hangout for punk cats. A mental release, of sorts? Who knows. Unsettling. 

![peace.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/peace_10f0d880a6.jpg)

**Peaceful**

And finally a very normal looking scene, an idyllic mountain lake. So peaceful. So starkly different from the prior doom scene. I recall feeling more just peacefulness and an ideal place I’d like to be. No hidden awfulness; just a rapid, fluid change in focus from the prior sketch; really, all the previous sketches. 

-- 

There were more prompts & sketches. But we switched from prepared prompts to called out prompts and shorter sketch times as the hour was winding down. As I recall, most of the prepared prompts had 6-8 min of sketching time. Plenty of time to mentally drift, which I think was necessary to see where the mind would go, especially with the no stopping your pen/pencil moving rule. 

This is a lot of navel-gazing on my part as I attempt to explain to myself what I was sketching. But hopefully, the open sharing can convey how **a simple set of rules can successfully be used to promote brainstorming creativity** through meditation sketching. I encourage you to try it yourself and to let me know if you reach nirvana, or perhaps find a little bit of darkness.


Meditation sketching: Brainstorming exercises

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Usability

Empathy

Another week, another great discussion around design justice in our Design Justice Reading Circle at EchoUser. In our previous discussion, we had talked about tech companies’ ethical responsibilities. This time, we shifted our focus to what our responsibilities are, as designers and researchers, when responding to technology ethics, and the tangible actions we can take.

To prepare for this discussion, we read “[Able, Allowed, Should; Navigating Modern Tech Ethics](https://medium.com/designatmeta/able-allowed-should-navigating-modern-tech-ethics-50f54f0df7d6)” by Margaret Gould Stewart, VP of Product Design at Facebook and watched a short video “[This Panda Is Dancing](https://vimeo.com/193299995)” from [Center for Humane Technology](https://www.humanetech.com/), an organization co-founded by the former Google Design Ethicist Tristan Harris. Both touched on how the reality of tech use stray away from its intended purpose and consequently our first question was the importance of redefining how we assess the success of technological products.

We discussed if Facebook is aligned with Facebook’s mission “to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together”. Not surprisingly, we had different opinions about this topic and the most frequent phrase in the discussion was “it depends”. For example, while we’re aware of how technologies have the potential to tear the world apart by spreading hatred we’ve also witnessed how technologies have brought people together. One coworker told us she was empowered to share her “#MeToo” story because of all the women and men before her sharing their stories on social media as part of the #MeToo movement.

The ambiguity of “it depends” is one of the reasons, besides a clear ROI, why tech ethics is a nice-to-have rather than a must—since we cannot predict how technologies will be used, we may as well focus on something more tangible and predictable such as developing features for the MVPs. However, at EchoUser, we care deeply about the people we’re serving so we don’t want to take the convenient path of ignoring the “it depends”.

So what’s the solution? From Margret’s article, we discussed “The Four Quadrants of Design Responsibility” with the X-axis a scale of things and Y-axis a scale of audience, and approaches Facebook takes to address those ethics challenges. All three approaches: designing misuse cases, seeking outside expertise and redefining what success looks like resonate with us, especially the last one because that is what determines the product goal, the design principles, the process, and features we’re building. Being very deliberate and nuanced in how we assess success also helps us unpack the sometimes abstract and flowery mission statements companies have and translate them into meaningful actions.

Besides setting up the framework and principles, we also discussed the importance of diversity hiring and ethics education. We don’t know what we don’t know so having a diverse workforce and people who care helps us proactively make ethically responsible decisions instead of putting out fires.

All in all, it was another fruitful design justice discussion and provocation at EchoUser— looking forward to what comes next in our Design Justice Reading Circle.

Cover Photo by [Daria Nepriakhina](https://unsplash.com/@epicantus) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/), Thumbnail Photo by [Franki Chamaki](https://unsplash.com/@franki) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/)


What does success look like for ethically responsible products?

Have you heard about Design Justice? If you’ve heard about it, have you tried to incorporate into your design practice? How?

These aren’t rhetorical questions — I really want to know!

A colleague and I just started a Design Justice Reading Circle in order to engage our coworkers and ourselves in the principles and practices of Design Justice. We’re using the term as a broad umbrella for the types of topics we want to discuss and the conversations we hope to generate.

If you’re not yet familiar with Design Justice, here’s how the [Design Justice Network](https://designjustice.org/) defines it, briefly (generated at the [Allied Media Conference](https://amc.alliedmedia.org/) in Detroit, the coolest conference of them all):

>_**“Design justice rethinks design processes, centralizing people who are normally marginalized by design and using collaborative creative practices to address the deepest challenges our communities face.”**_

 

As designers and researchers, our small group is trying to think about how our work as consultants shapes the direction and designs of our clients’ work, now and into the future.

We are UX practitioners who are trained to always put the experience of the user front-and-center. So…

- How might we do this more intentionally, considering the needs of those who we might not normally reach with research activities?

- How might we engage those who might be considered “edge cases” by our peers or clients?

- How might we invite the community we’re designing for to co-create with us, particularly when we’re moving from project to project several times a year?

 

In this group, we’ll talk about Design Justice, its working definition, and how we can incorporate it into our work. But we want to cast a wider net, too. We’ll gather case studies from around the web (okay, maybe print media, too), and discuss how we would use the Design Justice framework to approach a given issue differently.

We don’t know exactly what this will be yet, but hope that it will at least be a starting point. Part of our job every day is to challenge assumptions and speak for users — let’s just make sure we’re doing so for everyone.

 

----

 

Here are some pieces we’re starting with:

[10 Ways Designers Can Support Social Justice](https://designjustice.org/blog/2017/2/6/10-ways-designers-can-support-social-justice) (Design Justice Network blog)

[Turns Out Algorithms Are Racist](https://newrepublic.com/article/144644/turns-algorithms-racist) (The New Republic)

[Female hurricanes are deadlier than male hurricanes](https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/01/health/female-hurricanes-deadlier-than-male-hurricanes-trnd/index.html), study says (CNN)

 

----

 

This article was originally published on Deirdre's Medium blog.

Design Justice Reading Circle

“Alexa, play Explosions in the Sky on Spotify.”

“Alexa, what’s the weather now?”

“Alexa, wake me up at 7:30.”

Since getting Amazon Echo Dot, aka Alexa, I talk to her almost daily. Our conversations are usually very simple and task-oriented, because, well, she only knows basic commands and is highly dependent on skills she knows.

However, the fact she is able to execute my asks, as basic as they are, makes her a superior virtual assistant. To be fair, I haven’t had the chance to compare her with other assistants besides Siri, which I now rarely interact with despite owning several Apple products. The reason I avoid Apple’s virtual assistant is that Siri has a hard time understanding me — or, more accurately, my accent.

The reason I avoid Apple’s virtual assistant is because Siri has a hard time understanding me -- or, more accurately, my accent.

![yiying1.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/yiying1_9e4c98add3.png)

#### Recognizing human intention.

Virtual assistants, like many other digital products we use, are a type of machine learning application. Tons and tons of data are fed into such an application to help it see, hear and understand the world. Like how we learn to recognize spoken words, in order for a virtual assistant to recognize speech in a wide range of contexts, it needs to be trained with numerous variations of audio samples in speed, tone, pitch, volume, and pronunciation.

Failing to properly train virtual assistants before shipping will very likely aggravate users — or worse, make them lose trust in speech recognition altogether. This is exactly what happened to me five years ago, when I first encountered Siri on my then-brand new iPhone 4S. Oftentimes, the words Siri detected from my speech were hardly accurate, and I felt almost ashamed of not being understood by Siri.

![yiying2.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/yiying2_a8e8002d22.png)

In this case, understanding every user is the crucial first impression the machine has to make.

#### Evolving as human-machine interaction increases.

To better understand the specific audience a virtual assistant is interacting with, a robust feedback loop needs to be in place to allow it to continue taking in new inputs and evolving as human-machine interaction increases.

Amazon claims that since Alexa, the brain behind Echo, is built in the cloud, it’s always getting smarter. In other words, the more we use Echo, the more it adapts to our speech patterns, vocabulary, and personal preferences.

Though I don’t have concrete evidence that Alexa is adapting to how I speak, I do feel she is getting better at understanding me.

For example, the first time I asked Alexa, “When is sunset?" she didn’t recognize it, and interpreted the sentence as “Why is sunset?"

I guess she was confused about my “h” sound in “When," which in theory, should be silent.

The second time, without changing my pronunciation, I put more emphasis on the word “When." For some reason, she recognized my intention, and gave me a proper response: “Sunset is at 8:19 pm.”

The third time and beyond, even when I followed the same speech pattern as my first attempt, with no word emphasized and a clear “h” in “When,” she got it, and told me the time of sunset.

#### The role of design in machine learning.

Anecdotes like these illuminate the role of user experience design in machine learning. However, without a strong technical background, how do designers approach machine learning?

A few months ago, I worked on a client project that required some understanding of machine learning. During this project, I put a lot of effort into researching high-level machine learning concepts and found myself enjoying the process of learning them.

What got me interested in machine learning is that it reflects something we designers are all so familiar with — the human-centered design (HCD) process. At a high level, machine learning and HCD both go through these three stages: _Define, Ideate, and Implement_.

![yiying3.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/yiying3_a5e918cddb.png)

HCD process VS Machine learning workflow

What struck me about this machine learning workflow is that it reflects something we designers are all so familiar with — the human-centered design (HCD) process.

#### Designing what machines learn.

Anecdotes like these illuminate the role of user experience design in machine learning. However, without a strong technical background, how do designers approach machine learning?

A few months ago, I worked on a client project that required some understanding of machine learning, which was quite challenging for a non-technical person like me.

During this project, I put a lot of effort into researching high-level machine learning concepts and found myself enjoy the process of learning them. Here is a basic workflow of using machine learning to solve a business problem: spam email.

## Machine learning workflow for spam detection

#### Define.

The goal of spam detection is to prevent users from being bombarded or harmed by irrelevant information. To solve this problem, we need a labeled training data set that contains enough samples of spam and non-spam emails.

Once collected, these samples will then be pre-processed and cleaned to ensure data quality.

The next steps are to identify aspects of data and select or create models that are relevant to the problem we are trying to solve. We are looking for features, i.e. data properties, that help determine if an email is spam, such as email title, content, sender, receiver, etc, and use them to train a classification model, such as [Naive Bayes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naive_Bayes_classifier).

#### Ideate.

After training, we will validate the model’s performance and accuracy with the validation set and iterate model selection or creation based on the result.

#### Implement.

Once the model is ready to go, we will deploy it to real-world applications, and start using it to predict and classify new emails. These new emails will then become new data input to the system.

![yiying4.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/yiying4_437043b755.png)

##### Asking the right questions.

In this workflow example we can see that machine learning, just like HCD, starts with asking why we are doing this, who it’s serving for, what the user is trying to do, which contexts matter, what success looks like (Define) and then figuring out how we are going to do this (Ideate), and what we can learn from the real-world uses (Implement).

Not addressing these questions properly, especially for those at the Define stage — where we define what and who machine is learning from, we will end up having biased systems and make some people feel they or their experiences don’t matter.

Are dark skins not normal to cameras? [Shirley cards](https://www.npr.org/2014/11/13/363517842/for-decades-kodak-s-shirley-cards-set-photography-s-skin-tone-standard) — named after the original model, a Caucasian female with a light skin tone and blue eyes — set photography’s skin-tone standard for many years

Is a person with a different accent not the user? [Switchboard](https://www.wired.com/2017/03/voice-is-the-next-big-platform-unless-you-have-an-accent/?gi=6c955e554214#.zcqej5o2l) — a collection of roughly 2,400 telephone conversations that skewed toward a narrow set of American accents — is a benchmark for the models used in numerous voice recognition systems.

The HCD process, when it’s done well, is an inclusive approach to problem solving. By asking and answering these questions, the UX community has helped make the digital world a much more pleasant place to be.

This is why we need to get designers and researchers at the machine learning table, along with other professionals, to design and engineer systems that truly bring value to human’s lives.

## Inclusive machine learning.

As [Kat Holmes](https://twitter.com/katholmes), the Founder of KATA and previous Microsoft’s Principal Director for [Inclusive Design](https://www.microsoft.com/design/inclusive/), puts it like [this](https://www.highresolution.design/13-kat-holmes-microsoft/2017/5/7/13-microsoft-design-director-kat-holmes-on-the-importance-of-designing-for-one-size-fits-one):

>_"Thinking about machine learning, data-driven decision-making, conversational interfaces and artificial intelligence…we need design in those conversations, we need designers in the decisions that are made around all those technologies…machine that’s learning, well, who’s it learning from and who designed it to learn in what way? Do they design it to learn in the way that they learn? Do they process with their own biases into the design and is that AI?"_

With the progress of data collection and algorithms, as well as our awareness of design’s role in machine learning, I’m hopeful that future technologies will be more inclusive, rather than in favor of certain skin tones, accents, abilities, resources, and contexts. And maybe, just maybe this wouldn’t happen to me again:

“Siri, what is machine learning?”

“Here’s what I found on the web for ‘What is mushroom landing.’”

That was a good laugh, though.

 

----

 

_Author's note: Author's note: Special thanks to my co-workers Laura Mattis, Lilian Qian, Mick McGee, Rawan AbuShaban, Wan-Ting Huang, Yalu Ye and Zach Herring for their feedback and support! Also, thank you [Adam Geitgey](https://medium.com/@ageitgey) for writing an awesome series about machine learning — I learned a lot about machine learning from your articles._

Design Inclusive Machine Learning

I’ve been working as a UX researcher in an agency setting for 6+ years now, and in my experience, every project and client is at least a little bit different. Sometimes the client relationship is straightforward, and I develop a quick rapport and feel in sync with the client. Sometimes those relationships are more complex. For me, with respect to client relationships, the role of empathy looms large in client questions or adjustments to the research plan.

I’ve had the (not uncommon) experience where a client asks a question, such as “what if we added a diary study to this project” (the project timeline has already been scoped), or “I’d like to revisit the study goals” (and is requesting a complete revamp the original plan). Especially early on in my career, my stomach would drop, my brain would immediately jump to all the reasons why the suggestion wouldn’t work, and I would have to fight for internal calm to construct a response to the request.

Ultimately, what is happening here is my natural human resistance to change. I have likely spent hours planning and put my heart and soul into my research plan/moderator guide/questions/methodology, and it can feel effortful to adapt my work to the change requests. What I have found (and have heard others’ similar reactions) is that my mind or emotions move to blame the agent of that change, namely the client. (In my head) like, “ugh, why are you trying to make my life hard!? Why are you changing your mind!? Why are YOU doing this to ME??”

In reflection on the early days of my consulting career and my observations of early career UXers, I suspect that some of this resistance to change is also due to our experience level. Earlier in our careers, we are getting used to methodologies, crafting questions, and writing research plans; tasks often take us more time as we haven’t yet built up the repetitions that eventually make that work feel more intuitive. Further, at an agency, we often learn new things on every project, from working with a new set of clients to learning a new industry or product/service type, so again, we have increased cognitive load. And finally, we often work under a pre-scoped contract, so there is a finite amount of time available for the work.

**I sense two clues to empathy in this reflection… empathy can be more difficult to summon when we feel we’re not in control or have a lack of agency; increased cognitive load can also impact our empathy level.**

 

Brian:

>_Lack of agency is a great way to put it. Also, it’s genuinely hard to empathize with someone we don’t feel displays that empathy back towards us! Again, “Why are you doing this to me?!?!?!!?”_

>_There’s probably a simple truth here: the one paying the bill (the client) doesn’t really have to care how their change impacts me. But I also think we generally over-personalize what’s happening, and if we’re courageous enough to engage or even disagree, there is usually a way forward. This reminds me of marital advice to realize “it’s not you against me” but “both of us against the problem.” In consulting, I see a project as an ongoing conversation between me and the client about how best to achieve their results. Requests to change something become a data point about what’s going to make success. I have the right to provide data points, too (such as deadlines or my strategic perspective), and then together, we decide the way forward._

 

I’m going to walk you through a few examples from my career:

### Additional Method Ask

On one of my first projects as a consultant, I was paired with a very senior researcher on our team (shoutout to Dan Delaney). Dan is an unparalleled model consultant that I had the pleasure and privilege to learn from. A self-described “Ad man” in a previous career, he led by example through empathy and active listening as he worked with our client. I remember on an early client call for this project (this was after the project had been scoped and a statement of work signed), the client threw out the idea of adding a diary study into the project. My silent and unseen (pre-Zoom days!) reaction to this request was, “What?! We don’t have time for this! How the heck are you thinking we’re going to do this??”

Meanwhile, Dan responded very calmly, genuinely, and thoughtfully, “Wow, that is a great idea! What are your hopes for that activity? What do you want to learn?” and so on. He continued, staying right “alongside” the client and her thoughts, exploring the idea and potential outcomes. And eventually, he (seemingly effortlessly) steered the conversation and plan back to the original scope of the project.

What I took away from that interaction was the crystal clear example of truly listening to the client. Not jumping immediately to the impact on the scope, but instead, exploring what is underneath the request. Why is the client suggesting a diary study? What are her goals? What is she really interested in learning? How do those goals influence the ultimate outcomes desired of the research as a whole? This way, we can deeply understand the client’s needs and uncover more layers contributing to the project.

### Research Goal Change

This example of my experience comes from this year (so hopefully, you’ll witness an improvement from my previous experience :-) ). I was working with a client to conduct discovery research to support decision-making on their 2022 product strategy. Initially, the client and I decided that the research should be foundationally focused to promote a holistic understanding of their users. We developed a moderator guide and framework for data collection accordingly. A week or so before the user interviews were slated to start, we piloted the study using an internal subject matter expert as a participant. After the session, I debriefed the client. I thought the session went relatively well. The client, however, was very disappointed in the session. In her view, we had only gathered information that the team already knew.

Fortunately, I have learned a lot over my time as a consultant and developed my pathways to calmly address requests and have a conversation. And that is really what it takes. Being able to take a (deep) breath and dig into the request. And this is where empathy comes in.

In this example, through earlier conversations, I understood where the client was coming from. The business was experiencing customer churn (leaving the service), and they needed to more deeply understand the details around specific pain points contributing to churn. The initial plan to be foundationally focused lacked the depth desired to understand where they needed to pivot. So while the change request was relatively significant (I reworked the entire moderator guide and data collection framework to match the refined goals), I also understood the desire for the change and wanted to ensure that I was delivering the correct findings to truly help the team move forward.

I recently learned a phrase from a book on parenting (_Parenting without Power Struggles, Susan Stiffelman_) “How does this behavior make perfect sense?” I think it applies to these types of situations as well. Because as I came to realize (fortunately early in my agency career, thanks to wonderful role models and mentors) that our clients have whole other worlds that they’re dealing with, we often have relatively little visibility into those worlds. But asking that question (or before learning the phrase), asking myself, what could be going on with this person? What is happening on their side that I may not be aware of? That reflection opens up a whole host of possibilities and understanding, and with that comes empathy.

**There is another clue to empathy hidden here as well… empathy can promote understanding, but I also think the reverse is true; sometimes, we need the understanding to promote empathy.** A bit of a chicken and egg dilemma!

The folks we work with are under pressure from their organizations to release a product, drive decision-making, etc., a universe of factors that we will miss without using our research skills. The client’s questions, suggestions, and requests reflect those pressures, combined with a genuine desire to make the research the best it can be to meet their goals. Ultimately that is what we’re trying to accomplish. It is my responsibility as a researcher and a partner in the project to extend every ounce of empathy that I find I can easily extend to users. Understanding their reality better (organization, pressures, goals, etc.) enables me to do my best work. The conversations, active listening, and uncovering reasons behind change requests inform vital shifts to the plan necessary to achieve the best possible research outcomes.

**There is another clue hiding here as well, empathy is hard to summon when you feel on the spot and pressured to make a decision or take action.** I often need to ask for space to take a breath and consider change requests. And then, I can come back to the table with a topped-up tank of empathy and my thoughts in order. It takes courage to ask for what you need, and I still need to remind myself that it is okay to ask for that time.

In the next segment, [Brian](https://www.linkedin.com/in/briansaltshalcomb/) will look at what it means to have empathy as a parent. Not always an easy feat, I can say with surety as a parent of an almost 5-year-old!

If you haven’t already, check out the previous posts in our empathy series.

[Exploring Empathy Part 1: An introduction to the Series](/stories/exploring-empathy-part-1-an-introduction-to-the-series)

[Exploring Empathy Part 2: Empathy for Users](/stories/exploring-empathy-part-2-empathy-for-users)

Exploring Empathy Part 3: Empathy for Clients

In one of my early career stops, I worked with nonprofits to configure a software system that would track their outcomes. Picture your local food bank wanting to count how many meals they served and how far their dollars stretched. My process involved discovery work with the Program Directors, building out and testing the system, and then training the “frontline” workers – like the food bank volunteers – on how to use it.

After a few projects, a pattern began to emerge… can you guess?

 

As elegantly and successfully as I could translate Program Directors’ needs into the system, as excited as those leaders were – implementation generally failed. The food bank volunteer didn’t understand it, or it was too much work, or the data they put in weren’t correct. Often, this resulted in the cash-strapped organization abandoning the tool within a couple years. **The kicker: it also fueled a narrative that those volunteers were to blame. We needed to change these people.** I feel deflated writing this. In so many ways, what a drain on the lifeblood of these organizations!

A lot changed for me when I started beginning projects by hanging out with the food bank volunteers (or similar “users” of the system). Spend a day in a fast-moving food bank, listen to the assistance being provided, and it’s easy to see why data entry might be low in priority. More subtly, it would become clear why slight tweaks to the system or the process actually increased success. And most importantly, wow, were these people amazing! They were running over from their lunch breaks or bringing their children in to try to live out their view of community.

**This is the empathy lightbulb that all of user or human-centered design is built on, right? We build better things when we seek to understand the real people who will use them, and solve for those people.**

As that lightbulb has grown into a profession and discipline for me, I notice similar traits across my colleagues (and I imagine you, the reader). When we have a core belief that we must place the user at the center, it’s fairly easy to have curiosity about them. People are fascinating, and as the subject of our work it becomes natural to deeply understand their experiences. This passion is generally what brings us to work, and it’s mutually reinforcing.

 

Chloe:

>_"For me there is also a sense of kinship with users. Prior to ever knowing anything about UX, I can recall my experience as a Microsoft Word user. Any time I made a mistake: picked the wrong command, did something to lose a file, inability to perfect the formatting etc. I blamed myself! Once I learned about the field of User Experience, I realized that those types of mistakes don’t rest solely on my shoulders (as a user), there is an aspect of the design that could be changed to better suit my needs and give me an improved experience. I think this past experience is in my unconscious mind as I research users."_

 

**So, empathy for users from first glance feels pretty easy. It’s the core of our UX work, and we all know what it’s like to be a user ourselves. But, not so fast…**

 

#### Empathy Depletion

While it’s generally easy, I do recall scenarios where I simply could not muster empathy for the users I worked with.

One situation that comes to mind is a multi-year research project where the product was closely connected with the user’s worldview and belief system, and where (generally) that worldview differed from my own. In the beginning, all of what we have discussed was true: it was easy to be curious, I could get excited about what I was learning could improve the product, and I could relate to some of their perspectives. But over time, “living” in another’s worldview and needing to maintain my objectivity grew tiring. I felt exhausted trying to enter their world each day and give it the attention it deserved.

Similarly, I have had days or weeks where my research pace was simply too fast. The sharp listening at 8:00am faded into going through the motions by the last interview of the day. Empathy fades into “let’s get this over with.”

Both of these scenarios call for better boundaries. There is such a thing as being on a project for too long or scheduling too many interviews in a day.

**I imagine boundaries will show up again in this series. For those in the empathy business, how do we monitor what’s left in our “bank”, and meter out that limited resource?**

### Over-Identifying

Another secret to UX Research is that while it’s one part the “soft skill” of empathy, it’s equally about logic and strategy, and there can be conflict in those two. For many researchers as they begin, it can be hard to know how to listen empathically, AND:

 

- Steer a user away from topics that don’t matter to the research
- Not reciprocate their vulnerability by sharing about your own life
- Protect against over-indexing on any one user or one comment
- Interpret when what the user says they want isn’t really what would be helpful

All of these tactics are vital to providing reliable insights, and yet perhaps a bit paradoxical with what we generally mean when we say empathy. It reminds me of a saying we had in another past job, when I was a hospital chaplain. We would talk about needing to have “one foot in the room and one foot out of the room.” As we entered with empathy for the patient’s life circumstances, we needed to protect ourselves from getting too wrapped up in them, and thus forgetting our role (and ironically, losing our very ability to provide support). I think that insight fits pretty well for how I experience empathy with users.

**I wonder if that carries? Empathy for users, for clients, for ourselves – is it always about one foot in and one foot out?** 

What a rewarding profession. We spend our days exploring fascinating humanity and providing a level of attention to people’s experiences, attention we wish every device or service (looking at you, Department of Motor Vehicles) paid to us. Yet, it’s not always that simple.

Stay tuned next month as Chloe continues the exploration with a focus on client empathy.

[Brian Salts-Halcomb](https://www.linkedin.com/in/briansaltshalcomb/)

[Chloe Markley](https://www.linkedin.com/in/chloewsmarkley/)

Exploring Empathy Part 2: Empathy for users

One of my goals for the year was to take space and time to reflect. I’m happy to say that I’ve been able to successfully work on that goal! Recently, I have been reflecting on empathy. It is one of our company values at EchoUser, and it’s not hard to make the connection as to why. Empathy is core to UX and is often discussed. I have been reflecting on how EchoUser has explicitly framed our Empathy value statement and what it encompasses:

>**_Empathy_**
>
>**Our core essence. Act with integrity, respect, and self-awareness. Have this for our clients, our work, each other, and ourselves.**

 

We had a virtual offsite last month where we engaged in several team activities based on our values. Mick, our founder and Vice President, talked about empathy, and especially the aspect of having empathy for our clients. It got me thinking.

There are situations when empathy feels easy to me and other situations when empathy is harder or doesn’t come as naturally. I wondered, in my own career and life, what’s the difference, and why is this the case? I also realized that I’ve grown my capacity for empathy over time in my career. Currently, I have also been doing a lot of personal work in the area of empathy and vulnerability. Something significant is beginning to shift within me as a part of this personal work, and I decided to write a blog post about my musings on empathy. But then my colleague Brian convinced me that there was enough here to expand into a series (thanks for the creative push, Brian!). So that’s what we’ve done. In the next few posts, Brian and I will be sharing our thoughts on empathy from the following perspectives:

- Empathy for Users
- Empathy for Clients
- Empathy for Kids (as parents)
- Empathy for Oneself

 

We hope you enjoy the ride and that perhaps our musings encourage you to reflect on how empathy shows up for you in your life. Where is it easy, and where is it hard for you?

Stay tuned for the next installment in our series, Empathy for Users, coming next week.

[Chloe Markley](https://www.linkedin.com/in/chloewsmarkley/)

Exploring Empathy Part 1: An introduction to the series

Four months into my Peace Corps service in Uganda, my boss stopped coming to work during regular business hours. He would often arrive at 11 a.m., and leave for lunch around 2 p.m. I was puzzled. What kept him at home until the late morning? And why was he leaving so early in the afternoon? I knew time was a much more fluid concept in Uganda than it was in America. If I invited my colleagues to meet at 10 a.m., they might arrive around 11, 11:30, or sometime later that day. However, every Ugandan I knew got up when the sun rose. Many people worked in their fields before they left for their office between 8:30-10 a.m. As an outsider, I really wanted his guidance so that I could feel more productive and make sure I was working on things important to my Ugandan colleagues and not just important to me. 

Around 8:45 am, I’d use my own key and let myself into our empty office. I’d greet and visit government health care workers in the clinic next door, practice the language spoken in my town, Luganda, and learn about the challenges of immunizing children who live far from a clinic and chat about upcoming weddings, funerals, and births. 

During Peace Corps, children affectionately referred to me as muzungu, which means white person or foreigner in Luganda. I often wanted to be invisible because I looked so different AND because I so desperately wanted to fit in. Ugandans frequently stopped whatever they were doing to stare at me, or if I was standing near someone, I would suddenly find kids stroking my hair. Uganda has over 50 different cultural tribes and consequently a variety of norms. As Ugandans in my town were typically non-confrontational, I tried to follow their lead. This wasn’t easy for a New Jersey-born American with Brooklyn roots. It meant that I kept my thoughts about my boss’s recent behavior to myself.

I texted a good friend to share my frustrations with her. I couldn’t wait to vent. It was only after I clicked “send” that I realized that I accidentally sent the message to my boss. Immediately, I felt fear and worry. However, the mistake forced me to find out what was really going on with my boss. I called him and asked if there was a reason why he arrived late and left the office early. It turned out that he hadn’t been paid for the past five months. Unfortunately, all Red Cross employees weren’t being paid because of a cash flow problem at their head office. The longer I stayed in Uganda, the more I learned that delayed paychecks were a pretty common occurrence. I felt terrible about what had happened.

Almost 20 years after serving in the Peace Corps, this story has a few invaluable lessons that I regularly apply to UX research. It’s an important reminder to identify my assumptions and ensure that I’m testing them rather than assuming that they’re fact. I aim to assume positive intent, and focus on being curious. We, as researchers, never really know what’s going on with our colleagues, the people we’re interviewing, and other stakeholders. This experience also highlighted my need to learn the cultural context of where I’m working - whether I’m in another country with cultural norms different from my upbringing or a company that has its own set of cultural mores. Living in Uganda, I knew that I’d never fully understand the culture or be aware of all of the intricacies of what is and isn’t appropriate. But by recognizing this, and prefacing my intent by saying something like, “Please let me know if this is not something appropriate to ask...” or by asking a trusted Ugandan advisor how he or she would handle a certain situation, I think that I had a better chance of not offending anyone. I also learned to push myself to have more challenging conversations. I try to balance having an awkward conversation with considering the culture of where I’m working. Lastly, I think this and other similar experiences in Uganda taught me that I don’t have to constantly be doing something. Spending time learning about people, their struggles, and their joy, and listening was and continues to be the most important part of my UX work. I feel incredibly grateful that I had a chance to make and learn from my mistakes, and incorporate these lessons into my current day-to-day work as a UX Researcher. 


How I Learned Not to Make Assumptions and Have Awkward Conversations

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As a graphic designer, I used a sketchbook to take notes, make small sketches and conduct calculations. These annotated diagrams were always intended to organize myself, not to be artful layouts or page spreads. I never included those sketches in my portfolio because my book was always focused on final, production-ready products.

#### Making it pretty (fast).

After shifting from graphic design towards design strategy in grad school, I now find myself in the SF UX/tech industry dealing with similar challenges again. I’m shocked by the intense focus on making high-fidelity, pixel-perfect designs as early in the process as possible, often facilitated by UX prototyping tools, like InVision below.

![invision-prototyping.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/invision_prototyping_a989da6ae3.png)

While learning the user-centered design process, I came into the habit of whiteboard sketching, using post-its for more than notes, making paper models and acting out scenarios. I learned from my colleagues and adapted designs collaboratively, on-the-fly. We created artifacts that sometimes had little to do with the final designs, but kept our design process moving forward.

[There's no definitive data to prove low-fidelity works better](https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/39693/low-fidelty-vs-high-fidelity-do-they-elicit-different-types-of-reactions), but there are a lot of reasons to put it to use.

#### Fidelity what?

Since UX is famous for confusing terminology, let’s define fidelity here. Fidelity is the volume and granularity of detail in design elements. So, low-fidelity designs are “rough cuts” of design ideas that contain little of the actual content, using placeholders and blocks to indicate content areas instead. On the other end of the spectrum, high-fidelity designs include actual content, a clear typographical hierarchy, images and icons in the correct position and, sometimes (though I see it more and more), visual design elements such as colors, typefaces and artwork.

Thanks to the new high-fidelity world where everything seems to be rendered in visual design, we have a tendency to describe our artifacts with phrases like sketches and prototypes, using them interchangeably. But in a classic sense, sketches and prototypes are different beasts and are used differently in phases of a project.

![sketch-v-prototype.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/sketch_v_prototype_6ef50c25fe.jpg)

The crux determining the fidelity of a design artifact is it’s purpose — not if it’s done on paper or on the computer. The volume of detail depends on what you need to learn. With a few bits of paper and markers, a small group could simulate the user experience of a genetics-based dating app (which one group of EchoUsers did at our bi-yearly offsite, seen below). With some roleplay and hand-drawn artifacts, it’s possible to determine if the idea would resonate with users, if the process too long, what the service journey looks like, what channels work best, how many elements would need to be developed, and even how you’ll make money.

![echouser-prototyping.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/echouser_prototyping_362abd2855.jpg)

#### Why it's worth making ugly things

“Fancy” prototyping tools afford us the ability to design in high-fidelity quickly and early on in the project, but there is some value to making low-fidelity ugly artifacts.

![links_prototype_2013 (1).jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/links_prototype_2013_1_07ca7062a6.jpg)

#### You can make new screens fast and cheap!

Stacks of post-its stuck on a smart band (like the photo above) can be tested in real time, in the real world. And, if you need a new screen or the user wants to see it done differently, it’s just takes a couple minutes and a pen to make one. If you had to do that same work in InVision or Sketch, it will take more time and effort to get that feedback.

![sketch-wireframes.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/sketch_wireframes_1bc93bb1df.jpg)

#### You can share sooner and focus critique on what you need to know now.

Low-fidelity designs really shine when you share what you’re working on. Without socializing the ideas, you could end up making a lot of assumptions in your high-fidelity Sketch designs. You would spend precious design time debating between the inclusion of the Facebook social graph or asking for email addresses before you’ve gotten critical feedback, which might reveal a user’s friends don’t actually give a crap.

In recent projects, I’ve noticed that early concepts rendered in a “shiny” glory look like final ideas. I personally struggle to provide good critique because it’s much easier to focus on easy stuff (like “fix this type weight”) than to tell a colleague, “I’m not sure I believe your concept.”

#### You can more easily involve your users and non-design teammates.

By starting in low-fidelity, the design process is more accessible. Involving non-design teammates and users in early design reviews allows you to learn how the product fits into their lives.

Users looking at high-fidelity concepts will be more likely to judge it like any other product on the market: do I love it or hate it? Users won’t necessarily see it as something they can mold into what they need or want– even if the design could be changed.

Designers will always finish projects in high-fidelity to bring an idea to life. But, I think we’re mistreating a critical part of the design journey by hiding low-fidelity work like a dirty, little secret. If you haven’t tried these types of low-fidelity sketches and prototypes, you could be missing important reality checks needed for your idea to succeed. And, if you keep low-fidelity work only to yourself, your clients will continue to misunderstand your process and your users won’t be given the space to help you.


Why Go Lo-Fi?

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What is EchoUser’s North Star? Do our day-to-day actions align with our North Star? We wrestle with these questions periodically and the answers don’t always stay the same. We exist in a dynamic environment and continue to evolve as individuals, adding to the challenge and importance of answering these questions effectively. To ensure we do, we need mechanisms that allow us to self-reflect and adjust.

For us, company-wide offsites provide an effective way to do this. At a high level, our offsites strive to align the company’s vision and the team. We hold two offsites per year using a tick-tock approach where one offsite (tick) communicates the company’s vision to the team and the second offsite (tock) draws input about the vision from our individual team members. We just held the “tock” version of our offsite which was also our first-ever virtual offsite. The theme was “**sharpening**.” 

Today, our mission, “**a more perfect experience for ourselves and our partners**,” reflects a company that knows itself and what it’s good at. We know that the personal relationship we build with clients is our strength. We wanted to lean into this and elevate it, hence the “sharpening” theme for this offsite, which we applied specifically to the ways we interact, collaborate, and partner with our clients.

To prepare for the offsite, our team read and discussed the book, “The Power of Moments -  Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact,” by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. The book illustrates why certain moments in our lives are particularly memorable which inspired us to think about where in our process and client interactions we could create elevated moments like these. This connected directly to the offsite activities which included re-imagining our clients as persona mandalas, defining our client journeys, and then brainstorming opportunities to create elevated moments for each persona and journey.

![GoToMeeting-003-1-768x425.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Go_To_Meeting_003_1_768x425_dcccf2b321.png)

We’re always looking for ways to improve our client experience, but these exercises helped us drill down to a more specific level of context and come up with ideas that were both realistic and potential difference makers. I was excited to see how every individual on our team has truly internalized our mission and believes in elevating our client-partner relationships.

Going forward, we’ll be implementing some ideas immediately and diving deeper into the others. I look forward to seeing how they improve clients’ experiences.  More importantly, we’ll continue to come together as a team to self-reflect, evolve and move towards our ever-changing North Star.  


Offsites - a way to rethink and renew

Healthcare innovation has never been more important than it is today. COVID-19 has brought this center stage globally. In addition to devastating daily statistics, the global pandemic has brought with it human stories and connections that have sustained us through this difficult and uncertain time. It’s also led to some of the most rapid changes in [delivering virtual healthcare](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/29/the-promise-and-the-peril-of-virtual-health-care) than we’ve ever seen before

Here at EchoUser, the healthcare space has been a consistent thread in our projects throughout our history. We have a longstanding partnership with Akili Interactive and recently supported the design of the first-and-only prescription treatment delivered through a video game. We helped Varian Medical Systems, a company on the cutting edge of cancer treatment, define an FDA compliant usability testing process for their products. Recently, we partnered with a team from iRhythm, a heart monitoring device maker to inform the onboarding experience for patients and healthcare professionals. And for the last three years, we’ve proudly served the American public in our work with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. 

We love working in the healthcare space not only because it is such a mission-rich area; we love it because it is the epitome of “Any Experience”, the frame we use when talking about the kind of problems we solve for. In the pandemic environment, you might say that we are collectively redesigning every experience. How we access and receive medical care and treatment is one of these things. 

As we’ve been talking about this as a team, we couldn't help but reflect on a visit we took last fall to an organization that - pandemic or not - is at the center of redesigning healthcare: Kaiser Permanente’s Garfield Innovation Center in San Leandro, Calif.

Kaiser is a behemoth in the field with 39 hospitals and 690 medical facilities in 8 states and the District of Columbia. What makes Kaiser stand out to us isn’t just that it has a dedicated center for design and innovation. Many organizations have “labs” that don’t necessarily lead to breakthroughs. For example, what Kaiser is doing - creating futures that integrate autonomous vehicles and telehealth, and solving life and cost-saving problems like hospital falls at their root are exemplars of an organization putting humans at the center, not just in today’s reality but in the one we’re all heading into.

You can [learn more about Kaiser’s innovation efforts here](https://garfieldcenter.kaiserpermanente.org/). But before you do, we hope you’ll hear what our team took away from the visit. If you work in healthcare innovation, we’d love to hear how you are using human-centered research and design in your efforts. (And how we can help you!)

**KATE’S HOT TAKE**

There were many interesting and inspiring parts of our tour of the Innovation Center, but one that stood out to me was a video depicting a common scenario as it could play out in the future. The video follows an elderly couple as the husband deals with a sudden heart episode, envisioned entirely with future technology that Kaiser Permanente _could_ develop. Through touchpoints with remote heart monitoring, autonomous vehicles, and consultations with doctors over video calls, we watch as the couple deals with the medical situation and navigates difficult decisions. 

More than the solutions depicted in the video, I kept thinking about the creativity of the video itself as a research or design artifact. Our guide explained that the video had been shown to hundreds of stakeholders within Kaiser Permanente to facilitate conversations about everything from patient privacy to the ethics of remote doctor consultations. It had even sparked the creation of practitioner best practices and corporate guidelines for how this technology should be used going forward. The video served as the central material around which patients, practitioners, and KP executives discussed the future of healthcare. 

I was inspired to think about how we can provide a similar experience to our clients. What can we deliver to incite human-centered, empathic conversations among stakeholders and their larger organization? It’s design collateral like this video that can live on for years and inspire thinking far beyond the vision it presents. 

![IMG_3879-1024x768.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/IMG_3879_1024x768_253661b216.jpg)

**YIFEI’S HOT TAKE**

The visit opened my eyes to how Kaiser experiments with cutting edge technology like VR/AR, voice assistants, and electric fence, to run conceptual design, while at the same time, strikes a balance between delivering great patient experience and being cautious about data security. For example, when doctors have bad news for their patients, Kaise team debated whether it is appropriate to deliver the bad news in the fastest way possible, even if it is not in person, and how to address the emotional reactions if using the advanced technology. 

Some design interventions are not entirely technology-focused. Really simple solutions like the hand bar that goes directly from the bed to the bathroom makes a big difference to the overall experience. A button with that patients can order food from their beds increases their happiness and reduces the customer service friction. Any design detail that treats patients like humans is a true human-centered design. 

Kaiser embraces the IDEO concept of designing for the extremes (_referring to IDEO article_). The experiences of people like single mothers with kids and disabled patients in wheelchairs should be considered more important than the easy majority in the middle. When it comes to healthcare services, it is not a numbers game that influences decisions. Everyone counts and should be considered in the design process.

![IMG_4516-1024x768.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/IMG_4516_1024x768_e1b51102a1.jpg)

**MARY’S HOT TAKE**

At the Garfield Center, I was struck by the complexity of the system, the multitude of people they are designing with and for, and how all the complexity and research surfaces in small, unassuming details impacting patient health (and Kaiser’s business). For Kaiser, the users are not just patients and families; there are also clinical and non-clinical staff with a variety of needs, goals and motivations. There is also the broader community of government and commercial partners that impact how Kaiser works. A singular user of the system will interact with so many touchpoints and each touchpoint contributes to the ultimate healthcare experience. It was exciting to see how Kaiser is tackling the complexity of the system through robust testing, prototyping and story-telling.

After visiting the Garfield Center, I had a series of interactions with my local Kaiser hospital. I was excited for my routine exam to see what I knew Kaiser had innovated: Fancy custom headboards? Wraparound railings? Private vital readings? Self-check-in? My local Kaiser, alas, is not the cutting edge San Diego facility. I had my vitals taken in the hallway, sitting across from another patient. When it was time to get my blood drawn, I had to pull a ticket with a number and wait for my number to be called. I watched folks struggle with the ticketing device, and it was unclear how long the wait may be. That said, I was still glow-y from the tour. Even though I didn’t encounter all the trappings of the Kaiser of the Future, I know that Kaiser is thinking about how to best serve patients and staff. My experience is woven into a fabric of stories and data that will inform the next key decisions to improve things at their Oakland hospital.

![IMG_2742-881x1024.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/IMG_2742_881x1024_0978e88de9.jpg)

**VIDHI’S HOT TAKE**

One of the things that stood out was how they had tailored their design process to be more comprehensive yet nimble. Methods like hands-on prototyping to pressure test patient exam rooms for edge users and building speculative video artifacts to compel a room full of people to have hard conversations. 

The other aspect that resonated with me was how systemic their view of healthcare is. They not only modeled patient rooms, waiting rooms and exam rooms but also home of patients. From solutions for the smallest patient discomforts to big cost-saving decisions were all integral to their human-centered innovation process. 

Our visit to the KP Garfield center left an impression most of all because we were witnessing all design disciplines coming together for genuine innovation; innovation that keeps business in mind while keeping users at the center of it. Healthcare has been and is now more so a  fertile ground for opportunities because there is a lot to do and a lot at stake. The visit was a great exposure to how design and innovation now lives at the center of big healthcare institutions and not only supports but drives it.

![IMG_3685-1024x850.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/IMG_3685_1024x850_914eb1674b.jpg)


Healthcare innovation has never been more important

The choice to move to the Bay Area to live with my partner eventually pushed me out of my comfort zone.

I have a background in political science, international relations, and modern Turkey studies, I came to the US for a sociology doctoral program, earned a master’s degree in sociology and found myself stuck at a level that academics call “all-but-dissertation”.  

So when I decided to move to the Bay Area from New York and looked for non-academic jobs, the question 'where could I fit in as someone passionate about researching the conditions of human life' led me to a domain I had never heard of: user experience. When I discovered ‘user experience’ or ‘UX’, I was struck by the prevalent need for UX professionals in the Bay Area, the objectives of the UX domain and the skills it required. These objectives and skills surprisingly aligned with what I had been trying to develop as a scholar.  So could I, as a social science researcher, actually be useful in this engineer-developer-VC haven?   

By May 2019, I started working as a full-time UX practitioner at a boutique UX design and research company - EchoUser. After a year-long, steep learning curve, I have come to learn and borrow from both worlds of research. I haven’t yet found the perfect recipe for those who are disillusioned by the prospects of their current domain, and ready to channel their analytical, organizational, interpersonal skills into _improving our interaction with everyday things; i.e., UX_. Nevertheless, I hope you can benefit from my experience of having straddled both worlds. 

 

**UX as a discipline to elevate human’s place in design** 

At the core of my learning was my _comprehension of UX as a developing and interdisciplinary field_ that builds upon Human-Computer Interaction, Human Factors, Visual Design, Behavioral Psychology and other disciplines. As someone coming from an interdisciplinary background of social sciences and humanities,  and invested significant time towards understanding intricacies of many things social,  I came to appreciate the world of systemic efforts that seek to explain how _ordinary_ things work, and the expertise behind it. So the introduction to the UX field made me realize the accumulated efforts devoted to developing a vocabulary for every interface element and user interaction, and the established principles that guide these interfaces and interactions. 

What stood out to me in this discovery was the importance of the _human_ experience in the world of technology that I presumed prioritized economic capital, was obsessed with more powerful machines and only welcomed people with high computing skills. The embracement of human experience in designing our interactions with the world blew (some) soul into what I used to see as a mechanical system of cogs and wheels. 

 

**Research as means vs. research as the end**

For the first time in my life, I was conducting research for products that people interacted with daily to do their work. The research had tangible contexts and direct impact. This was categorically different from having previously researched big societal questions that mostly had _elusive_ contexts and _intangible_ effects: for example -  understanding the impact of Westernization policies over the social knowledge space of a Middle Eastern country.

Many processes in academia are built on the premise that one should take the necessary time to make a study and its report _near_ perfect. In UX, there are science-resembling practices that apply to data collection and analysis. However, the ultimate objective of the study is to inform the next steps for the design of the product as efficiently and as effectively as possible. This realization made me reconsider the importance I attributed to rigor and comprehensiveness and pay more attention to practicality, clarity, and conciseness. 

 

**Storytelling for guidance vs. reporting results**

My third learning is related to the effectiveness of reporting research results. I soon came to realize that as UX _consultants_, we carry the responsibility to understand and tailor research output to deliver the most value for stakeholders. We are responsible for effectively and creatively communicating the findings to help prioritize the product team’s next steps. This requires devoting time towards _storytelling_ to communicate and immerse stakeholders in the insights to compel action.

In UX consultancy, the deliverables _facilitate decision making_ for the audience but do not _require_ to thoroughly engage with the study findings or to immerse themselves into the entire context of the research endeavor.  In fact, it is less effective if the report can’t communicate striking and easy to digest messages since decision-makers choose to outsource research studies they don’t have time and resources for, and they need to make quick progress. This is why storytelling takes precedence over detail and rigor in UX research - a practice that social scientists and humanities scholars could perhaps partially embrace, too! 

Social science and humanities scholarship is consumed by a more homogeneous audience: researchers that engage with others’ research to elevate the practices of the domain and to incorporate findings to their research. Thus urgency and practicality do not rank high on the to-do list, and scholars can load more responsibility to their audience to interpret their research or how to make use of it.

 

**Exchange among all researchers is possible**

My transition from scholarly research to UX consultancy has required a great deal of adaptation and _re_-professionalization. As much as the distinction between academic and industry research is well-established, I think practitioners of human-centered research can find lessons in each other’s approaches. 

Even though UX practitioners conduct research for business needs (and therefore bound by business agreements), they can use the opportunities to learn about the underlying interdisciplinary field and contribute to the _accumulation and publicization_ of UX knowledge if they can afford not getting swayed by the pace of product development cycles or transience of business engagements. 

If UX research can survive beyond the immediate consumption of product teams and be publicized more; the siloed and highly contextualized insights can also contribute towards the efforts of producing domain _knowledge_. Besides, openness can increase the rigor and accountability for UX researchers while also making it easier to understand and appreciate the domain for outsiders.  The idea here is not to create another blog post about best practices in UX but to create opportunities for _deepening_ (i.e. a repository of industry UX studies, where studies can talk to each other), as well as opportunities for widening (i.e. studies of different domains talking to each other). I was pleasantly surprised at the recent UXRConf 2020, to see a balance between disclosing deeper research contexts and professional learnings, to the general audience, in a palatable way. At a humble and minor scale, at EchoUser we make an effort to provide access to our projects by documenting our projects as [case studies](/cases). 

On the other hand, scholarly researchers, especially those in social sciences and humanities, can draw inspiration from UX collaborative work environments with (usually) rapid cycles of project completion, and how that translates into efficient and effective output. 

Social science and humanities programs devote years to teaching domains of knowledge and knowledge production techniques, however, they lack the initiatives to help students work on iterative, fast-paced, and collaborative projects (something beyond standard course “papers”) to enable _mastery_ of research by _repetition_. The objective of many social science and humanities programs is to produce domain experts with dissertations while expecting graduate students to be _project founders_, but programs do not care so much to help sharpen non-scholarly applications of research skills. Programs should offer students _exposure to the other worlds of human research_ to prepare them to take on any research problem thrown at them, and inform them of exit strategies, should they be challenged as project founders or as job-seekers in the academic or nonprofit world.

From academia to UX: learnings from a probable journey

As we all went into our homes to Shelter-in-Place, I started leading the latest professional development (PD) series for our team titled “Research Basics: Note-taking through Analysis (and beyond)”. Unlike other professional development cycles that catered to a specific method of design or research, this one was explicitly a “crossover PD” designed for both researchers and designers. Additionally, this PD cycle was less about acquiring new skills and was more focused on building personal awareness through practice and building collective knowledge through discussion. Below I will lay out why “the basics” are a good place to dig deeper, and how to use professional development as an opportunity for team collaboration and engagement. 

#### WHY FOCUS ON THE BASICS?

At EchoUser, we define the “research basics” as the skills that are independent of a specific research method. It is valuable to invest time and energy on the basics because they are employed in every project. Learning a specific research method is valuable, but it’s harder to practice a specific method repeatedly or consistently in an agency setting. One project may require contextual inquiry, another may need interviews, and the next project requires usability testing. “Basic” research skills, like note-taking, moderating and analyzing data are almost always used. Choosing a “basic” skill to dissect, practice and improve will be useful across projects and ultimately impact our ability to understand our clients’ users and deliver impactful results. The basics are the bedrock of any particular method - expertise in a method rarely comes without solid execution of the fundamentals. 

EchoUser’s researchers and designers have diverse backgrounds; everyone has a personal style with strengths and weaknesses to their approach. My goal was for everyone to become more aware of how they, and their colleagues, work. Although we are highly collaborative, enjoy bouncing ideas off each other and look for feedback, we lead client work individually. I wanted this professional development to allow us to work together and see each other in action. 

#### HOW TO LEARN TOGETHER?

When planning this PD, I wanted to: (1) help individual members of the team reflect on their process, (2) share with the team, and, (3) build collective understanding and vocabulary. By increasing understanding within the team, I hope to (re)set the standard. 

![small-group-discussion-instructions.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/small_group_discussion_instructions_a40c8039fd.jpg)

_Discussions build shared understanding_

Given that we were talking about “basics”, everyone has some level of experience. I wanted most of the learning to come from each other. Although I was the “leader”, my role was much more “moderator” during sessions. I decided to not be an authority, but a colleague who also wanted to learn and share my experience. A majority of the time was devoted to discussions. There were slides during the discussions that were meant to be filled out collectively. Adding our discussions to the slides built an artifact that reflected and documented our collective knowledge and discussion. 

![4-different-analyses.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/4_different_analyses_8990e218eb.jpg)

_Differences fuel discourse_

For every session, there were readings and an assignment related to the session topic. The assignments were intentionally vague so that people could do what was comfortable or normal for them. The variation in deliverables helped spark inquiry and discussion.

Prior to the sessions,  I would think about who I wanted to pair together for discussion or ask to share with the whole group. Typical prompts for small group discussions of the work were: (1) What was your process? (2) What is the same or different? Seeing and learning the variation in our approaches allowed us to dig deeper during conversation. It helped us question our own assumptions and habits. There was a richness in the discussion when team members would reflect back on past experiences and think about wins or missed opportunities. We were unlearning as much as we were learning.   

![schedule-of-sessions.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/schedule_of_sessions_d09faee930.jpg)

_Planning and follow-up pays dividends_

Practically, to ensure people came to PD, there were calendar holds for all six sessions before we began. I wanted to make sure that this time was prioritized and blocked off. It is not an insignificant amount of time—each session was 2 hours long—and active participation was essential to its success. In terms of assignments, I tried to set my colleagues up for success in two ways: first, in planning, I tried to keep the pre-work short (30-60 minutes per session), and, second, after sessions, I followed up to make sure the assignments were completed on time. 

After every session, I followed up with the session recording and an explanation of the homework. I made the homework due the evening before a session and would send personal reminders if I hadn’t received the assignment. Making the homework due before the sessions made it so I could quickly review them to make sure that I was covering the right content and had the right questions for discussion. Additionally, I was able to consolidate the assignments and make them easy to share with the team. My planning and follow-up around the pre-work underscored the importance, increased accountability, and allowed us to dig deeper during sessions. 

After the last session, we will ask for more formal feedback from the team to continue to improve our professional development offerings. As the leader, however, I have a few metrics of success that are being met. So far, we have had near-perfect attendance for the duration of every session, and near-perfect submission rate for assignments. More importantly, we have been able to actively learn about each other’s processes and already apply fresh perspectives to our work.

Although we didn’t know that we would all be sequestered in our homes when I started planning the PD, it became a great way to be connected during this time. I have enjoyed spending time with my colleagues nerd-ing out on the nitty-gritty of research.


Recognizing Craft

Are you more extroverted or introverted? How does that help you as a User Experience consultant? What would you rather be? 

As a concept, extroversion, and introversion were [popularized in 1921 by psychoanalyst Carl Jung](https://qz.com/work/1476735/why-introverts-are-better-at-networking#:~:text=), who theorized that “each person seems to be energized more by either the external world (extraversion) or the internal world (introversion).” Jung considered the traits to be mutually exclusive – while no one is completely one or the other, we all prominently lean towards one. 

It’s an interesting notion to consider in the context of UX – on the one hand, that “U[ser]” in our job title means we interact with the external world constantly: we interview people, we [ride-along](https://mark43.com/resources/blog/the-unexpected-things-i-learned-on-a-ride-along/), we host workshops and seek feedback. On the other hand, however, UX can be a solitary profession. We need time to synthesize and process results, we need space to expand our thinking, we need time to [build models](https://indiyoung.com/).

To me, the dichotomy of the job is at once a source of excitement and anxiety. My first two projects at EchoUser fluctuated wildly between times of intense, external stimulation and solitary, internal focus. The experience led me to start examining my own process – how could I learn to better step up and embrace those moments in the spotlight? How could I “turn on” the inner introvert, when I need to synthesize research?

>How could I learn to better step up and embrace those moments in the spotlight? How could I “turn on” the inner introvert, when I need to synthesize research?

So I raised the question to the greater EchoUser team and asked for tips and tricks on how our Designers and Researchers leverage their own natural tendencies – and sometimes step outside of that – in their work. 

What resulted was a discussion that slowly took the form of a framework to apply in our work, not only on how to keep ourselves energized and confident but also to help us push the boundaries of our own process. 

The framework breaks down into three tenets: assess the project, understand your process, and prepare to interact. 

#### Assess the project

Understanding the many layers of the project onion is a crucial first step of integrating into a project. In the beginning, whether you identify as extroverted or introverted is beside the point, as you need to first assess who you are working with, and how they operate. There are three things, in particular, to consider: 

1. **Communication**: How does your client communicate? Do people at the office prefer Slack to meetings? How formal is the dialogue among stakeholders? 

1. **Power dynamics and organizational structure**: How are decisions made and issues resolved? Are there existing power dynamics or political motivations for the project?

1. **Workflow and project execution**: Is there a natural rhythm to the project or the client’s workflow? How are progress updates presented and discussed? 

Recognizing and peeling apart these layers of a project situation lays a crucial foundation on top of which the UX consultant can craft their own . 

#### Understand your process

No matter how you work, owning, and communicating your process makes it easier for others to work with you. This isn’t just about how you think, but also how you work. Extroverts and introverts are different – introverts seek stimulus from within, often having lively internal debates, whereas extroverts often process externally, even aloud. While one EchoUser coworker spoke fondly of a manager who “thought aloud” as part of her thinking process, another revered a supervisor who rarely spoke in meetings, but commanded the attention of the room when they did. Another colleague Considering these differences, here are some things to consider:

- **No one will judge you** if you communicate your logic and reasoning for doing something your way. 

- **Don’t over-promise or over-talk details**; when you’re not sure of something, communicate that and make a show of taking a note. Introverts are naturally geared to think deeply and debate – harness that power.

#### Prepare to interact

Now that you know what kind of project you’re walking into, and how you like to work, it’s time to prepare. At EchoUser, we look for every opportunity to leverage tools and experiences of others – be that a finely detailed project plan that outlines the project strategy (so the introverted consultant doesn’t have to), or a workshop warmup technique that the extroverted designer can use to ignite a kickoff meeting. In particular, the following areas of focus can help a consultant prepare:

1. **Inclusive ideating**: Creating opportunities for all stakeholders to engage in their own way leads to more, better ideas. A great way to do this in meetings and workshops is by sequencing individual working sessions before group share outs. This encourages both introverts and extroverts to participate and share. 

1. **Active listening**: EchoUser consultants are sometimes alone on projects, meaning one person has to facilitate, take notes, and document the discovery process. It’s a lot to handle, which makes it all the more important to prepare in a way that gives you bandwidth and attention to listen in the moment. It’s important to also realize that clients can be extroverted too, and may need to talk aloud to work through a thought. 

1. **Mental model**: Have a workflow in mind before you start interacting with clients. Having a model for how things are supposed to go (and results you expect to get) will give the introvert confidence and the extrovert room to improvise in the moment, whether that means testing workshop activities beforehand, having a particular aspect of the design in mind when gathering feedback, or having a colleague set up the interview session logistics remotely. 

So is an extroverted personality more beneficial to a UX consultant, or an introverted one?

At least for the EchoUser staff, it didn’t seem to matter. Introversion/extroversion is a spectrum, not a bucket you stand in. The role of a consultant is fluid – every project requires new and innovative approaches – and the UXer that can assess the project, examine their own process, and prepare accordingly, will thrive.


Introversion & extroversion in UX consulting

At EchoUser, we pride ourselves on staying curious and constantly honing our craft. That’s why we launched a new professional development initiative at the beginning of this year, to continue learning new skills by sharing our expertise with each other. Deirdre Hirschtritt and I kicked off the series by tackling a favorite and feared method among researchers: [Contextual Inquiry](https://www.usabilitybok.org/contextual-inquiry).

It was good timing because we had a number of generative research projects in the pipeline for clients spanning from enterprise software to public services. We wanted this to be more than just a refresher on the textbook basics of Contextual Inquiry; we wanted our coworkers to come away with some hands-on experience and ideas about how the method could fit into projects they are working on now.

#### Pros and Cons for Industry Applications

Deirdre and I came into planning these sessions knowing that textbook Contextual Inquiry is nearly impossible to do in an industry setting. At EchoUser, we work at every phase in the product life cycle, with a variety of clients who are action-oriented and looking for answers. Sometimes clients understand that generating truly insightful research takes time and money, and sometimes it takes more convincing. Furthermore, because we work with clients and are usually not onsite, involving the product team to the level that is prescribed would be more challenging than from within a product organization. The steps involved in classic Contextual Inquiry take too much time for most industry settings and require too high a level of involvement from stakeholders.

With this in mind, we also knew that Contextual Inquiry is an incredibly powerful method of research because it covers every phase of the process, from data gathering to analysis and sharing insights. At its core, Contextual Inquiry is about immersing the whole team in a rich data set so that everyone feels ownership over the insights that emerge. Familiarity with Contextual Inquiry has made me a better researcher in every aspect, and experience using the method helps me think outside the box when projects require more generative insights.

#### Crafting the Lesson Plans

With an understanding of the trade-offs, we set out to give the researchers and designers on our team a quick overview of Contextual Inquiry, touching on:

- When it is appropriate to use the method
- How to execute key parts of the method
- How to involve stakeholders
- How to decide where to adapt the method

We covered these topics over the course of three sessions, assigning [additional reading](https://www.amazon.com/Contextual-Design-Customer-Centered-Interactive-Technologies/dp/1558604111) and some homework between sessions. We knew from best practices for adult learning and our own experience with Contextual Inquiry that hands-on activities and stimulating discussions would be more effective to help the team learn as much as possible. We decided to lay the foundation in the first two sessions, with a good amount of time committed to doing activities. Then, for the third session, we brought in two researchers from our client, Autodesk, to talk about their recent experience doing Contextual Inquiry and their unique methods for presenting insights to their team.

![Contextual-Inquiry-PD_interview-mindset-1-1024x522.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Contextual_Inquiry_PD_interview_mindset_1_1024x522_052135d915.png)

#### Session 1:

- Why Choose Contextual Inquiry
- Considerations for Planning a Study
- Best Practices for Interviewing and Note-taking
- Activity: Contextual Interview Practice

_Homework_: Write up notes from interview for affinity diagram

#### Session 2:

- An Overview of Work Models
- Basics of Affinity Diagramming
- Activity: Affinity Diagram from Interview Notes
- How to Share with Clients - Walking the Wall

#### Session 3:  Autodesk Industry Case Study

![Contextual-Inquiry-PD-002b (1).jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Contextual_Inquiry_PD_002b_1_4de42f7722.jpg)

#### Experience Leads to Mastery

The sessions turned out to be a great success and a real learning experience for us as facilitators and for our colleagues. It was extremely rewarding to see our coworkers come to a new understanding of Contextual Inquiry by discussing and practicing the method together. Our coworkers agreed, the most useful part of the sessions was the hands on work because it helped them internalize parts of the process better.

In particular, our affinity diagramming exercise helped the team uncover what elements made for a good note, and how the process up to that point informs the effectiveness of a note. Before affinity diagramming, writing a good note requires skilled interviewing and strategic probing. At the other end of the process, a well-written note helps uncover previously unseen patterns during affinity mapping. It’s only by getting this hands-on experience that we can master every step in the process of conducting Contextual Inquiry.

With this refresh in our Contextual Inquiry skills, I look forward to working with the EchoUser team on our many exciting generative projects coming up in 2019.


Lessons from Hosting Contextual Inquiry Workshops

With the start of the new year, we got together as a team to set new intentions for 2019. Thinking back on the projects of the previous year, we all recognized areas where we would like to continue to grow our UX practice, individually and as a team. The resolutions from each member of the EchoUser team set a direction for all of us in 2019 - how we would like to work together, refine our practice, and deliver the best outcomes for our clients.

 

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## Become a Champion for UX

#### Kintu Bhandari, Experience Designer

![kintu.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/kintu_b00f82c3d0.jpg)

User experience as a field has been around for at least 25 years, yet most people don't understand what it means. And the most troubling part: this is not surprising to any designers or researchers I know! Reflecting on 2018, I realized that explaining what I do is not restricted to only family events and social gatherings, but it is also a part of my job. This leaves little room to think about our users or have healthy arguments with the team. In our small design community, we know how invaluable our work is, but have we done a good job of informing others? Maybe not.

In 2019, my goal is to find easier ways to describe UX and its importance. If at least 50 people are able to grasp what I mean, then I'm sure 50 will soon lead to 50,000. A few years down the line, I'll know 2019 was a successful year for me, and hopefully for our entire community.

 

## Take Research Insights a Step Further

#### Kate Carey, Experience Researcher

![kate.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/kate_e726eae7cf.jpg)

As a researcher, one of my main goals is to help users inform product decisions. The research share out is our time to make that happen, but the traditional slide deck with insights, evidence, and recommendations stops short of the true potential research has to get stakeholders on the same page and affect change in a product. In order to truly move the product forward, it is also important to use research insights to generate new design ideas as a team. This is especially true in the case of our client work, which is often more generative and may not have a clear path forward.

For this reason, in 2019, I would like to incorporate more design workshop activities into research share out meetings. I want to go a step beyond simply delivering the insights, to help our clients think about how they will apply these insights to their product. Research insights often spark new ideas, so let's channel that energy to move the product forward all in one meeting! Simple design activities that get the team brainstorming individually and together will give them more of a stake in carrying the insights forward into their product long after the research is completed.

 

## Include and Educate Clients in My Practice

#### Leslie Garner Franklin, Experience Researcher

![leslie.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/leslie_fa6c3ba7c6.jpg)

When I look back on my engagements as a consulting experience researcher, I often reflect on the impact I've had - both on the work and on my clients as professionals. Did they do something with the findings and what I shared? Are they employing some of the practices and research techniques we used in our work together? Do they have (more of) a design mindset? If the answer to the first question is "yes", that feels good; I provided useful information in a compelling way. But I feel most successful when the answers to #2 and #3 are yes as well.

The teacher in me isn't satisfied with short-term utility; it wants my work to make an enduring impact. By educating clients in the what, the why, and the how of research and bringing them into the journey not just on it in 2019, I want to help my clients become design thinkers in their own right. To get there, I'll be explicit and inclusive about making my practice public.

 

## Imagine Our Systemic Future

#### Vidhi Goel, Experience Researcher

![vidhi.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/vidhi_1ecb9e037c.jpg)

In 2019, I want to be bold, mindful and holistic in how I practice research and design and how we position ourselves as a company. My hope and resolutions are best defined by the words 'Systemic' and 'Future'.

Systemic in that I want EchoUser’s work to stay true to our “Any Experience” motto. My hope is to think holistically about the comprehensive user journey and the larger ecosystem - from the projects we pitch and scope for, and the mindset with which we approach and plan research, to how we strategize and communicate with clients. I hope we emphasize that screens and devices are a small part of the overall user experience. I want to see EchoUser positioned as a systemic experience design firm.

I am a believer that future is not something we predict but create. My goal is for us to think beyond the next few years and mindfully yet boldly take risks in the methods we use to research, ideate and design, for both our clients and ourselves.

 

## Codify My Personal Research Methodology

#### Deirdre Hirschtritt, Experience Researcher

![deirdre.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/deirdre_d75c81ffc3.jpg)

Around this time last year, Kathryn Brookshier wrote a piece on [the difference between “methods” and “methodology”](https://uxdesign.cc/method-vs-methodology-whats-the-difference-9cc755c2e69d) on the UX Collective blog. As she describes it, a method is simply a tool - say a survey or diary study. Methodology, on the other hand, is a lens through which you approach a research practice, from planning to presenting.

There are many documented methodologies I've employed in the past. At some points, I’ve felt drawn to the lens of participatory design and ethnography. I’ve also learned a great deal about habits, contexts, and motivations of research participants through grounded theory. In 2019, I want to devote energy toward developing my own personal methodology of design research. I want to explore how my values impact the lens through which I approach and conduct research and then codify my personal methodology. Wish me luck!

 

## Never Stop Learning

#### Brandon King, Associate Experience Designer

![brandon.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/brandon_1ca8803497.jpg)

Technology is changing rapidly which means the world of UX is not slowing down either. It is very important to stay up to date with new design trends that are arising and attempt to learn something new everyday. It may be a lot easier said than done, but I challenge myself to step out of my comfort zone and take advantage of any opportunity to master a new skill. Whether it’s attending meetups and networking events, taking crash courses, or even simply reading books and articles, I need to take advantage of the numerous ways to improve my skill set in order to grow as a UX designer!

In 2019, my goal is to experiment with technology and continue to learn new skills in order to create the best user experience possible.

 

## Share My Practice with the UX Research Community

#### Christine Lee, Experience Researcher

![christine.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/christine_8f687b4b32.jpg)

2018 was a year of osmosis. I had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects, test different methods and build relationships with clients across a range of industries. However, I grew the most when working in teams and alongside my colleagues.

Thinking back on how much I have learned over the year, and how so much of that came from observing and conversing with those around me, my 2019 resolution is to give back and make knowledge sharing a deliberate and regular practice of my work. Whether it’s within the company or to the greater UX community, my goal is to seek opportunities to share my UX research practices.

 

## Refine the Team's UX Processes

#### Yi-Ying Lin, Senior Experience Designer

![yi-ying.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/yi_ying_fd40479297.jpg)

Establishing and maintaining a project process is an important part of any UX practice, and that is especially true for agency work. At EchoUser, we often need to wear many different hats when working on projects, including but not limited to: client handling, project management, research and design artifact creation, and communication.

Over the years, we’ve established numerous practices to facilitate those tasks and we continuously improve them. However, those great resources aren’t being communicated in a way that is easy to find and understand for our rapidly growing team. For our tried and tested processes to be truly useful, we need to make them accessible and digestible in the first place.

My resolution: in 2019, I hope to help establish a process that encompasses our work at EchoUser so that we can better engage our clients, do our work, and collaborate.

 

## Design with the Full Service in Mind

#### Yifei Liu, Experience Designer

![yifei.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/yifei_52c6d64aa4.jpg)

When I have a great experience watching a show, visiting a museum, or eating at a restaurant, I am often amazed by the holistic approach and complex details that normally go beyond a single touchpoint or a sole channel. What the customer experiences is only the tip of the iceberg of the service ecosystem. Applying systems-thinking methods to address complex problems that have implications across an ecosystem can benefit not just the users but also employees and organizations as a whole.

In 2019, I’d like to apply the basic principles of service design to tackle business challenges for our clients. I will strive to understand the ecosystem of the customer experience across all touchpoints in order to meet needs and deliver end-to-end service transformation for our clients.

 

## Push Our Design Boundaries

#### Yan Liu, Experience Designer

![yan.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/yan_3fdd7173be.jpg)

One of my biggest goals for 2019 is to push the boundaries of design and challenge myself as much as possible. I will challenge myself and the clients I work with to think out of the box and go beyond our comfort zone to try new design methods and approaches. By pushing the boundaries, we can better understand the needs and pain-points of our clients and again a higher-level understanding of the design goals.

I am excited to learn about more methodologies, skills, and softwares this year and take advantage of the variety of projects we get to work on at EchoUser. My colleagues come from many different backgrounds, so it will be exciting to mix and match our expertise to create new ideas. Overall, I look forward to embracing changes and challenges, and enjoying uncertainties together in 2019!

 

## Find More Opportunities to Code

#### Mick McGee, CEO and Co-Founder

![mick.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/mick_c8906efaae.jpg)

My day-to-day work life is sales, meetings, and otherwise nonstop extroverted outwardness. I’ve often coded side projects for fun, or sometimes more (but always far from production quality). Some highlights include: a choose your own adventure game; statistical classification of NHL hockey players; and optimization of voice application prompts. Coding allows me to: 1) bring balance to my day-to-day by offering up the opportunity to focus inward and allow my mind to “figure things out” over an extended period of time; and, 2) have a better appreciation for a good portion of our client stakeholders, who are often software developers and other product development leaders.

It’s a bit of a selfish work resolution, but coding helps ground me, and exploring programming languages and platforms helps me better connect to the always expanding tech world. In 2019, I want to code more.

 

## Bring More Strategic Product Thinking into My Work

#### Lilian Qian, Senior Experience Designer

![lilian.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/lilian_11c06ba71c.jpg)

Being a designer in a research-focused UX firm, I am heavily influenced by my research coworkers. I am eager to adopt more research methods into my design practice in the new year to make my decision-making more strategic. I’ve been practicing quick product thinking in whiteboarding challenges with my coworker, Yi-Ying. One of us acts as the host who gives a design prompt and one is the designer who maps out the process on the spot. These exercises have improved how I think about a design project holistically in a short amount of time. In 2019, I will continue to plan and manage my own projects and think holistically about how we can structure UX activities to fit specific projects.

 

## Understand Business Goals as UX Opportunities

#### Aaron Rich, COO and Co-Founder

![aaron.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/aaron_49734e679d.jpg)

UX has gotten attention within organizations at the highest levels over the last 5 years. With this success in the boardrooms, the UX industry now needs to be more fully aware of business strategy and play its part to support it. My UX resolution for 2019 is to bridge the divide for business and UX for the clients we work with and EchoUser.

I am resolving to spend more time to understand the core business goals and challenges and better connect these to UX work and strategy. I hear UX professionals at all levels of experience express frustration with their organization in similar ways: “If only they would listen to these recommendations from the research,” or “They rejected my designs that solve the challenge in a better way than they went with.” This well-meaning idealism stems from a desire to create the best experience possible for the people who use the product, but in reality there are almost always business drivers that must be accounted for in any experience. The challenge is to understand the business strategy and use that effectively as a design constraint to solve around. In 2019, I’ll be doing my part to focus on the business while championing UX.

 

## Incorporate Business Principles into Design

#### Jie Tang, Experience Designer

![jie.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/jie_5a040a7016.jpg)

What I believe in deeply is human-centered design. As a group of UX consultants, we use methods to define users’ pain points and level up their experience based on their existing behaviors. Often our job is to identify and understand user needs and design the right solution to meet the needs, and we do this well. Like Aaron however, I believe we can provide even more value to our clients by understanding the business side of experiences.

In 2019, I want to learn more about business and marketing strategy to build the strengths of these disciplines into my design work. Marketing focuses on “meeting needs profitably” and should result in a customer who is ready to buy, while on the business side, you need to understand how to bring a product to market and make it available to customers. The overlap between UX and marketing is the key zone I would like to focus on to broaden my strategic thinking. Ultimately, I hope to embrace knowledge from these disciplines to make decisions that benefit users _and_ drive business.

 

## Build on the Experience of the EchoUser Team

#### Mary Yeh, Experience Researcher

![mary.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/mary_07c6d896e1.jpg)

My resolution for 2019 is to think strategically about our collective power, and infuse greater collaboration into our practice as a team.

The team at EchoUser has a wide variety of professional experience and education, giving us a vast array of tools at our fingertips. Working here, we are able to leverage each other’s strengths to push for the greatest impact. This year I want to push us to create more space for collaboration and reflection throughout our projects, so that we can increase our effectiveness and build a shared depth of knowledge. At the beginning of a project, our collective knowledge can create novel, tailored approaches to our research goals; during the project we can redirect and refine; and, at the end of the project we can reflect and learn lessons together.

It is our collective experience that makes our work so effective, and I look forward to increasing collaboration and knowledge sharing within the EchoUser team and around the broader UX community in 2019!

Our 2019 UX Resolutions

After reflecting on the lessons we’ve learned throughout 2017, our research team has put together our resolutions for the new year. These resolutions are what we’d like to try more of and where we’d like to see the team go — from collaborating more radically with our designers to building lessons from the humanities into our work.

 

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## Build more holistic empathy and ownership

#### Katie Johnson, Senior Experience Researcher

![katie.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/katie_731ed6a89c.jpg)

Over the last year, we’ve been changing up our research processes to empower clients to use our findings strategically. The best way to do this is by empathizing not only with our client’s end users, but also with the client themselves. By better understanding what the client, their team, and their larger organization are trying to accomplish from the get-go, we can design our research methods and deliverables to promote the client’s appreciation and ownership of UX research.

Empathy workshops and co-analysis are great ways to help the client truly understand our findings, our analysis process, and the final result. Don’t get me wrong, we still do the analysis! The client just gets a better perspective into how we got to the final result, which puts them in the driver’s seat with our research going forward.

_My resolution: in 2018, I hope to work with clients to establish more collaborative research scopes, leading to promising partnerships and more usable, meaningful deliverables._

 

## Push the boundaries of our presentations

#### Lisa Otto, Experience Researcher

![lisa_photo_900x900_edited.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/lisa_photo_900x900_edited_20ecfbeff1.jpg)

One thing we’ve been talking about a lot at EchoUser is how integral our client presentations are to communicating the value of UX and getting clients on board with the UX process. In our roundtables, we’ve talked about telling stories and [showing things](https://medium.com/meta-research/beyond-bullet-points-four-creative-ways-to-share-research-c10fa047f025) like video clips and prototypes rather than reading off of presentation decks. Or, as Katie discusses in her resolution, how presentations can be a key touchpoint in the client-consultant relationship and can be deeply integrated into the design process through workshops. We’ve talked about amping up the [visceral nature](https://www.epicpeople.org/virtues-of-the-visceral/) of our findings so clients can become more immersed into our work, so I want to try out some of these new ideas we’ve been discussing.

_My resolution: in 2018, I hope we’ll explore the possibilities of the findings presentation further through storytelling, experience prototypes, and workshops to engage our stakeholders more fully in the UX process._

 

## Remember users are people, human people

#### Evan Fishman, Researcher

![evan.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/evan_f56d4d8438.jpg)

As the new year approaches, many of us are unwittingly unrealistic with our resolutions. “I’m going to exercise at least once a week!” Sure you are, sure. Not to worry, as UX researchers we can set more realistic goals for the new year that will drastically improve our research practice.

Personally, my resolution for 2018 is to keep in mind that "users" are people -- human people with pre-existing beliefs and psychological tendencies that influence their experience with a product.

Too often, we’re thrown into situations in which we’re churning out sterile usability tests that are fixated on the product without taking into account the humanness of our user participants. Studies have shown that users’ outcomes are impacted by their personal beliefs. For example, users who are [more confident in completing a task](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dB0VrrlmWWX8j7Dz3oM7wAXq4HJsKpfZvKWJJnegTHk/edit) are significantly more likely to do just that. Similarly, users’ brand attitudes can significantly impact their experience with a product. Depending on what you’re studying (e.g., usability, brand perception, satisfaction) there are psychological variables that, if controlled for, allow us to examine the entirety of our participants’ user experience.

_My resolution: in 2018 I want to continue to provide our clients with complete, accurate, and actionable findings that take into consideration the humanness of their users._

 

## Bring storytelling to our work

#### Christine Lee, Experience Researhcer

![christine.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/christine_8f687b4b32.jpg)

One of the things I like about UX research is being able to hear little soundbites of people’s lives. For instance, the diary study I am doing right now has participants recording how a novel device affects connectedness in relationships and it offers a glimpse into the participants’ past experiences and personalities.

My next step with the project is to figure out how to take insights gleaned from these stories and create a narrative that could offer more than bullet points of future steps, but a compelling and meaningful story around the users of the device. I especially want to see how this can be achieved by collaborating with designers and learn how to visualize the storytelling process and the presentation that could engage and resonate with the clients.

_My resolution: in 2018, my goal is to incorporate better storytelling in presentations and daily communication to give a richer and fuller picture of our research findings to clients._

 

## Integrate the humanities into research

#### Deirdre Hirschtritt, Experience Researcher

![deirdre.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/deirdre_d75c81ffc3.jpg)

As UX researchers, our work is heavily informed by fields like psychology and sociology. We are lucky to build our work on the foundation that those fields have set, using methods like ethnography and observation to understand how people interact with products and complete tasks. Though we make heavy use of the social sciences, I believe we miss the opportunity to integrate lessons and methods of the humanities in our work, an opportunity I hope to seize in 2018!

Client presentations are some low-hanging fruit for integrating humanities methods. The arts have shown us how visual representation can convey strong cultural meaning, cultural "codes" that would enhance the messages we share from our research if used strategically. Literature is another field I want to explore more deeply. How does the poetry of our language impact the interpretation of research questions, workshop prompts, and client presentations?

_My resolution: in 2018, I want to explore and integrate the myriad ways that the humanities can enhance our research practice, workshop facilitation, and client presentations._

 

## Collaborate with our in-house designers

#### Alec Strandberg, Experience Researcher

![alec.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/alec_32b04c32dd.jpg)

With so many clients realizing that any good product requires research and design, there’s a lot of potential for us to leverage the fact that we have experienced people in both fields all under one roof. However, I feel that currently the way we marry research and design is a bit ad hoc and informal, and even though we’re all working together, things can get out of sync occasionally.

It can especially be hard to provide regular feedback during periods of rapid design iteration, as the time needed to set up the research sessions and plan out tasks needs to be balanced around the designer’s need for rapid, immediate feedback.

_My resolution: in 2018, I want to figure out a way to make this collaboration with our designers easier and less time-consuming for both parties so more time and energy can be put towards the work itself!_

 

## Get out of our comfort zone

#### Meagan Sharif, Senior Experience Researcher

![Meagan_staffphoto.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Meagan_staffphoto_62656d71ed.jpg)

I am excited to push the boundaries with our methodologies in the coming year and take advantage of our combined UX toolbox. The research team at EchoUser comes from a variety of educational and professional backgrounds, giving us access to a plethora of research tools to choose from. We are all comfortable with our own set of methods, but I would like to see more of a mix and match from our different backgrounds pushing ourselves to create new combinations of methodologies. We will be challenging ourselves and our clients to think outside of the box and go outside of our comfort zone, which is really where the most interesting things occur.

By pushing these boundaries I think we will be able to tailor our projects more closely to the research needs of our clients and get at insights that may not be achievable through standard methods such as usability and diary studies.

_My resolution: in 2018, I want to see us get uncomfortable, trying new research methods and strategies in our work._

2018 Research Resolutions

When you think of UX research you might think of usability testing, where a researcher and your team watch as your users try to achieve specific goals on your website.

Usability testing is an important tool within UX researcher’s toolkit; however, it is just one tool that’s particularly good at answering certain types of questions.

![lisa-article-featured.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/lisa_article_featured_905acbe83b.png)

Usability testing is good when your problem space is clearly defined. You know what you want your users to be doing on your site but you want to make sure they can do that. When you’re asking ‘is my product or service usable?’ usability tests can often provide actionable insights with relatively low effort. For example, Stitcher, a mobile podcasting app, wanted to understand the stumbling blocks new users were encountering when they used the app for the first time. Running through usability tests with new users surfaced issues in the onboarding flow that Stitcher could immediately update.

But how do you know what your user wants to do? How do you know if they would use your site or service in the first place? When organizations are looking to understand if their product or service is useful, UX research teams have another set of tools for exploring these fuzzier questions.

![useful-usable.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/useful_usable_ddc69fe7b5.jpg)

A product or service is usable if a user can accomplish a defined objective or task. If a user wants to buy a plane ticket but can’t because the purchase button is hidden on the airlines website, that’s not usable at all! On the other hand, a product or service is useful is it addresses a need, want, or desire of the user. An airline’s website might very clearly allow users to purchase plane tickets but if nobody ever has any desire to take trips anymore that’s not useful!

When trying to understand the usefulness of a product or service, researchers can turn to interviews, contextual inquiry, diary studies, and prototyping.

#### Interviews

_What are my users’ wants and needs?_

User Interviews are the most flexible tool in the UX research toolkit. Interviews can come in many shapes and forms depending on the question at hand. Most importantly, interviews involve sitting down with your users or your potential users (or even people people exploring similar issues) and talking to them. If you’re used to working through usability tests, the ambiguity of interviews can seem frightening, but with a little experience, interviews can lead to deep insights into a user’s perspective, needs, and wants. For example, Crimson Hexagon, an analytics tool, wanted to redesign their dashboard for C-suite executives. To understand their new target audience, we interviewed not only C-suite executives but also surrounding stakeholders to more holistically understand perspectives and capabilities.

![Screen-Shot-2018-01-05-at-12.39.11-PM.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Screen_Shot_2018_01_05_at_12_39_11_PM_6755963afd.png)

#### Contextual Inquiry

_How is the environment shaping my user s’ wants and needs?_

Contextual inquiry brings the interview process into the environment of a task or process of which you’re trying to get a better understanding. Researchers can both observe behaviors and environments and ask questions about habits, preferences, and pain points. Imagine the difference between asking someone about the their frustration doing laundry and seeing them carry a heavy basket up four flights while a kid tugs on their sleeve.

Contextual inquiry exposes influences an interview might otherwise miss. For example, Tendril, a platform providing the infrastructure and analytics required to deliver personalized energy services, wanted to know how people think about their own energy use. We conducted contextual interviews with homeowners in their houses to observe and discuss their energy use.

From there, we could develop in-depth personas because we understood homeowners’ beliefs and also how they enacted those beliefs through everyday actions like adjusting the thermostat.

#### Diary Study

_How are my users’ wants and needs shaped and changed over time?_

Diary studies allow users to record information over an extended period of time without the researcher being present. Originally, diary studies consisted of paper diaries which researchers crafted and requested that participants complete a random points in the day or while conducting relevant tasks. Now, diary studies can come in various forms like apps that are set to randomly prompt a participant to respond to a pre-set questions. For example, when the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) wanted to understand how riders were perceiving their commute, we conducted a diary study where we had participants maintain a log of their daily transit experience.

#### Prototyping

_How might my users address their wants and needs?_

While prototyping is often thought of as tool for later in the design process used to determine if a product or service concept is doable, prototyping can also be used in the early research process for team, stakeholder, or user consensus building. Participatory prototyping with users can be used as a way to understand desires and generate unexplored ideas.

This can be done in a collaborative workshop with researcher facilitation where users build low-fidelity prototypes. While you might not directly produce your users’ prototypes as final products, these prototypes often surface insights that interviews cannot.

#### Doing Research on Usefulness

When would you want to bring in these research methods into your organization? You might bring in these types of research methods when you’re embarking on a new product or service development cycle, developing a strategic plan for the future, or trying to figure out your organization, product or service’s next direction.

Deciding between these different types of research methods comes down to knowing what questions you’re trying to answer. When you’re in doubt, think about what type of information you want to get out of your research. Is it about usability or usefulness?


Beyond Usability: What Else is in a Researcher's Toolkit?

“Just grind it out,” I heard during standup. “It’s not like it matters.”

I swallowed and shifted in my seat. The room was lit dimly by ceiling lights pointed directly into a popcorn ceiling painted charcoal. “They’re trying to make us feel trapped,” we’d half joke.

The work was never-ending, demanding, and so fast-paced that it reduced our thinking to lizard-brained, limbic responses only. What’s point A? What’s point B? And the most obvious line? Good. That’s good enough.

“Design doesn’t work like this...how do we fix this?” I’d ask.

Silence, shrugs, and head shakes were the only response. It was one of my first jobs and I was already getting an eye full of a flat out toxic spiral. We were in a tailspin and it was going to take drastic, unorthodox actions to break out of it.

Agile is [the norm](https://www.quora.com/On-average-what-is-the-ratio-of-designers-vs-developers-vs-product-managers-for-a-web-startup/answer/Amit-Patel-310). And while Design Thinking and Lean UX fit well in Agile’s sprint structure, other aspects of Agile, when misapplied, can bring out the worst in your design team. Because of the rapid, cyclical nature of Agile, these developing trends efficiently sand down the best parts of your designers until it’s a streamlined toboggan quickly iterating towards misery.

In an industry that repeats “solve hard problems” like a monastic chant, why do we often treat internal dysfunction as a grim cost of “moving fast?” Furthermore, why is it that a design team’s process, of all things, is so hard to get right?

First things first: how do you know if Agile is breaking your design process?

**Toxic Culture Checklist:**

- Are you verifying results? Most teams don’t conduct user research on a consistent basis, if at all, according to the Nielsen Norman group. Design without research is the definition of a reactive, flawed process.

- How many sprints ahead is UX operating to development? If the answer is anything less than one you have problems.
Where are your priorities?

- How are you allocated resources? If your dev to designer ratio is anything over 10:1, your priorities might be mis-calibrated.

- How do you internally check or review work before it "goes out?"

- Are you and your team members rewarded for doing great work and coached on how to improve when the work isn’t up to par?

- What ideal is your team striving towards? Are you doing strategic and tactical work? Are you working proactively or reactively? Do you talk regularly about empathizing with customers but forget to take care of yourselves and each other in the process?

 

Throughout my career, from teams I was embedded in to consulting, I took note. There are different types of good Agile design practices. An infinite variety of people, processes, industries and products means infinite permutations of healthy, effective organizations. Grinding, bitter dysfunction has a common set of features though, and I’ve seen it pop up everywhere.

The good news? A lot of these issues can be fixed. Most fixes are relatively cheap, especially when compared to the costs of falling NPS and broken customer experience.

## Iterating Towards Burn-Out: How a Toxic Design Culture Spirals.

Pay attention to the feedback loops. A good design culture doesn’t happen spontaneously; a toxic one doesn’t, either.

![toxic.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/toxic_6890f86c8a.png)

#### 1. Reactive Design Cycles.

Successful design cycles rely on the three-legged stool of Time, Resources, and Planning. Shorten any one of these legs and you destabilize your proactive design team into a shaky, reactive one. A Reactive Design Cycle is a product or feature designed with little strategy and no time. It is the best and fastest way to grind down expectations and team morale.

#### 2. Cynicism Sets In.

Want to know what a company’s priorities are? Look at which departments their headcount spend is allocated towards. When research and discovery are the first things to go out the window, design teams learn expectations from previous engagements. And when enough reactive cycles are lined up in a row, your design team learns the priorities of the company.

#### 3. A Lack of Pride in the Craft.

Running on adrenaline and deferred hope is exhausting. As your process self-selects speed over function, craft (e.g. the ingredient you need to differentiate business or product in the market), is tossed out the window. It’s not that designers don’t want to do good work; there are no resources or time to learn from it.

Is there a lack of craft in my team’s output? Look at the last six months’ release cycle-- if “deeply problematic” defines the majority of features released, your process is probably broken.

#### 4. Learned Helplessness.

Learned helplessness at a job is the result of recurring disappointment coupled with a static, unresponsive process. It’s hard to blame people because/as only the most stubborn among us don’t take the punishment of futile efforts to heart. These bad habits calcify and become part of the flawed process. Without any support to make things better, employees settle into a mode of perpetual defeat.

#### 5. Low Survivability & High Burnout Rate.

An embattled design team adopts the demeanor of a suicide squad — if this current feature cycle isn’t their last, the next one probably will be. Late, cheerless nights grinding out ill-prepared user flows is falling on the proverbial grenade. As you churn through talent, people leave. When people leave, your team’s anti-velocity increases.

## Steps to Break the Cycle

All hope isn’t lost, my friends.  Through careful planning, regular feedback, and practiced vigilance, you can create and sustain a desirable culture that will retain your top performers and attract great talent to your team. Listed below are strategies to diagnose, treat, and improve your Agile UX process.

#### Hit Pause.

The first step to get out of a hole is to stop digging, and the only way to fix your process is to stop reacting to dysfunction and understand why it’s breaking the way it is. Do whatever is necessary you have to to give your organization space to learn. “What kind of pause are we talking about? A five-day workshop on internal processes? A 20 minute stop to go get ice cream?” It depends. There's a range and a formula that works out roughly to “Time spent in the spiral + Size of the team = the length of pause you need.”

#### Create Space.

A lot of times your team knows what is wrong. You might even have ideas on how to fix them. Ideas are meaningless without the slack to prototype and test them. Create that space for your organization to begin diagnosing where the breakdown of communication is and what can be done to solve it.

Each player on the design team has a role in creating space for the organization. Managers, run interference for your designers. Designers, identify key asks from across the organization and be open to change.

#### Solicit Feedback.

Treat your culture as a design problem. Solicit feedback from all of the stakeholders to help determine where communication is getting snarled up. A day-long workshop with stakeholders at each touch point is a great place to begin mapping out the process and where communication is breaking down.

#### Define Expectations.

Take the feedback you’ve received and begin building a vision for what the right process & culture looks like. This vision will incorporate the needs of the organization, the customers, and — ultimately — the executives of your company. There is no perfect, one-size-fits-allprocess; that’s why you build this collaboratively and iteratively.

#### Get an Outside Perspective.

Sometimes you need an outside perspective to give honest feedback and bring in different experiences. At EchoUser (disclaimer: this is a shameless plug because I really believe in what we do), one of our specializations is employee and organizational experience design. It’s less about opening up Photoshop and more about thinking through the steps and templates for clear inter-organizational communication.

#### Your Culture is the Most Important Design Problem to Solve.

You can create the life and work that you want to see in this world. Treat your culture as a design problem. Research. Hypothesize. Prototype. Assess. Iterate. There are very few work situations where you are truly helpless. Get creative and pull coworkers to brainstorm potential solutions. There is no perfect found space. Only by our own actions do we create it around us.

If you have questions or critiques; please [reach out](https://twitter.com/zherring)! I’d love to hear about what I missed and what you’ve done to improve your company’s process and culture.

### Further Reading:

_For Designers_

[On Working Hard and Being Brilliant](https://jennifer-aue.medium.com/on-working-hard-and-being-brilliant-4dfb97d5d9d4)

_For Managers_

[What exactly is a design culture? - InVision Blog](https://www.invisionapp.com/inside-design/what-is-a-design-culture/)

[3 Simple Ways To Create A Culture Of Design At Any Tech Company](https://www.fastcompany.com/3052979/3-simple-ways-to-create-a-culture-of-design-at-any-tech-company)

[Doing UX in an Agile World - Nielson](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/doing-ux-agile-world/)

When Bad Processes Break Good Designers

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Let’s jump right to the point. Obviously our realities have changed over just the past few weeks that have felt like eternity now. We sit at our home offices in pajama bottoms with more ‘presentable’ tops and have virtual meetings more frequently than on our occasional work-from-home days. We and our families are all adjusting to this new reality of work and so is technology to accommodate our needs. 

Despite the adjustments we are making to acclimatize to remote/virtual work, the top concern for many in our field of tech remains: to what extent can you replace established physical processes like group workshops that heavily rely on ‘bringing everyone into a room’? And yes, naturally the answer is, you now bring them into a ‘virtual room’. But planning and facilitating virtual workshops may not be as straightforward as, say, getting in the same hangout. 

EchoUser, in the past, has worked with various clients on projects requiring them to facilitate learning/ideation/aligning workshops virtually. The nature of our day-to-day work also requires us to collaborate with people across the globe. Along the way, we have collected rich and nuanced learnings and mechanisms that take virtual workshops to the next level. 

**And since much of the workshop design principles remain the same whether it’s physical or virtual, we want to dive deeper into the challenges of going virtual, and ways to not only mitigate them but use virtual to our advantage. We have outlined below the ways workshops differ when they are planned and facilitated as a virtual event and some practical tips to keep in mind.** 

![Screen-Shot-2020-03-30-at-2.35.38-PM-1024x692.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Screen_Shot_2020_03_30_at_2_35_38_PM_1024x692_948b8a370b.png)

## Planning

### What is the same: 

Here is where the heavy lifting of workshops happens, whether it’s a physical or virtual workshop. Be user-centered when designing the workshop activities and the journey for participants. As you normally do, start with the bigger objectives and goals and break them down into smaller goals, while thinking about how you might achieve the desired outcome in the most engaging way. Recognize and invite subject matter experts, stakeholders, and people with clout who can participate. 

### What is different: 

**Digital collaboration tools**

Since the workshop is virtual, you would need a flexible and customizable tool to replace the walls, whiteboards, and other physical tools. Pick from a range of collaborative tools available - Google docs, Figma, Miro, etc. -  to plan your activities. The desired outcome of your workshop will help guide the kind of tool you would need.

**Activity design and Tech Set up**

While you will be armed with customizable and flexible tools that are easily documented, you will be replacing tactical experiences of post-its, voting dots, and even pieces of paper. Some extra effort will go into virtually recreating the energy and enthusiasm you would have had naturally build up in a room. Plan to give your participants all the tools to keep them engaged, enthusiastic and aligned.

1. Condense the activities to a few hours and break them down over a few days - unlike physical workshops, virtual workshops don’t offer the luxury of full day workshops with served lunches.
1. Structure and build your activities on the chosen digital collaboration tool and stick to it as much as you can. 
1. Assign a color to each participant that will represent them on the collaboration tool for all activities of the workshop.
1. Organize each activity in its own board or page within the tool to avoid confusion. Include instructions for each activity for people to read on their own pace.
1. Set up a space for capturing discussions, comments, and ideas where it will be visible to the participants and a space only for yourself if you would like to
1. Plan activities that are set up to be done individually that encourages the introvert in the room and then have that inform a group activity
1. Build in a balance of inward, quiet thinking time and outward sharing and conversations.

 

_“I typically set my Miro boards up so that each ‘frame’ is an activity. In each frame, I like to have the name of the activity, logistical information (length, description, intended outcome), as well as pre-made “tools” for participants to use (color-coded voting dots, sticky notes, comment bubbles).“_ - Conner 

_“Having folks all type their responses into a platform’s chat feature, or dedicated Slack channel can help record individual thoughts that then foster conversation. Again, the goal here is to keep everyone engaged at some level through consistent questions either to the group or to individuals.”_ - Mary

 

### Rules of engagement

An advantage of virtual is involving people in different time zones and across the globe, but that requires extra effort of bringing everyone to level ground. Send your participants some helpful primers on what to expect and how to come prepared. You can send them: 

1. Quick tutorial on how to sign into the conferencing tool you have chosen
1. Quick guide on the collaboration tool you have chosen 
1. List of materials you would like to have them at hand, like pen or paper
1. Reading materials you would like them to have read
1. A friendly note about the attitude or mindset they can come with- 
 - Encouraging participation 
 - Setting a safe space to share thoughts openly towards a common goal
1. Some rules like - turn on your ‘do not disturb’, mute yourselves, and turn on your cameras

 

_“Best practice is to send out a guide prior to the session so folks can familiarize themselves with the tools we will use. For the IDEO U courses I teach, we also spend about 10 minutes at the start of our first few sessions sharing a few “pro tips”. I am also conscious to be really explicit when giving instructions. For example, if I’m sending participants into a Zoom breakout, I will tell them what I’m doing, what they will see and what they should do. Inevitably, questions arise, and I need to be prepared to answer them!”_ - Leslie

_“In any workshop, it’s important to have the 'right people' in the room. A potential benefit of the remote style is that you could have far more people, maybe to increase buy-in. Whatever you choose, a more intimate group or a larger group, be prepared for the number of people by sending an invitation and asking everyone to RSVP. As the number of people may change how you prepare.”_ - Mary

 

### Technology and contingency plans

Always have a plan B for different parts of your workshop, especially where technology is concerned. That can mean: 

1. Research and choose the right conferencing tool that everyone has access to. 
1. Set up in advance all ‘breakout’ rooms (ie. separate links to conference calls participants can log into to do a smaller team activity).
1. Have a phone option ready on the conferencing tool for people to call in.
1. Have a backup laptop charged (ie. if one decides to update at the last minute).
1. Have the activities set up in a backup collaboration tool (ie. if using Google docs or Miro,, have PDFs of those).
1. Have a backup conferencing tool ready with links if the planned one doesn’t work.

 

_“I know my internet can be unstable, so I like to call in with my cell phone. This means, even when my camera isn’t working, at least I can talk through.”_- Mary

_“I try to make sure that I have two computers charged and the apps on my phone just in case… I’ve had to go the phone route before!”_ - Leslie

 

### Testing the workshop

As you would test any research protocol, test your workshop before the day of the workshop. You can never test enough where technology is concerned. 

1. Test your agenda and activities with teammates. Schedule a mock workshop with the same setup and tools a few days before the actual workshop. Get feedback on what they think of the prompts, the activities, and pace. At least have them go through your most important activity. 
1. Similarly, test the technology setup to see if it’s easy to use the tool/platform for your purpose, where people would write their comments/questions, and if it’s easy to sign in to the collaboration tool.

![image-2-1024x565.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/image_2_1024x565_169dd378ff.png)

## Facilitating

### What is the same: 

Aim for equal and engaging participation from everyone in a way that will create rich and productive conversations and results, much like a physical workshop. Try to make everyone feel welcomed and that they can contribute effectively. Share and circulate the workshop results as much as you can once it is over. 

### What is different:

**Recreating energy of participation and vulnerability**

As a facilitator you want to infuse the room with an energy of excitement and collaboration. Virtual workshops might limit you from using your personality/energy and sometimes the screen might feel like a barrier to interaction and connection. 

1. Assure and reinforce that the workshop is about working towards a common goal and that everyone should feel comfortable to speak their minds productively. As a facilitator too, check the pulse of the virtual room, be open to questions, concerns, and clarifications, and compensate for glitches in technology.
1. Set the expectation for equal participation, that you would be calling on people at random to share and they shouldn’t be surprised by that. 
1. Get the participants warmed up and ready to work together with a fun ice breaker at the beginning of the session.
1. Acknowledge the limitations of tech. There will be some lags, occasional blur, and someone might drop off. Let participants know that might happen and it's okay - we are all in this together. Allow for more time to explain this within activities. 

_“I like to kick the workshop off with a review of the purpose and context, and to review the planned activities. Before jumping into any serious content, I like to run an icebreaker. In person, I’d run something that gets people on their feet and talking. This is a challenge to do remotely, so what I do instead, is break people out into separate video calls to work on a simple challenge together. This introduces the theme of collaboration and get everyone familiar with the technologies we will use.”_ - Conner

 

**Facilitating with more control**

Unlike a physical workshop, it will be hard to use your instincts to assess the mood and the energy of the room. It will also be more difficult to nudge and guide people through some activities virtually. Here are some things you can do to lead and guide the workshop effectively:

1. Withdraw editing access on the collaboration tool before and after your activities to minimize distractions and keep people aligned. (ie. locking your board on Miro) 
1. Use a timekeeper and be strategic when allotting time for activities/brainstorming: account for more time than you think they need but communicate less time than you think they need. 
1. Keep track of the pace of different people or groups. Some people may need a bit more nudging than others. 
1. Align participants before every activity by briefly communicating what the next activity is and why we are doing it. Build in sharing after every activity as well, to keep fatigue and distractions at bay.  

_“This little feature [on Miro] that allows users to see where other users’ cursors are; it's subtle, but tremendously impactful, because it makes visible the center of focus for the group. We can see when Dave is not paying attention, or when Linda is spending too much time on the first phase of the activity. These kinds of non-verbal cues are the first things lost when going remote, if we don’t make intentional plans to support them. This allows me to assign an activity to multiple groups, and follow them remotely, as they work through the directions. This kind of group monitoring is a must-have capability for any workshop facilitation.”_ - Conner

_“Besides setting norms that include 'active participation,' have multiple ways for people to interact, just like in person. Sometimes, it’s individual activities and sharing via chat (either to the 'room' or privately), creating small group discussions and also being able to call on people as needed."_  - Mary

_“I always have a 'parking lot' and make sure to explain the concept at the workshop kickoff, as a back-pocket tool for documenting ideas that are starting to take the group off-track."_ - Conner

 

**Recording more**

Different from a physical workshop, the facilitator has access to their computer at all times. Capturing any important information becomes easier. Since workshop insights rely on the artifacts, show-tell, and any discussions in between, it is a good idea to record in more than one way. 

1. Record the entire session as soon as you start the workshop. Let everyone know that you have started recording. 
1. Take screenshots of your participants when they are showing something or holding something up to their cameras. 
1. Screenshot your activity boards after every activity.
1. Make note of important ideas and conversations that would be helpful in the future.
1. Assign the role of documentarian in each group so they are responsible to record what they are sharing with everyone else. 

_“For example, in an in-person workshop, if groups are completing an activity, one of the roles is 'documentarian'. This means that someone is responsible for documenting and sharing what they come up with. This is the same in a digital version; they just might be sharing a screen shot instead of a picture of post-its!”_ - Leslie

 

--

 

**While we navigate these unchartered territories of today’s realities and wish that it is over soon, virtual meetings and workshops are going to be a norm now. While it takes getting used to, we can take advantage of the benefits: affordability, increased participation, flexibility and much more.  As facilitators, we are responsible for infusing the process with energy and enthusiasm that matches the physical experience. Like true innovators, we learn, adapt, and conquer.**

Mastering virtual workshops

We recently had another riveting discussion in the Design Justice Reading Circle about the intersection of liminality and UX research and design. I began the discussion with my take on liminality as representing the “in between” that people often find themselves in - waiting for a website to load, a line to checkout, riding BART from one point to another, etc. However, as UX research and design consultants, we’re in a unique position as we are also liminal in nature. We are both inside and outside our clients’ organizations; whether we are centrally embedded in an organization, or consult with a client, the fact we aren’t employees allows us to help enact change more swiftly.

We discussed different notions of liminality and liminal spaces, ideas of recognizing bias, how we fill space between experiences, and areas for change in UX research and design. A large part of the discussion focused on the filling of liminal spaces. Conner pointed out that Slack’s customizable loading screen messages “are so lightweight that it gives the experience flavor and character, making it feel personal.” This definitely aligns with Slack’s mission to create a culture in a digital space. Building off this idea, we began exploring another interesting experience, standing in long lines at Disney Parks. As a “user” of Disneyland, most of your time is actually liminal, you’re trying to experience different attractions, but you must wait in numerous lines to accomplish that goal. We know Disney makes liminal experiences great because otherwise people would not return; Disney Parks are “The Happiest Place(s) on Earth” and they didn’t get there by having subpar experiences. The customer is constantly engaged in and by their surroundings, and at the same time, Disney also offers Fast Passes for those that want to pay; these customers can minimize their time in liminal space. So, Disney is simultaneously maximizing profitable liminal space and minimizing non-profitable liminal space. Also consider, by offering a Fast Pass, they are creating an improved experience; so it’s not all bad. They could be posting ads everywhere instead.

Speaking of negative uses of liminal space, we also covered some truly terrifying use of liminal space. Imagine a ride on the train that was permeated with ads, not just on the walls, but in the floating space all around you and on your devices, over the speakers of the train and more. On one hand, utilizing “empty space” to extend the experience can be really useful, like a tutorial while a program loads. This would be considered more “honest” UX design. On the flipside, there is the notion of a dark pattern, a technique used in UX to trick people into an experience. We discussed how dark pattern design utilized in a liminal space could be used to distract a user or extending this idea, why sometimes, having an empty space is incredibly important. 

Mary was particularly worried about filling **all of our empty space**: “the best ideas I have are in the shower or walking the dog… you are comfortable and while part of your brain is working [on the task at hand] you can be thinking of other ideas… there are places where you are not stimulated and that is good… _maybe sometimes you should just be bored_?” To take this idea one step further, it might be important to acknowledge that it’s necessary for our brains to not always process the stimuli from our surroundings. For that reason, I’m an advocate of “free space” (as I think it leads to deeper thought and introspection), our culture and constant connection leaves people with a constant fear of missing out on an experience. Consider the last time you just relaxed… when you didn’t feel compelled to do work, or when you were more than a few feet from your phone? Most of us are experiencing a negative feedback loop where the “fear of missing out” is what keeps us connected and forces us to fill our empty spaces with experiences. But, this fear of missing out shouldn’t be a constant and pervasive worry - we should be okay with mental downtime to allow us to actually think more deeply.

[One of our readings](https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2018/02/liminal-thinking.php) pushed us to think more about the discomfort associated with the unknown and the empty. We discussed the notion of discomfort as not necessarily synonymous with liminality but the byproduct of it. In line with this thought, a few of the UX researchers here recently attended the UXPA conference and found there was a lot of tie-ins with the workshops they attended. “One speaker discussed using more Post-it notes to foster inclusive discussion and another suggested taking all of the chairs out of a conference room to make people uncomfortable.” And so, the uncomfortableness is then a means to an end, a driver of change. Or is it?

So what drives change then? One point we all agreed on was that as researchers and designers it is important to acknowledge what you do and do not know if you want to deviate from the status quo. As Mary shared, “at some basic level, you only know what you know. You are born from your own experience. Understanding what you know and what you don’t is essential for research.” Vidhi shared that “to humbly say that we are not a part of [someone else’s] reality is very important.” When it comes down to it, what is obvious for you, your reality, is different from that of every other person. By learning to work with an understanding that everyone’s reality is only a tiny fragment of the whole puzzle, researchers and designers can cater to the needs of as many people as possible.

So where does all of this leave us? I’m left with a lot of questions for the future. I’m particularly interested in thinking about how people will design and conduct research in the liminal experiences created by technology and innovation. Will people have to worry about their free space being consumed by ads or something else? As an example, what about traveling to and from work? People currently use this time for a variety of tasks, but how will autonomous driving serve to create more free space, more liminality and provide people with the opportunity to do more? Will the “freedom” come with strings attached? Sure, your vehicle can drive itself, but at what cost to you? Overall, how can we as designers and researchers encourage others to think on the fringes of where they are comfortable to drive change?

![Liminal-Mind-Map-e1565030271243-1024x819.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Liminal_Mind_Map_e1565030271243_1024x819_2a678deea8.jpg)

A general outline of what we discussed in our DJRC meeting. Courtesy of Mary.

Questions to Consider

- Do you design or research in a liminal space? How do you design for liminal experiences? 
- Should all liminal spaces have some “substance”?
- How can understanding the concept of liminality inform how we understand reality? How does this understanding inform our research and design practices?

Main Themes and Takeaways

- UX Research and Design Consultants are liminal in nature; we work on the fringes of a company and have tremendous ability to impact change.
- We should be cognizant that designing for liminal spaces/experiences requires a balance - we must remember that some emptiness is necessary.
- Your reality is different from everyone else’s because each person’s reality is dependent on their lived experiences.
- By engaging people in liminal space, remaining cognizant of what we do and do not know, and finding a good balance of designing for “empty spaces”  we can enact change.

Shared Readings

- A quick 3 minute video from the author of a book on the subject: [https://youtu.be/ie_cf9P9cg8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie_cf9P9cg8)
- Exercise for the deconstruction of “the obvious”: [https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2018/02/liminal-thinking.php](https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2018/02/liminal-thinking.php)
- Using the time “in between”: [https://www.cio.com/article/3297969/the-ux-of-liminal-transient-spaces.html](https://www.cio.com/article/222126/the-ux-of-liminal-transient-spaces.html)
- Looking at Liminal Space: [https://uxdesign.cc/get-uncomfortable-how-liminal-space-is-the-key-to-unlocking-your-teams-creative-potential-edaeb4049c5c](https://uxdesign.cc/get-uncomfortable-how-liminal-space-is-the-key-to-unlocking-your-teams-creative-potential-edaeb4049c5c)


The Intersection of Liminality and UX

Article courtesy of [Seiko Ikatura](https://www.linkedin.com/in/seikoitakura/).

I organize Japanese Design Community in SF/Bay Area, and I thought about giving a quick review of what the meetup was like this time. We had about 50 members. This time’s topic was on cross-cultural design in US/Japan. Our panelists were Roxy Chaney (Sir. UX Designer at Sony Network Entertainment Int’l) Stacey Baradit (UX Designer at Apple) and Brandon Hill (CEO of SF/Tokyo based creative agency).

#### We had quite an interactive session with our audience.

One of my goals of this event was to make it interactive and engaging for audience. We had eclectic questions being asked by our audience and our panelists were delighted to answer with humor and great stories. I actually heard from a few folks in audience that they enjoyed last night’s event more because of the interactiveness.

#### Panelists had breadth of knowledge and experiences with cross-cultural designs.

Roxy works with Japanese and Europe team on a regular bases on design problems. She had wonderful examples and tips on how to work better in the cross-cultural environment.

Stacey has worked with Chinese and Japanese companies in the past as a UX Designer/User Researcher. She had shared her experiences across both markets.

Brandon has his creative agency in SF/Tokyo. He also grew up in Japan and worked for many years in Japan before starting his own companies. He spoke to us from a business prospective also as an expert in Japanese culture.

![SeikoBanner_2.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Seiko_Banner_2_658e01a4ae.jpg)

#### Takeaways.

I didn't list out all, but these are some takeaways that I found particularly interesting:

- People in Japan give you positive feedback when you ask but they give criticism online (e.g. If Japanese restaurant rating app is 3.5, that is a good restaurant — equivalent of 4.5 star on Yelp in the U.S.).

- It’s hard to get people in Japan provide critical feedback verbally. It helps to ask them by spelling their words for them (e.g user interviews), ask them to put their words in an anonymous survey or place a checklist for ‘critical feedback’ in a design process.

- People in Japan value formality and process. They don’t like being put in a spot for things they don’t know. So prepare and send your questions and presentations before your meeting.

- How to break the ice when doing a business with someone in Japan? — Have a common thing to talk about (e.g. a pop music/ animation) or have ice breaker questions based on the level of openness (e.g. Lv1. Which sushi is your favorite? Lv2. What are some things you like about your mother?).

- Relatively speaking, designers in Japan don’t have designer titles, not paid well and work for long hours (like a big ad agency in Japan) though there are also exceptions like at Sony, designers are valued in every product and expected to have a better work life balance.

- There are not many design schools in Japan. Many of them come from art schools, and designers aren’t like here. They often don’t have title of designers in Japan. Designers are perceived to be easily replaceable in Japan.

- Japanese companies are looking for fresh minds. They listen to people who don’t speak Japanese more and often respect their opinions (e.g. don’t think themselves are better than English speakers). English speakers have an advantage.

- Spending time with people in Japan over a meal or drinking is the best way to create a bond with them. Take your account manager in Japan to a Izakaya. You will hear more honest feedback. Once you have a good bond, you can start hearing more of the critical feedback and not many questions about why you design in one way. (Opposite of the U.S. — you have to provide logics and whys)

- Approvals from a high level stakeholders (e.g. CEO) are vital to success of a project in Japan.

- Formality vs. Humor: Japanese business environment appears to lack humor (unlike in SF/Silicon Valley), there is something we could look up to in Japanese formality because they document and go through approvals during design processes, often there is no impulsive “Let’s change this in the last minute.”

- Logic vs. Nuance: In Japan, often time people rely on nuances and feeling, and it translates into the designs. The design is accepted to be playful and artistic whereas in the U.S., designs’ focus is more on functions.

- When communicating a phrase in a language different from your own, it is helpful to dumb down to pictures and puppets. For example, Stacey had used puppets to successfully gathered user feedback, and Roxy had communicated the meaning of "crafty" better with a search in a Google image.

 

All in all the event was successful. Many audience told me that they learned so much from this panel event. I thank the panelists for dedicating their time and EchoUser for letting us use their space. I hope to help in bringing more interesting events to our community!

--

_The original article can be found on [Seiko's Medium blog](https://medium.com/the-echouser-blog/looking-back-on-last-nights-panel-discussion-on-cross-cultural-design-us-japan-db763983a4b6#.n7ggglrep)._

Cross-Cultural Design: From the US to Japan

I got into design because I love tackling design problems. But, working on my own isn’t nearly as fun as working with others. At EchoUser, my colleagues and I commonly lead workshops with clients to supercharge the design process and bring teams together. It’s a great way to kick-off design work, learn new design techniques and engage in research findings.

In this post, I’m sharing some of EchoUser’s favorite tips for preparing for a design workshop. Behind every tip, there’s a story of an EchoUser learning it the hard way.

#### Tip #1: Set the right expectations.

One of the greatest values of the workshop format is that it gives people a chance to try out new ways of thinking and doing. As valuable as design workshops and sprints are, the ideas that result aren’t final, fully-fleshed out solutions. Instead they serve as instigators for future work and exploration; it’s important to communicate that during the planning phase and workshop day. Be explicit about what the group is doing and what they’re going to get out of it.

Joanne Wong, senior experience designer, summarized this best when she said, “The process is as important (or actually more important) than the solution. I found that a lot of people were really focused on the solution. We always had to reel them back in to understand that the discovery phase and the problem space is really important.”

It’s also important that each person or group knows why they are involved — they will be more engaged because they know they are needed. Ideally, leadership is involved as participants who can lead by example but also work with their teammates as peers. I’ve heard of situations where a leader from one company kept walking in and out from the workshop, which may have affected the group dynamic.

![workshop-schedule.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/workshop_schedule_609da178f5.jpg)

>Figure 1. Snippet of a workshop schedule.

 

#### Tip #2: Build a detailed schedule and checklist.

I know how challenging it is to get on everyone’s calendars. So you want to get the most out of the time you have. In the same way that a design project is done when the final deadline approaches, a workshop ends when the time slot is over.

My colleagues and I like to plan schedules at 5-minute increments and include everything: introductions, activities and breaks. It helps us know if we’re on track to finish all we hoped to accomplish. Focus on how long activities will take and use timers; otherwise, “it’s very tempting to give people more time,” says Laura Chang, director of EchoUser East.

Along with managing the schedule, make sure to prepare a checklist with materials, space and food. You don’t want to forget markers or extra sketching paper! It’s a small detail, but checklists help you make sure you don’t forget to ask about details like dietary needs before ordering lunch.

#### Tip #3: Prioritize your schedule, and choose the first things to go.

Detailed schedules are great, in theory. But, I’ve learned that no matter what, I have to plan for an seemingly inevitable reality of a late start or change of plans. Maybe a key participant is leaving early to catch a flight, or a conversation gets completely derailed and goes on twice as long.

Plan in advance for what activities can be adjusted, shortened or removed. That way, when (not if) you have to adapt the session, you already have a game plan and don’t have to think that much the day of. It’s like designing a product, you shoot for the ideal but have to make trade-offs to get to release.

“We’ve definitely fallen off of the schedule many times; one workshop was an hour behind on the first day. However, the detailed schedule allowed for us to see what we should cut out and allowed us to shuffle things around,” says Joanne Wong, senior experience designer.

#### Tip #4: Don't moderate alone.

Even if you’ve got an exact schedule and you’ve done your best to streamline the day, don’t think you can do it alone. Throughout the workshop, you need to be documenting activities with photos, capturing notes and guiding teams through unfamiliar activities, all while keeping an eye on the time and gauging the mood of the room. That’s a lot of work for 1 person.

Since EchoUser workshops often have full group and small group activities, we like to plan for a moderator for every small team of 3-6 participants, with potentially a lead moderator who manages the whole room. During large group activities, moderators serve as presenters, photographers and note-takers. When the small groups take over, the moderators mentor teams in creating artifacts and helping them when they get stuck.

I’ve also found it really valuable at the end of the workshop to have multiple people for debriefing to understand better what was happening in the room.

![workshop-rehearse.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/workshop_rehearse_d1ab7c9d96.jpg)

>Figure 2. Prototyping a workshop game.

 

#### Tip #5: Rehearse everything.

With every workshop, I try out new methods and agendas tailored to the tasks or client. I like to rehearse the format once I have a pretty solid schedule. There’s two ways we’ve done it here at EchoUser: 1) prototype and test activities either as small practice runs, or 2) run a brief, sped-up version of the entire workshop.

With a new activity, I like to prototype it with some colleagues to test out the timing, instructions and solicit general feedback. As a result, I can decide whether it makes sense in the agenda, needs better focus on workshop goals or needs to be streamlined.

I’ve also worked with colleagues who have run full workshop dry runs. Working through the agenda at a speedy pace, moderators critique the flow or timing. This also is a good time to practice presentations to make sure they fit in the time you’ve allotted for them, or to adjust your agenda to fit your presentation length.

Planning workshops gets easier as you have more formats and practice under your belt. Next time, I’ll share 5 more tips on executing a great design workshop on the day of.

5 Tips for Planning a Great Design Sprint Workshop

On a recent trip to Taipei, I was struck by how small design decisions had such a noticeable impact on subway riders’ behaviors, which translated to an experience that was heads and shoulders above the one I have on Muni every day. Now, it’s pretty [trendy to rail](https://twitter.com/munifail) against Muni (and recently Muni has been [getting real](https://www.vox.com/2016/3/17/11254270/sf-bart-tweets) with its haters), but joking and ranting aside, Muni has a ton of room to grow, and it doesn’t even have to cost very much.

#### Overall…

Riding the MRT metro was such a pleasure. It was very clean, both in the stations and on the trains themselves (no urine smell!). The trains were wide and had plenty of handholds. The priority seats were open to those who needed them. As a rider, I felt calm and safe. So why is it that in San Francisco, a modern US city, my daily experience on the Muni has to be so unpleasant? As much as I enjoy having a workable public transit system in place, Muni can take simple steps to greatly increase its riders’ satisfaction.

#### General cleanliness.

It was such a relief to have a 2-week break from the urine smell pervasive on Muni and in Muni elevators. How nice not to have that stench pierce through my nostrils on a daily basis. No candy wrappers or puddles of fluids in the train, no dirty floors. How does the Taipei MRT do it? FINES. The Regulations for Use of the Taipei Metro System stipulates that offenders of this regulation are subject to a fine of the equivalent of $46-$231:

Drinking, eating, chewing gum or betel nuts within the revenue area of Taipei Metro premises; spitting phlegm or betel nut waste; littering paper scraps, cigarette butts, gum, food waste or other rubbish;”

Meanwhile, the [SFMTA Rider’s Guide](https://www.sfmta.com/getting-around/muni/how-ride-muni-quick-start-guide) finger wags, vaguely warning of a potential fine, but doesn’t state what the fine is. The entire page is framed as a set of “rules and suggestions.”

![Transit-03.jpeg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Transit_03_01a0e9cf49.jpeg)

#### Takeaway

The Taipei MRT has a reputation for being tough on food and drink. They follow through and enforce their regulations. Riders understand the consequences, so nobody breaks the rules.

#### Waiting.

Let’s take the pre-ride experience. Everyday, as I wait for a Muni train underground, I feel some anxiety around my place in ‘line’. There is no marking on the ground, so even if I am at the front of the line, people walk right up to the front and stand next to me. They rudely get on the train before I do. And when riders exit a train, they have to push against the tide of riders getting on the train. In Taipei (and I’ve seen this in other metro systems too, including BART), the floor is marked so that riders queue up on either side at a diagonal, and the middle is left for riders to exit the train. In the front of the car where there is more space, there are even different markers for bikers and parents with strollers to queue up.

![Transit-05.jpeg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Transit_05_a3bcbb7b0e.jpeg)

#### Takeaway

In a queueing-friendly culture, marking lines for queueing restores order to the station and alleviates everyone’s anxiety (subway rage, anyone?). It also makes boarding and exiting the train more efficient. Cost? The cost of tape, and replacement tape.

#### Priority seats.

Having been pregnant twice, and because I use public transit to shuttle my daughter to preschool several times a week, I am especially attuned to the use of the priority seats on transit systems. When I was in Taipei in 2012, I was 5 months pregnant. Every single time I rode the Taipei MRT, someone immediately jumped up to give me their seat. Even when I was 9 months pregnant in San Francisco, it was always a toss up whether I could count on my fellow passengers’ to be considerate. This time around, I noted one possible reason why: the priority seats on the Taipei MRT are a very different color than the other seats, a dark blue instead of a light blue. Also, the sign above the priority seats shows a pregnant lady and a parent pushing a stroller. When there were plenty of seats available, everybody chose the light blue seats, whereas on a light ridership day on Muni, I notice people (confession, myself included) sitting anywhere that’s convenient.

My conjecture is that due to the obviously different color of the seat, anyone who chooses to sit on a dark blue seat who doesn’t fall into the category of being a priority seat rider would feel like a real jerk. They would also feel the wrath of the rest of the car if they did not give up their seat for someone more in need of it. Social pressure. Culture could also play a part in it, as I’ve heard that Taiwanese riders would have no qualms about calling you out for sitting in a priority seat if you do not obviously fit into the priority seating category. The flip side of this is that women in the early stages of pregnancy could be mistakenly vilified in Taiwan.

#### Takeaway

The simple act of assigning priority seats a different color can have a dramatic effect on human behavior. Cost? Negligible.

#### Safety and comfort.

What other aspects of the passenger experience are important? Having a safe and comfortable ride ranks highly. My husband, who has a history of dislocations, dislocated his shoulder on Muni. He was holding onto a handhold and the train jerked suddenly. Individual handholds on Muni trains are spaced about five feet apart. Had he had one to hold directly above his head, or directly in front of him, perhaps that would have been less likely to happen. That’s an extreme example, but the paucity of handholds, compounded with how crowded the trains get, results in riders left with nothing to hold onto at all in a sea of commuters. On the Taipei MRT, individual handholds are spaced about a foot apart. There are also three-pronged poles that both provide more points for riders to hold onto and discourage riders from leaning.

As for comfort, in peak hours the cars get packed full of bodies. Not comfortable. Most Muni trains have rows of two seats on each side of the aisle. The large number of seats takes away standing room. Often people don’t play an optimal game of human Tetris, leaving way too much room in the middle of the car, so that the space by the door is unbearably crowded. Muni seems to be experimenting with a few cars that take away one column of seats so that there is more standing room, as well as a pole next to each seat for standers to hold onto. This is a step in the right direction.

#### Takeaway

Providing enough handholds and poles keeps riders safe. Cost? Negligible compared to medical costs and litigation.

#### In conclusion…

Public transit, when executed thoughtfully, is such a godsend. Simple changes to the system can make a huge difference in the experience people have on a day-to-day basis. This 3.5-year old gives the Taipei MRT experience a thumbs up!

![Transit-08.jpeg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Transit_08_12a446d4e5.jpeg)


Transit Behavior Design

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Humble, but Confident

One thing that we often get asked by our clients at EchoUser is to facilitate ideation workshops during projects. However, it can be really daunting for first time facilitators when it comes to planning and preparing— it was certainly how I felt. After a recent two day ideation workshop that a co-worker and I facilitated for our clients at Emerson, I thought it was a good opportunity to document our process especially for fellow designers who might find it useful as a guide to run future ideation workshops.

In the following article, I will cover general introduction to ideation workshop, how do we plan and prepare for it, personal tips on the workshop day, what we do after the workshop to provide a holistic view of running ideation workshops.

#### What is an ideation workshop?

Ideation workshop brings cross-functional teams together to go through various idea generation activities in order to create innovative and outside--the box design solutions.

#### Why do we run ideation workshops?

- Align everyone’s understanding of goals and vision
- Encourage divergent ways of thinking about solutions
- Get inspiration and learn from each other
- Brainstorm lots of ideas -- some of the most brilliant ideas come when you fight the urge to stop on an early solution and embrace the discomfort that comes from exploring more.  Ideation workshop is the perfect means to achieve this goal because we value wild ideas and innovative thinking.
- Get everyone’s input in real time
- Easier buy in for the actual design outcome because the whole group has participated

#### When should we run an ideation workshop?

The earlier in the process, the better. You want to do it when you’re diverging. You could do it when:

- Kicking off the design phase of a project, especially when you find yourself stuck at a few initial directions and need to push the envelope.
- During the design phase to brainstorm around specific areas, for example -  a new feature or a workflow

#### Who should we include in ideation workshops?

- At least two facilitators, at least one being a designer
- Other designers, researchers, engineers, product and project managers, subject matter experts, strategists, marketing team, sales team, support, to have diverse points of view

#### How different is it from Google Sprints?

- Ideation workshop doesn’t include prototyping & testing steps
- More time for sketching, less rigid way of deciding ideas ( more open when we transition into the exploring phase of design) 
- Can fit in less time ( half a day to two days)

 

#### Typical Workshop timeline

![2-workshop-timeline-1024x170.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/2_workshop_timeline_1024x170_b92c89c4d0.jpg)

 

### Planning & Practicing the workshop

#### A. Have discussion with stakeholders around expectations

Why are we running the workshop? Who should we invite to it? Where are we in the design process? How much time do we have for the workshop? Were there any previous workshops around this topic and what should we learn from them? Should we do the workshop in phases or in one go?

#### B. Prepare your agenda

Start with a rough outline of what you want to cover in bullet points and how you will achieve the workshop goals. Then brainstorm group activities around specific section of the workshop. I typically would use a spreadsheet to draft an agenda and allocate time. Below I share an example of the workshop agenda we created for Emerson.

![3-Agenda-spreadsheet-1024x455.png](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/3_Agenda_spreadsheet_1024x455_f89e0e7252.png)

#### C. Share and Discuss Agenda

After developing the agenda, share it with your core action team to get feedback, and assign roles among co-facilitators.

#### D. Practice it by yourself and with others.

Dedicate at least an afternoon to run through the agenda as if you’re facilitating the workshop.

- At this point, your deck is pretty much done. You will focus on practicing talking about the goals of each activity and explaining those activities.
- Ask your peers to sit in this session and give critique
- Discuss how to split the participants into teams in case you haven’t done that during the planning phase. We suggest you to have balanced teams that consists of cross-functional members.

#### E. Other preparation work

- Prepare for the space, office supplies, traveling logistics(if workshops happens in a different location), etc.

 

#### Our Workshop Agenda at Emerson

The activities below are a recommended agenda for an ideation workshop done at the stage when product being designed is already known. If you’re in the initial exploratory phase, you might want to make some modification. I think the overall structure still applies. Some activities are optional, but ideally in this order:

1. **Set up the context**

 It helps align the participants on the starting point.

- Present existing materials and make them short, relevant, updated
- Build empathy for users using activities like persona building, empathy mapping, journey mapping, etc. When there are multiples of each, pick your focus.

2. **Set up the guiding principles** (optional)

 We find that running this activity will spark creative energy and healthy discussion among participants. It helps align product experience vision.

- Activities like finish the sentence (for example, I want the product experience to be ____ ) , words to avoid (I don’t want it to feel ____ )  to figure out the collective definition of an ideal design. Use analogies and associations to prepare people with ideation exercise

![4-design-principles-workshop-1024x651.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/4_design_principles_workshop_1024x651_ed50641943.jpg)

3. **Revisit/Create user stories/scenarios for key personas** 

 In the Emerson workshop we had user stories written beforehand. However we found it necessary to  revisit them as part of the workshop because they were not written in a way that’s effective for designers. It’s a good refresher to help the ideation going forward. 

- Prioritization of user stories (straight ranking -- or “[buy a feature](https://scaledagile.com/business-solutions/safe-enterprise/)” activity) 

4. **Have fun with Sketch Icebreakers** 

 Let the audience step outside of their comfort zone and start doing some hands-on drawing. For example, we asked the participants to draw out their ideal day from morning to night in 4 frames and share it with the group.

5. **Prepare ideation with Pre-ideation** 

 Slicing the elephant and split the ideation challenge. This aims to break down a big challenge to smaller challenges and encourage people to think outside the box.

- One of the activities that we used in our workshop with Emerson was brainstorming HMWs (How Might We)  from user stories/insights. We prompted the participants to think about extreme conditions and constraints, to help them generate wild, raw ideas. The 3 prompts we used were; “How might we present info not in a list format?” (which is the obvious answer), “What does the screen look like when we have 75 products to show?”(which is the extreme) and “How might we educate the new engineers?”(which is a key value of this product)

- Cluster and combine some pre-ideation options (can be done as a group ”[octopus clustering](https://www.thisisservicedesigndoing.com/methods/octopus-clustering)” or like in our case by the moderator)

- Prioritize options by quick voting
 
6. **Start Ideation and sketching activity**

 Before the ideation happens, we restate the goals, constraints and opportunity areas.

- Dive into [Crazy 8s](https://designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/methodology/phase3-sketch/crazy-eights): During Crazy 8, we still aim for quantity over quality and generate a lot of ideas. Each individual is given 1 min per idea and 8 min in total to generate 8 sketches(ideas).

- Individually select their favorite idea and flesh it out with more detail.

- The group takes turn to present the ideas

![5-heatmap-voting-1024x695 (1).jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/5_heatmap_voting_1024x695_1_f526eb725d.jpg)

- Facilitator combines ideas and the participants take their time to see all the ideas on the wall. [Heatmap voting](https://designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/methodology/phase4-decide/heatmap-voting) (each participant gets unlimited small dots and can vote for any specific features they like in all the solution sketches, versus voting for an entire sketch.)

- Next, everyone discusses group favorite features, facilitator clusters them into several raw ideas

- Break everyone into groups to further refine the group favorite ideas in their own station
- Rotate stations to work on top of other ideas
- Each group will select one person to stay at the original station while the others rotate to a new station. That person will explain the design solution to new-comers. Repeat until most participants have a chance to work on all the ideas. (Consider this as a quick iteration process)
- Feedback gathering (post-its)

![6-Rotating-stations-1024x776.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/6_Rotating_stations_1024x776_0155665a1d.jpg)

![7-ideation-feedback-815x1024.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/7_ideation_feedback_815x1024_5ccfc5ab81.jpg)

7. **Converge ideas**

- Discuss emerging patterns in the solutions and give your own perspective
- Allocate some time for the participants to give more inputs
- Talk about feasibility and potentially eliminate ideas

 

### Running the workshop

- On the workshop day, be confident. Follow your plan and improvise based on actual timing and situation. Encourage thinking outside of the box.
- Have coffee breaks in between activities, they prepare people for the next activities both physically and mentally.
- Build in time for clustering ideas specifically. For the Emerson workshop, when we’re doing the HMW pre-ideation, I am pretty much doing the moderator clustering real time right after one participant read and pass me the post-its. However, the participant doesn’t really give me any breaks between turns, and didn’t pay much attention when I was clustering the ideas. I think next time I would try to slow down individual presentation by adding time in between turns.     
- Take control of the room when discussion goes in loops. But don’t be afraid to press and ask for clarification on diverging opinions in the room.
- It’s a perfect time to listen-- and observe. Because you don’t typically work with such a large group. Who’re the loud talkers? Who are the quiet influencers?  Who’re the UX advocates that can be our allies? Who’re the idealists? Who’re the pragmatists? What’s the balance between them?
- If it’s a multiple day workshop, help refresh the memory of the participants by having a recap section starting from the second day.
- You’ll likely need to do some work during the nights too to do some kind of synthesis to show the next day. But-usually you’re pretty fried already so spend time wisely and don’t over promise.

 

### Document and share the workshop

- Build expectations on how the ideas from the workshop is going to be references of later design. The designer has to find a balance between listening to and factoring in everyone's opinions/ideas into the design decisions and not feel obligated to follow exactly what people suggested in the workshop.
- Digitize the workshop outputs. In the Emerson workshop, we felt the persona and journey maps, and the design principles were most important to document. But quick notes as a workshop deck with images should work when you have less time.
- Share it and socialize it! It’s a huge pain to move on as if you did nothing--which is what our client sadly did after their previous workshops. Workshop outputs need to be a part of the whole design process. Make physical copies of these and hang them in the office, so people are constantly inspired by them.  

These are my thoughts so far. I am still not an expert at running workshops and processes differ with situations. You are welcome to comment below with activities/tips you find effective in running ideation workshops or share your stories around running workshops. I’m very excited to learn about them!

Big thanks to my editors, Vidhi Goel, Yifei Liu and Leslie Garner Franklin.

The step by step guide of running an ideation workshop

Every now and then, we gather as a team to consider current and contested topics in UX design and research. Part of what we love about our discussions is the chance to share knowledge across experience levels and expertise.

Our latest topic: how do we communicate the value of UX to our clients?

Although the concepts of user experience design and research have been around for at least a decade, UX is still a relatively new field in the grand scheme of business strategies. A huge part of our work as a UX agency has always been to communicate why we’re doing what we’re doing at different phases of our projects and with different types of people using different tools and strategies. We believe in the importance of explaining the critical value of UX, which is why we aim to educate our partner clients with the knowledge and know-how that keeps them informed and empowered both during and after a project.

Here, you’ll find our research team’s biggest takeaways from our latest discussion in the hopes that they’ll be as useful to you as they are for us! Continue reading to discover our five biggest learnings on communicating the value of UX with clients.

![ROUNDTABLE- (1).jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/ROUNDTABLE_1_290ce63cbe.jpg)

Find a shared language.

Since UX is still a relatively young field, there is still little consensus on what terms mean. Terms can have drastically different interpretations across organizations and geographies and even between team members. “UX” itself can be broadly interpreted as shaping an experience of a product or service across mediums (as we do) or it can be narrowly defined as processes for building solely digital services. Before you can even begin to explain the value of UX, ensure that everyone knows exactly what processes and methods you’re talking about. Take the time to define your terms with the client (and internal members, too). Though it can be time consuming up front, use your client’s language so they can take ownership of the processes and methods.

_Tactical tip_: a workshop is a great format for bringing together stakeholders, gaining a shared understanding of the problem, and establishing terminology.

Map your landscape.

Working on any UX projects means working with many different stakeholders. In trying to communicate the value of UX, it’s important to consider the audience you’re speaking to and what their goals might be. We often remind ourselves that the people who sign the SOW are not the only ones influencing decisions. Sketching out a map of how the organization is structured politically and what each stakeholder needs to be successful means time up front, but will be well worth it as you navigate different roadblocks. The map will help when it comes time to decide if you need to take a bottom-up approach or a top-down one.

_Tactical tip_: a stakeholder map is not only a great tool to use to map the product landscape. It can also be used to map the political landscape your are working in. Use the stakeholder map and other methods to convey the constraints and metrics your clients are working towards and how you can help promote their efforts in the larger organization.

Define your success metric.

If you’re bringing new processes to a company, you can’t just barrel in and say “this is what we’re doing,” and expect them to trust you. You have to find out what matters to your client.

Frequently, whether we want to hear it or not, the client just needs to know how this project will affect the company’s bottom line. If you can tie your work to profits, then that may be all the client needs to hear. But if your work cannot be directly linked to the money, find your one achievable success metric that matters to your client. Communicate how this “messy” process can lead to this outcome.

_Tactical tip_: establish tactical and strategic goals with clients early on. Remember that early wins can build credibility to the larger organization. Consider breaking down the project into bite-sized chunks where you can show success along the way.

Tell stories.

Working in UX means working with ambiguity. The process and project is different for every client and we never know quite where the project will end up. That can be scary for those unfamiliar with UX. What we have to show is a process that we know has been successful in the past but in the abstract can be hard to grasp. Instead, tell “nugget” stories -- bite-sized stories that capture the concrete success of a particular method.

When presenting progress to clients, rather than presenting decks filled with text, show them what you’re working on -- maybe it’s a prototype or the materials from a workshop. Rather than just saying a particular button doesn’t work, show a video clip from a usability test of a user struggling to get to the shopping cart. Being able to hold something or see the user’s struggle speaks louder than a page full of text.

_Tactical tip_: the stories you share don’t always have to be your own. One of our favorites is the story of how [Doug Deitz “redesigned” the MRI-machine](https://wordpress.echouser.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/ROUNDTABLE-.jpg) to make it more kid-friendly.

Work with clients who have "drunk the Kool-Aid."

If all else fails, consider working with clients who are already onboard with UX process. As UX becomes a more mature field, more and more organizations are recognizing the value of design to their bottom line. While our jobs will most likely always entail evangelizing for human-centered processes, working with organizations who are already bought into the process means you can push the boundaries and try more exploratory methods. Sometimes, it’s not possible to work with companies totally on board with the UX process. If that’s the case, find your UX evangelist in the company to team up with who can share the design thinking philosophy more widely.

_Tactical tip_: our team recommends reading Wired to Care to understand how a shared philosophy can benefit a company.

 

----

 

Successfully communicating the value of UX is always dependent of the client and the context. As we talked about in the roundtable, each situation will require something a little different. How we share our value will always be an ongoing discussion here at EchoUser.

Do you have any favorite strategies for communicating the value of UX?

Communicating the Value of UX

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A few months ago, I attended World IA Day, where I heard a talk called Designing for Intelligence by [JD Vogt](https://twitter.com/jdvogt) from Salesforce. One thing I deeply resonated with were his slides showing a hexagon of how the world informs humans, and how humans act on the world.

This led me to examine my own thinking process, as much of a designer’s job is to consume information and visualize it in various design artifacts.

![yalu1.jpeg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/yalu1_9d83550cd8.jpeg)

In this article, I’m just going to share some of my practices as a design consultant on how to “**internalize**”/capture information and “**externalize**”/communicate it in a meaningful way. I’ll also share my toolkit on how to train your brain to tackle complexity.

If you ever wonder why designers like to draw on whiteboards, use post-it notes, or create all sorts of diagrams, you may find some answers here.

#### Internalization.

Here, internalization means a process to craft your understanding and translate perceived reality into your brain. Imagine scratching a lottery ticket. As you start to scratch the surface and it reveals unidentified shapes, you wonder “do I win the prize?” As you continue scratching, it shows more and more details until you see enough of the full picture and realize “oh crap, I didn’t win it,” or “yay, I just won myself a trip to the moon!” You might want to scratch harder or look closer into more details to confirm the reality before you.

Internalization happens all the time in design process, such as onboarding a new project, learning different domain knowledge in client consulting, interpreting client requirements, taking in feedback, etc. Designers need to effectively internalize information as it is a way to turn “heard” and “seen” into “understood” and “learned.” Therefore, it is a starting point to get the **right stuff** done. It also grows our knowledge bank, helps gather different perspectives, and broadens horizons, as well as deepens our learning in certain areas.

#### Externalization.

There are two types of externalization. I call the first one “immediate externalization,” which is a synchronous subconscious process and quick response to internalizing things; for example, taking notes while listening, and having a back and forth conversation. A second type is “after effect externalization.” This can be an intentional act after a certain time, and is more well thought-out or drives things further in a more organized way; for example, a speech or an article.

For designers, externalization comes in different ways such as clarifying requirements, design deliverables, design critics, presentations, etc. It can be part of the validation of the success of internalization. It’s a great way to measure how much you’ve really understood, or learned, regardless of your ego. In other words, it validates if you really grasp a matter of fact in the design process. In return, it helps you better understand something, and reinforce that understanding. You can also use it to demonstrate your thinking process to your team. It benefits whoever is involved in the project. Sometimes, it can offload what’s in your mind, and shift your senses to see things in a different way. It is also a great way to share out to a broader audience to arise interest or call for action.

#### An example from my own work.

Here I want to color code my internalization and externalization processes to give you a tangible idea of how the two help me design.

Once I was tasked with designing a new “zoom” feature for a map. My client gave me some initial requirements, and I sketched out some early concepts.

Then we had a meeting to go over the design and development constraints.

“When you zoom in to next level this way, that happens…”

We’d been talking for an hour on the interaction and information display of zoom-in and zoom-out, but couldn’t land on an agreement.

At one point, I realized although we were using the same word “zoom,” we meant two different things. One was to literally zoom the scale of a map — for example, from 100% to 200% — and another was to semantically zoom — for example, from global, to regional, to country, etc. levels.

Once I realized that, I instantly visualized a matrix in my brain. I quickly grabbed post-it notes and a marker and sketched out the different zooming states, drew the matrix on the whiteboard, and annotated it with the notes.

This took me less than five minutes.

I called the team to the board and explained the discrepancy in our understanding. We started to point to the board and add additional notes. This quickly cleared up confusion and relieved tension in the discussion. And it helped us to arrive on a feasible solution for that time being.

![yalu2.jpeg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/yalu2_8d9ccc5dc1.jpeg)

#### The reality capture loop.

As I reflected on experiences like this as a designer, I summarized five major steps in the reality capture loop that involves information internalization and externalization. It may require more cognitive or brain research support, but here’s a start:

![yalu3.jpeg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/yalu3_d2758c7eb9.jpeg)

- **Input**. Our senses are the receivers of information and the first step to initiate the internalization process. What we see, hear, feel feeds the information to our brain processing.
- **Process**. How our brain takes in information and makes sense of it. It can be knowledge creation or pattern lookup in the knowledge bank. Our brains internalize and process information, and generate thoughts to feed into externalization.
- **Output**. The starting point to make thoughts tangible. Here our senses play an important role, especially speaking, writing, and crafting. For designers, you could talk it out loud, write it up, or get hands dirty.
- **Validate**. Our brain receives information all the time, but how effective does it process and really take it into knowledge bank? That’s when validation comes in. I found the most straightforward way to validate the _internalization_ is by _externalization_.
- **Strengthen**. When a new piece of knowledge arrives, the brain creates a first impression which may be a weak link, therefore it’s important to strengthen it by repeating the whole process.

 

#### Tips and tools.

So, as designers, how do we better internalize what’s needed to design?

- **Keep an open mind and growth mindset**. If you shut the door for information, then even if you receive it, your brain will have a hard time accessing and processing it. Therefore, it’s important to keep your mind open, give each piece of information a chance to prove itself, and think twice before you say it’s impossible. Maintain a strong curiosity and proactiveness to learn.
- **Constantly activate receiving sensors**. This requires us to sharpen our senses that initiate the internalization process, especially in seeing and listening. Multitask on the present internalization process and actively sense what’s unfolding, instead of multitasking on such as checking on emails while you are in a meeting.
- **Be proactive in externalizing information**. There often will be discrepancies between what you think you understand and the reality you experience. It doesn’t hurt to confirm and validate your understanding to make sure you are on the same page.


For designers, there are so many tools to help better _externalize_ information. Here are a few of my favorites:

- **“What’s your definition of XYZ?”** Words can mean different things to people. Ask the question often to align the understanding.
- **Post-it notes**. A good way to post thoughts up and easily move them around and reorganize them.
- **Paper & pen. Whiteboard & marker**.
- **Note-taking**. The most straightforward way to surface your understanding while you are soaking in all the information. There are a lot of tips of note taking, including sketch-noting.
- **Conceptual diagrams**. Solidify abstract concepts and their relationships. A great way to capture the big picture and refer to later when creating specific designs.
- **Play dolls. Legos**. Quick and dirty, tangible and effective.
- **Voice recording, video recording, or a mirror**. That helps me prep for an important presentation. May be strange at first, but a great way to validate and reflect on my externalization.

 

#### Last words.

You may have noticed that a lot of time internalization and externalization are intertwined as it becomes subconscious. Meanwhile, it’s important to be **more conscious** of capturing your own reality and also contributing other’s reality creation.

Your externalization can be someone else’s starting point of internalization. Be **mindful and purposeful** about what you are saying and writing. When you start to internalize someone else’s externalization, keep in mind your interpretation can be different than others’, and remember to embrace diverse perspectives.

 

>_“Language works its magic only to the extent that it is shared by speaker and listener. And there’s the key clue to how to achieve the miracle of re-creating your idea in someone else’s brain. You can only use the tools that your audience has access to.”_

>_— TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking by Chris Anderson._

How a Designer Captures Reality

**May 2020**: Life changed for all of us. As we all confined ourselves into our homes, not being able to dine out at restaurants was one of the biggest changes that the pandemic brought to my lifestyle. The entire experience of dining out, with well-set tables and cutlery, hot appetizers, and beautiful ambiance was suddenly missing. 

By week 8, it was a missing hole I desperately wanted to fill. So, my partner and I decided to get creative and bring the restaurant experience home. I’m a designer so naturally, I started thinking “How might we create the ambiance of Nola, Mountain View based restaurant?”

With the mood set, we started decorating our patio. Out came the bedroom area rug with couch pillows playing the role of randomly colored floor seating. We affixed fairy lights to the roof, played a restaurant playlist from Spotify, and ordered some food. This was our version of recreating “Nola”. Thirty minutes later we heard the door knock, and it was Doordash with our Nola order. In my imagination, he arrived with a dapper Nola uniform and tossed in some nice cutlery and cloth napkins, but in reality, he arrived with a brown paper bag with two styrofoam food boxes containing Roasted Cauliflower Taco and Spicy Jambalaya with a pair of plastic cutlery, our DIY version of “Nola” left us with a feeling of dissatisfaction. Eating from styrofoam boxes with recyclable plastic cutlery left us with a mismatched and underwhelming experience. It just didn't give us the “$$” feel.

While the Covid-19 pandemic has negatively affected every person and business on the planet in some way or form, restaurants have taken some of the biggest hits. The pandemic has forced restaurants to find new ways of managing their income and keeping themselves afloat. For example, many restaurants are now changing their menu to make sure their food fits in takeout boxes. Some fine dining restaurants have started renting out their restaurant space and using ghost kitchens* instead to prepare food for their customers. In a matter of days, restaurants had to quickly switch to takeout and delivery options exclusively to bring in revenue while working closely with foodservice apps. This switch required significant effort from the restaurants to quickly build a delivery infrastructure and learn how to maintain it. The IT systems had to be revamped in most restaurants as more and more customers started embracing take-out and food delivery. 

In the pre-COVID era, the dine-in experience was one of the main differentiating and luring factors for restaurants. But now, since restaurants have mastered take-out/ delivery processes I believe the next natural progression is designing the right takeout “dine at home” experience. Bruce Reinstein, partner at the food consulting firm Kinetic 12 recently wrote in QSR magazine that since restaurants are currently unable to use atmosphere and on-premise services to differentiate themselves from their competition they are now focused on designing the right take-out packaging OR finding ways to innovate the pickup experience. Their main intention is to alter some experiences that can eventually help them build a differentiated brand value. The fine-dine or dine-in experience is now getting replaced by a newly designed takeout experience.

For example, The Village Pub in New York City sends to-go orders out with amuse bouche (the complimentary small dishes you'd get at the start of a meal during your dine-in visit) and plating instructions for every dish like how to spoon oval-shaped saffron risotto onto a plate and top it with the sorrel-roasted chicken. Seattle’s Landmark Hotel Canalis Penthouse restaurant has recently started playing live piano music over zoom for customers at home while they sit and enjoy their prepared meal. Creating these quirky ways of pairing “take-home” food with the makeshift dining experience can really resonate with a holistic dine “at home” experience. 

**How can we help as Experience designers?**

These experiments with experiences would need to be driven by the restaurants so that their patrons do not miss the old times. In the spirit of completing the Nola “at home” experience, the Experience Designer in me thought of charting down the experience and finding factors that I interface with while dining.

![Dine-in-customer-journey-3-scaled.jpg](https://echouser-api-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Dine_in_customer_journey_3_scaled_e13eb7f97f.jpg)

The experience of dine-in at restaurants and the experience of “dine-in” at home are drastically different, even though food is the common denominator. 

Hence,

**HOW CAN WE HELP RESTAURANTS FIND MOMENTS IN THE DINE-IN EXPERIENCE WHICH CAN BE REPLICATED AT HOME?**


Take out experience during a pandemic

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