The book provides a holistic overview and beginners to intermediate introduction to User Experience Design. It’s the ‘missing manual’ we have been looking for at Belfast School of Art.
This could be a Smashing Book, perhaps? I could use the content I’ve developed for the articles for Smashing + Adobe and develop them into a fully fledged book.
I’m sure others might find it useful, too. We could perhaps serialise the book for Smashing’s membership, so that we maximise the content. This could also be a nice way to give Adobe another hit of marketing for their support.
I’d redraw all the diagrams and take them up a notch. The approach would be like my first Standardistas’ book, with a section after each chapter of suggested reading, possibly downloadable templates, printables, etc..
Build the book around the UX process we’ve highlighted in the articles:
- Research /* Define, Hypothesis, Idea */
- Design
- Prototype
- Build
- Test
Why this book? Why me?
Many years ago I co-authored a book on HTML and CSS with my Standardistas partner-in-crime, Nicklas Persson. In private we called it ‘The Standardistas’ Bible’.
It was the missing textbook we needed for my teaching at Belfast School of Art. Things have moved on and, once again, I’m looking for a textbook. One that introduces the fundamentals of UX, from research right through to design, build and test.
This book is what I, and my team, have built our teaching around at Belfast School of Art and it’s informed by our #opencurriculum.
/* Be sure and credit folks who’ve helped: Iris, Markus; Liz Hemingway, Amanda Gross Tuft; @richardreddy, @bitka, etc.. */
Why UX? Why now?
This is an expansion of article number one and the later articles on UX strategy. It’s about competitive advantage, why design-driven companies deliver higher profits, etc. The rise of the Chief Design Officer (CDO).
Perhaps references some of Adobe’s statistics that explain why design is being embraced by industry and why user experience, in particular, is driving and disrupting industry.
- Define the problem.
- Research Methods (A list of methods, with explanations, like a pick’n’mix.)
- Card Sorting
- Interviews
- Etc.
- Analysing Research Findings
- User Stories
- Universal Principles
- Visual Grammar
- Language and Typography
- Narrative Design
- Information Architecture
- User Interface
- Screens ≠ Print
- Animation
- Lo-fi Prototypes
- Wireframes
- Etc.
/* This chapter feels a little out of place for a high level book… Are we talking about high fidelity prototypes here? In this context, perhaps? Although I could also touch on a cross-section of tools designers can use to build immersive prototypes. */
Again, this draws on the Smashing + Adobe articles (No. 8).