What is the Fluid Design Handbook?The Fluid Design Handbook is a How-to Guide filled with user-centered design (UCD) techniques you can use to learn from your users and design better user experiences. User Research Contextual InquiryContextual inquiry is a cross between interviews and observation and combines the strengths of both. In a contextual inquiry, the interviewer goes to the user and interviews them where they do their work. > Learn more > Fluid examples Interviews and ObservationInterviews and observations are field study methods like contextual inquiries. In both cases, you should visit the participant "in the wild" to better understand how they get their work done in the context of their work. > Learn more Surveys and Focus GroupsSurveys and focus groups are good tools to evaluate users' interests and feelings about a product (or potential product). They can be a starting point for determining areas you want to focus more in depth research like observations and contextual inquiry. User Modeling Personas"A persona is a user archetype you can use to help guide decisions about product features, navigation, interactions, and even visual design." (Kim Goodwin, Cooper.com) Mental ModelsMental models are way to think about what knowledge, experience and expectations users bring with them when they use your product. > Mental Models, by Indi Young Affinity DiagramsAffinity diagramming is a great way to synthesize and categorize large amounts of data by finding relationships between ideas. We tend to use them often for making sense of user research data. ScenariosScenarios help us understand the details of how we can better support users in meeting their goals. Scenarios -- stories about users activities as they happen in context and relate to other activities -- define the way a user needs to complete an activity or string of activities, what information they already know and need to know, what mental models and expectations they already have in the space and how their context affects the way they get work done Interaction Design Design PatternsDesign patterns serve as tools to communicate ideas, solutions, and knowledge about commonly recurring design problems. User interface design patterns help designers and developers create the most effective and usable interface for a particular situation. > Learn more > Fluid examples Fluid ComponentsFluid components are reusable user interfaces that take the hard work out of supporting rich interaction in a Web application. Components are often larger than familiar widgets in a UI toolkit, taking into account user workflows and sequences. Storyboarding"Storyboarding...ensure that the team does not overlook any intents and steps that are critical to the work." ("Rapid Contextual Design", Holtzblatt et al, pg. 229) Using a combination of pictures and text, it is a great technique for working out the details of how a user will accomplish specific tasks in a new design. > Learn more Competitive Analysis (a.k.a. Benchmarking)A competitive analysis (sometimes also called compartive analysis or benchmarking) is the process of analyzing products which are similar to, or compete with, the product you are designing in order to generate ideas. User Experience ResourcesUser experience organizations, sites, articles presentations, and other resources. |
Evaluation and Assessment User Experience Walkthroughs
The Fluid UX Walkthrough takes an all-in-one approach by combining the best methods of the other inspection techniques described in this handbook. Heuristic EvaluationHeuristic evaluation is a method for finding usability problems in a user interface by reviewing it for compliance with a checklist of recognized usability principles called heuristics. Cognitive WalkthroughA cognitive walkthrough is a step-by-step exploration of a service to see how well a particular type of user, usually represented by a persona, is able to accomplish a particular objective or set of objectives. Accessibility Markup Review
Accessibility Review Protocols
User TestingUser testing, also sometimes referred to as usability testing, is a technique for evaluating usability, working with an actual or potential user of a product or system. > Learn more > Fluid examples Accessibility Accessibility ResourcesResources for Web and DHTML accessibility from both the design and technical perspectives. Design Process & Management Problem Statements and Design GoalsProblem Statements and Design Goals help work through problem and solution definition. Once established they should be referred to throughout the project as a check balance. Are we still meeting our original goals? Focused on the problem at hand or are we in danger of scope creep? Agile Planning - Goals, benefits and details
Design and Development Process |