Column: Research That Works

There is a trend among some in the UX community to take the U out of UX and refer to our discipline simply as experience design. One reason for this change in terminology is that it lets us talk about a specific target audience in terms that resonate with business stakeholders more than the generic term user—for example, customer experience, patient experience, or member experience. The other reason for using the term experience design rather than user experience design is that it recognizes the fact that most customer interactions are multifaceted and complex and include all aspects of a customer’s interaction with a company or other organizational entity, including its people, services, and products. Customer interactions encompass much more than the usability of a particular user interface. They include all of the social and emotional consequences of a customer’s interaction with an organization or brand, including trust, motivation, relationships, and value.

But if the name of the discipline is evolving and the focus of design is expanding, does that mean the design methods are different? Are traditional usability and user-centered design activities useful for gaining insight into the broader implications of the emotional impacts of a design? Or do we need different approaches? To explore these questions, it is helpful to look at the strengths and weaknesses of two existing alternative design approaches:

• user-centered design
• genius design

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Guided selling is an approach that attempts to educate consumers about a set of products or services and provide decision-making support that directs them to a solution that is right for them. Similar to a helpful salesperson, a software-based guided-selling application leads a consumer through a set of questions that assess their values, intended usage, and knowledge of a particular product category, then directs them to information and products that meet their needs.

This approach is especially helpful in situations where the decision-making process is complex—for example, when purchasing complex products with many features and functions. In addition, this approach is valuable when selling products that are new to the marketplace and in situations where the intended audience is not likely to have knowledge of a product domain. Some obvious examples are consumer electronics and complex products and services relating to healthcare, insurance, financial services, and travel. Guided selling can be helpful in any circumstance where consumers are likely to need help orienting themselves to the available choices, as well as support in making an informed choice. Read More

When developing hierarchies for information-rich Web sites, designers and usability researchers often turn to card sorting for help in making design decisions. Card sorting offers a systematic and statistically significant process for answering questions about hierarchy design. However, those of us who have run card sorts know there is an art to conducting successful card sort studies, and there are many variables that can affect the usefulness of results. In this column, I’ll discuss the challenges and limitations of card sorting and review alternative and complementary techniques that designers can leverage when developing an information hierarchy for a large-scale Web site. Read More