Contextography

Is UX in your DNA? Don’t worry, it will be.

A colleague asked me three questions which I thought were interesting.  These were in relation to a large cosmetics brand that was considering deeper investment in UX.  I liked my answers enough to share them with you.

a. Do companies form a single group, distribute UX experts across team, or bring in outside consultants?

Yes.  The fastest route to success is generally form one central UX or XD team that serves internal customers and ‘goes on contract’ to those teams but shares/seeds ideas and skills development as a group.  Be sure to provide that team with the external backup and domain expertise it needs to be successful - perhaps product design firms or graphic design agencies.  This could be in the form of consultants on site or projects (R&D) that are done with external firms.  Shop diligently. YMMV.

b. How are quality and consistency assured across a portfolio of application?  Is there some type of UX review board?

Quality and consistency are generally attained and maintained by creating standards and then guides for those standards and then enforcing those standards and then constantly accepting input and feedback on those standards - no small feat there. A review board or panel is often not the right approach as focus and domain expertise vary – select review and input by channel or expertise area, include customers and in the case of a cosmetics brand perhaps bring in the people who deal with the customers, like cosmeticians or counter staff from the big department stores.

c. Is there a tried & true training syllabus to improve UX orientation of the staff?

Nope. An employee needs to feel customer/user focus in the DNA of a brand and as a leadership mandate in order to want to be oriented that way, otherwise its perceived as too risky for individual behaviour.  People tend to focus on their own goals, so the best practice is to put the language of customer/user focus in line with the goals of individuals and/or to add new goals and incentives that drive and recognize this behavior.  UX is pretty fascinating and interesting to many people as well, so showcasing your team and internal process and early wins or R&D work is likely going to serve you well in terms of both educational content and incentives to change behavior.  Think concept car – it may never go to market but we sense the brand and focus on design innovation through its existence.

The Future of Mobile is User Context

(excerpt from the executive summary of a 2011 Forrester report on future of mobile)

Consumers will adopt and use convenient services and products. In mobile, this means services that offer immediacy and simplicity through a highly contextual experience. The ability to deliver highly contextual experiences will evolve in sophistication with technology in the phone. Consumer product strategy (CPS) professionals must leverage context to create and deliver product experiences that enhance the overall perceived value of a product. Not all CPS professionals need to move at the same pace. They must first incorporate context into digital products such as games and media today while assisting their eBusiness and interactive marketing counterparts in their use of mobile to deliver more targeted experiences. Longer term, CPS professionals must lead efforts among their colleagues throughout their organizations as they begin to use new sensors to detect context and motion to control the devices and services on them.

(Source: forrester.com)