Learning Complex Domains for User Experience Design (UXD) Projects

Bob Moll, Wednesday, March 29, 2006 @ 4:27 pm

Legend has it the famous advertising slogan “Two scoops of raisins in Kellogg’s Raisin Bran” was created by an energetic copywriter who literally dumped out the box of cereal on a table and scrutinized the content for inspiration. Moral of the story:  As designers we have to know our product. But what do you do when your product involves biological science, electrical engineering or any other complex domain? Here’s a few suggestions for getting up to speed in a complex subject areas.

Speak the Language
First, you have to speak the language. Ask your subject expert to outline the top ten or fifteen words or expressions used on a daily basis by your users. Then have him or her define those words in terms that you can understand.  Keep the number of words to ten or fifteen, and only the most important terms.

Key Scenarios
Next, identify the top five or so key scenarios your users do in a typical day. Each scenario should have a simple title and a set of steps. Remember, the goal initially isn’t to do user research, but just to get a feel for what people are doing. Try to cover the five scenarios in an hour or less. This will help your expert from getting too bogged down in details you won’t be able to digest yet.

Map the Scenarios
Once you have the key scenarios, arrange them in a hierarchy. Of course, it’s possible the scenarios are isolated tasks and don’t fit a hierarchy, which is fine. But usually a hierarchy of some kind applies. This hierarchy will become a context for understanding when your user does various things.

Construct a Day in the Life Narrative
To test your understanding of the domain, take the information you have gathered and construct a day in the life narrative of your user. In doing so, you will create a vehicle for refining your domain knowledge and a start to your more serious user research.   

Two Hours or Less
No matter how complex the domain, make it your objective to get through the above tasks in 2 hours or less. By time limiting the exercise, you can keep your subject matter expert from straying into the details before you have the basics solidified.

Related posts:

1. The Experience behind User Experience Design
2. Gmail, agile development and user experience design
3. Great Article on Prototyping Complex Interactions
4. The Importance of User Experience – Do You Understand It in Your Bones?
5. User Experience in Sovereign vs. Transitory Applications

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