Communicating the UX Vision: 13 Anti-Patterns That Block Good Ideas

by Martina Schell, James O'Brien

Overview

This book identifies the 13 main challenges designers face when they talk about their work and provides communication strategies so that a better design, not a louder argument, is what makes it into the world.

It is a fact that we all want to put great design into the world, but no product ever makes it out of the building without rounds of reviews, feedback, and signoff. As an interaction or UX designer, you’ve felt the general trend toward faster development, more work, and less discussion. As we spend time crafting, we become attached to our own ideas and it gets all too easy to react to feedback emotionally or dismiss it, when we should be taking the time to decode it and explain or adapt the design. 

Communicating the UX Vision helps you identify the skills and behavioral patterns to present your work in more persuasive ways, and respond more constructively to feedback from coworkers and stakeholders.

• Learn presentation tips that make stakeholders and other departments take your designs more seriously
• Uncover valuable techniques to make feedback sessions more productive
• Understand how to improve empathy with business stakeholders and learn to speak their language better
• Discover how to better understand your behavior and identify your personal anti-patterns

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780127999241
Publisher:	Elsevier Science
Publication date:	02/19/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	374
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Martina is a User Experience consultant with over 15 years of experience in interactivity for web, desktop, TV and mobile devices. She specializes in user-centered design, experience strategy and qualitative design research to help Fortune 100 and start-up companies across a wide range of sectors develop new products and services, or measurably improve existing ones. Martina holds a MA in Applied Imagination from Central Saint Martins, where she conducted research into methods for multi-disciplinary collaboration to support creativity and innovation. She co-founded UX Tuesday and mentors at Method Design Lab and Seedcamp to bring UX expertise to startups. She serves on the UK UXPA committee, and regularly organizes and speaks at events.
James is a UX Designer and experienced Agile practitioner. He loves to create exceptional products and can often be found complaining on Twitter about the frustrations that get in the way. In the last ten years he’s worked with agencies, enterprise codeshops and independent start-ups, always preaching the importance of designing for the user. James lives on a rusty Dutch barge moored by Tower Bridge. He doesn’t do anything in his spare time because he lives on a rusty Dutch barge, so he never gets any spare time. When he’s lucky, he sleeps. He usually smells faintly of diesel.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Why Anti-patterns? Chapter 1: Anti-pattern 1: Speaking Different Languages Chapter 2: Anti-pattern 2: No Consistent Design Language Chapter 3: Anti-pattern 3: Creating Silos Chapter 4: Anti-pattern 4: Having Different KPIs Chapter 5: Anti-pattern 5: Not embracing everyone’s goals Chapter 6: Anti-pattern 6: Responding to how they say it, not what they’re saying Chapter 7: Anti-pattern 7: Living in the deliverables Chapter 8: Anti-pattern 8: Insisting on perfection Chapter 9: Anti-pattern 9: Presenting Without Contextualizing Chapter 10: Anti-pattern 10: Throwing Deliverables Over The Fence Chapter 11: Anti-pattern 11: Assuming Others Don’t Get Design Chapter 12: Anti-pattern 12: Defending too hard Chapter 13: Anti-pattern 13: Not defending hard enough Chapter 14: How to spot and fix your own anti-patterns Chapter 15: Wrap up

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Identifies the 13 main challenges designers face when they talk about their work, providing communication strategies so that a better design, not a louder argument, is what makes it into the world

Editorial Reviews

"This is a worthwhile reference book for user interface designers to have on their bookshelves. It could also be used to foster communication and feedback between team members...chapters are short and to the point, and the book is easy to read." —Computing Reviews

"Great design doesn’t just happen on the screen; it also demands well-designed communication. Let this invaluable book be your guide." —Cennydd Bowles, Design Manager at Twitter

"I’ve made all these mistakes but you shouldn’t have to. These are real practical remedies to everyday problems in the design industry and you should put them to work right away." —Stuart Eccles, co-founder of Made by Many

“A valuable and well organised communicative toolbox for design professionals and students aiming to master the tightrope of fast paced and multi-disciplinary design projects!" —Martin Feuz, Head of BA in Interaction Design. Zurich University of the Arts

"An essential handbook to help you work better with clients, stakeholders and your team." —Johanna Kollmann, independent product strategist at Us And The Machines Ltd

"Creating a shared understanding is one of the most critical skills a UX practitioner must master. Martina and James help you understand the magic that is the collision between business and design. This well-organized, down to Earth, useful guide is the book you have been waiting for." —Tomer Sharon, UX Researcher at Google and author of Lean User Research for Product Development and It's Our Research

From the Publisher