UI13: Kim Goodwin’s “Where Usability Meets Desirability: Goal-Directed Visual Interface Design”

I attended Jared Spool’s keynote “Journey to the Center of Design” on Day 2 of UI13, but since I had already live-tweeted it when I saw it at IA Summit 2008, I decided just to sit back and watch.

In the afternoon, I attended Kim Goodwin‘s “Where Usability Meets Desirability: Goal-Directed Visual Interface Design”. My Twitter notes from the session are below:

• Cooper sought to solve 2 problems: ppl judge visual design subjectively (idiosyncratic tastes), lack of collab bw UX & visual designer
• Visual interface design: enhances brand (by providing 1st impression and ongoing emotional exp) & usability (comm content & behavior)
• VD enhances usability by adjusting visual weight of interface elements based on relative priority, indicating relationships/meaning…
• …through shared visual properties, improving legibility and readability of text and other elements
• Kim is going really fast. It’s impossible to keep up
• Visual interface design is not graphic design. Different constraints, greater emphasis on info des & behavior, less on style
• Visual interface design also different than graphic design in that content changes state over time
• IxDers good at visualizing systems and structures; well-versed in usability. VDers good at visually clarifying behavior & comm brand
• Distinct roles, each should be literate in the other. Most ppl are better at 1 or the other. If you’re responsible for both, 1 suffers
• There’s a productive tension between the roles. When you don’t have both, hire IxDers with strong VD skills, send to design courses
• Contract visual design help at key points
• Goal-Directed Interaction Design: by focusing on accomplishing goals, we get to breakthrough design ideas
• GDD: Research > Modeling > Requirements Definition > Framework Definition > Design Refinement > Development Support
• Stakeholder interviews with ppl responsible for: overall product vision (prod mgr or sr exec), brand strategy (CMO), GUI developers
• User interiews: IxDs look for workflow, mental models, environ issues, tasks, info needs, frustrations, exception cases
• while VDs look for environ &display issues (lighting), user characteristics (poor vision), how brand resonates, how users want to feel
• Interesting to hear about Cooper Methodology from Kim’s perspective. This is what I practiced for a year and a half at Liquidnet
• Visual designer collaborates on process or concept visualization, ensures that personas include emotional and brand perspectives
• Can accomplish this by going beyond just a persona photo, instead building a collage to express the persona’s lifestyle
• VDers rely on exp attributes: synthesis of what co wants to convey about its brand, influence of competition & how users want to feel
• Why not use co’s brand attributes? Often too broad for product, may not consider how users want to feel, not optimal for guiding VD
• How: review docs & stakeholder interview notes, list attributes on whiteboard, look for patterns & distill to 3-4 concepts…
• …do the same for user interview notes & refine into set of visually-oriented words that best synthesize biz & customer exp goals
• Optimal set of attributes: tells comprehensive story, creates some boundaries/tensions, balances needs of biz and users
• Visualization & anti-attributes are useful: Brilliant but not bleeding edge [I’ve done these exercises many times before & they work!]
• Frame the solution. Create high-level sketches/studies, validate concepts/scenarios. Translates goals into concrete vision
• Visual style studies: 3-5 possible directions based on VD req’s. Include color, type & widget treatments. Shown independent of IxD
• W/ IxD, scenarios tend to suggest 1 dir that’s most efficient. W/ VD, you’re employing diff strategies by emphasizing diff attributes
• All design team members review visual style studies. Don’t show studies to the stakeholders that you don’t think are viable

• This isn’t an a la carte option: the buttons from one study and the colors from the other. It’s about the dominance of the attributes
• “Focus group preferences do NOT indicate buying behavior” — Kim Goodwin. Amen!
• Iterate/refine/validate. Collaborate w/ developers. More accurate schedule, visibility into end product, tells you when you’re done
• VD is creating a visual system reduces complexity, makes dcisions easier as you design, gives you basis for consistency checks, …
• …lets multiple ppl lay out screens, aids implementation efforts, provides guidance for later expansion
• Cooper now using Fireworks (yeah, baby!). Better for communicating states
• Visual system created iteratively as VDer improves layout, simplifies, drafts style guide, challenges inconsistencies
• Style guide: color palette’s uses, type/size/styles, widget & icon library, how states are depicted, grid specs and pixel measurements
• [I’ve done my fair share of these style guides. They’re incredibly tedious to create, but an invaluable resource for the team]
• Style guide is not a set of guidelines for engineers to use in layout out their own screens, or a substitute for IxD
• Support development. Designers provide consultation on priorities & trade-offs. Ensures consistent vision throughout implementation
• “Illustrator not a good tool for final design because it doesn’t encourage designers to think in pixels” — Kim Goodwin
• “Photoshop v. Fireworks. Fireworks has richer ways of dealing in frames. Define symbols in a way Photoshop can’t…
• …Most importantly, Fireworks is a combination of vector and raster graphics.” — Kim Goodwin
• Kim strongly encourages to separate the two disciplines: interaction designer and visual designer. But don’t treat them as islands

• IxD & VD diff strengths/perspectives. Certain amount of tension healthy. Conflict means neither party is right, look for 3rd solution

·

• Kim Goodwin & Alan Cooper’s new book: “Designing for the Digital Age” coming out next year. A hefty 800+ pages!
• Session done. Interesting to hear this stuff from Kim’s perspective. I’m so beat. Head spinning. Work or lie down?

[Other UI13 sessions I attended: Peter Merholz and Andrew Crow; Dana Chisnell; Scott Berkun]

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• DIY UX at An Event Apart Chicago 2009 October 20, 2009 | 13 comments
• A Q&A with the Speakers of UX London January 26, 2010 | 1 comments
• Here at An Event Apart Boston June 22, 2009 | 2 comments