UI/UX Guidance

Research

Perform User Research

Description:

User research focuses on understanding user behaviors, needs, and motivations through naturalistic observation, task analysis, usability testing, and other feedback methodologies. Researchers seek answers to the following questions about the target user:

• Who are they?

• Where are they from?

• Where can you find them?

• What motivates them?

• What are their goals?

• What what problems do they currently experience?

• What constrains them?

• What are the key characteristics of their environment?

How To:

• User Research (Usability.gov)

• Usability Testing (18F Methods)

• Card Sorting (18F Methods)

Build User Personas

Description: Using information gathered during the research phase, create fictional personifications of archetypal users. Include detailed information about the goals, needs, and interests of each.

How To: - Personas (Usability.gov)

Define the Information Architecture

Description: Examine the relationships between items and terminology throughout the system to understand the information structure. Use this knowledge to inform the design of global navigation systems, menus, search results, and content filters.

How To: - Information Architecture Basics (Usability.gov)

Interaction Design

Complete Task Flow Analysis

Description: Perform a step-by-step analysis of how a user will interact with a system in order to reach a goal. This analysis is documented in a diagram that traces a user's possible paths through sequences of tasks and decision points in pursuit of their goal.

How To: - Task Flow Analysis (18F Methods)

Create Storyboards

Description: Document a sequence of key actions associated with each primary user scenario using pictures occasionally accompanied with narrative text. Focus on the steps the user must take in order to reach the final goal.

How To: - Storyboarding (18F Methods)

Develop Wireframes and Interactive Prototypes

Description: Produce a simplified representation of a user interface. Whether static or functional, it should depict the form and functionality of a product or service in a manner that aids visual design, software development, usability evaluation, and quality assurance testing.

How To: - Wireframing (18F Methods)

• Prototyping (18F Methods)

• Prototyping (Usability.gov)

Visual Design and Implementation

Write User Stories

Description: Create user stories to describe work that must be done to create and deliver a feature for a product. User stories serve as a basic unit of communication for planning and negotiation among Agile team members, product owners, and program managers. Stories consist of the following elements: - User description

• Task a user wants to accomplish

• Goal a user wants to achieve

• Acceptance criteria the system must meet in order for the team to consider it "done."

• A point value that reflects an estimate of the amount of effort required to complete the story.

  • These estimates are also known as story points

  • The higher the number, the greater the level of effort required to complete the story

  • Teams often express story points in a fibonacci sequence (i.e., 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, and 21) to more easily differentiate between estimates, account for uncertainty, and represent the increasingly longer amounts required to complete large complex blocks of work. How To:

  • Writing Effective User Stories (GSA Tech Guides)

Draw Site Maps

Description: Create an overview map that helps users navigate the product and re-orient themselves if they become lost.

How To: - Site Mapping (18F Methods)

Implement the Visual Design

Description: Use the style guides, existing research, task flows, wireframes, editorial copy, and user feedback to construct detailed visual mockups that express the graphical appearance of the product. The finalized visual design should include elements that users can easily access, understand, and utilize to accomplish all required actions.

How To: - Visual Design Basics (Usability.gov)

• Digital Experience Style Guide (GSA Style Guide)

Management and Optimization

Maintain a Content Strategy

Description: Utilize Content Strategy practices to guide the management, production, and distribution of publishable information such as articles, pictures, and videos (AKA "content") owned by an organization. Produce and maintain content inventories, structural specifications, management plans, standards, target audiences, and search engine optimization (AKA "SEO") guidelines. Collaborate with product managers to meet business requirements. Work with legal representatives to enforce content policies and developers to construct, maintain, and evolve the design of content management systems (AKA "CMS") used by employees to produce and maintain organizational content.

How To: - Content Management Systems Toolkit (Digital.gov)

• Content Strategy Basics (Usability.gov)

• Content Inventory (Usability.gov)

• Content Audit (18F Methods)

Use Metrics for Analysis and Reporting

Description: Use metrics to measure, analyze, and report on the effectiveness of Web, mobile, social media, and other digital channels. The metrics strategy should measure performance, customer satisfaction, engagement. Use data to make continuous improvement decisions and continuously improve customer service.

How To: - Digital Metrics for Federal Agencies (Digital.gov)