Category Archives: design research

design research, user experience

Human Factors at IDEO

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I’m excited to announce that in a few weeks I’ll be starting at IDEO as a senior designer/human factors specialist, based in their San Francisco studio. I’m thrilled by this amazing opportunity and the projects that lie ahead.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of the friends, collaborators, and clients I’ve worked with over this busy past year of working independently — it’s been a wonderful adventure. Although I’ll have less available time, I look forward to continuing our conversations and endeavors.

For now I’m going to focus on enjoying the summer weather that just made its way to SF and wrapping up a few consulting and writing projects. Holler if you’re in the neighborhood and want to sit outside and drink cocktails.

(Photo copyright IDEO)

conferences, design research, user experience

Speaking in Atlanta and Sydney: Setting up a UXR program and running remote studies

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I’m honored to be on the rosters for the upcoming Web Directions USA in Atlanta and Web Directions South in Sydney. (And you can register for Web Directions USA for only $799 using my discount code, “WDUSA-MELTON.”)

At both conferences I’ll be running a workshop, “Know Your Users: Developing effective user experience research plans” (Atlanta and Sydney) and giving a talk, “Running effective remote studies” (Atlanta and Sydney).

Know Your Users: Developing effective user experience research plans

You can dramatically improve your websites when you pay attention to how they are being used. Understanding user behavior can be challenging, but there lots of ways to get started. User testing doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive, and shouldn’t only happen at the end of the product development cycle. The best and most useful research is distributed throughout the product lifecycle and is done in a way that clicks with how your organization works.

At this workshop, Juliette Melton will show you how to build an effective user experience research program from scratch and how to keep it going over time.

Who is this workshop for?
This workshop is for those who want to understand how to learn about user experiences, including project/product managers, designers, and usability professionals.

What will you learn?

  • A structured approach to building a user testing program
  • Web analytics basics
  • Writing effective surveys
  • How to include coworkers in your research
  • How to perform task analysis
  • When to use remote research tools
  • Tips for recruiting testing participants
  • Best practices for sharing research findings

Remote research: Running effective remote studies

Remote research can raise the quality and lower the costs of your user research efforts; using a combination of surveys, video, screensharing, and phone, you can connect with a much broader range of users than you could using traditional lab-based usability tests, while using resources more efficiently than you would doing contextual research. In this workshop-style talk, Juliette Melton will cover recruiting sources, technology tools, and caveats you might not have thought of, including managing time zones and participant distraction. We will also address pros and cons of increasingly popular non-scripted research services.

community, conferences, design research, presentations, user experience

Next week at BayCHI: “Real World Remote Research”

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Next Tuesday, Jan. 12, I’ll be presenting to BayCHI about how to do great user research with remote methods.

The program description:

Remote research can raise the quality and lower the costs of your user research efforts; using a combination of surveys, video, screensharing, and phone, you can connect with a much broader range of users than you could using traditional lab-based usability tests, while using resources more efficiently than you would doing contextual research. In this workshop-style talk, Juliette Melton will cover recruiting sources, technology tools, and caveats you might not have thought of, including managing time zones and participant distraction. We will also address pros and cons of increasingly popular non-scripted research services.

I hope to see you there!