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<em>Understanding Research Methods<br /> <br /> </em>Michael Hawley, Chief Design Officer<br /> In a recent issue of the Harvard Business Review that focused on branding, David Edelman articulates how consumers&rsquo; engagement with brands is evolving with the proliferation of social media and other digital channels. In the article &ldquo;Branding in the Digital Age: You&rsquo;re Spending Your Money in All the Wrong Places,&rdquo; he proposes a model for consumer and brand engagement titled the &ldquo;Customer Decision Journey.&rdquo; Edelman&rsquo;s Customer Decision Journey model recognizes that consumers&rsquo; experiences increasingly include online components, where their experience of considering and evaluating choices is constantly shifting and their engagement with a brand continues after making a purchase through social media channels.

Consumer Decisions in a Social World

Author: Michael Hawley

Understanding Research Methods

Michael Hawley, Chief Design Officer
In a recent issue of the Harvard Business Review that focused on branding, David Edelman articulates how consumers’ engagement with brands is evo ...

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<em>Shopping is Social<br /> </em><br /> Dustin DiTommaso, Experience Design Director<br /> Relying on friends, family and other consumers to gather and share purchase information is fundamental to shopping behavior. This behavior loop is so ingrained in our daily routines that we barely notice its presence. When we need to purchase something we are unfamiliar with, we consult our friends and family for advice. When we&rsquo;ve made a personally meaningful purchase we writhe with the want to tell others about it.

Defining A Social Commerce Strategy

Author: Dustin DiTommaso

Shopping is Social

Dustin DiTommaso, Experience Design Director
Relying on friends, family and other consumers to gather and share purchase information is fundamental to shopping behavior. This behavior loop is so ingra ...

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<p><em>Seven Things to Remember</em><br /> <br /> Michael Hawley, SVP, Director of Experience</p> <p>Interviewing is an artful skill that is at the core of a wide variety of research methods in user-centered design, including stakeholder interviews, contextual inquiry, usability testing, and focus groups. Consequently, a researcher&rsquo;s skill in conducting interviews has a direct impact on the quality and accuracy of research findings and subsequent decisions about design...</p>

Preparing for User Research Interviews

Author: Michael Hawley

Seven Things to Remember

Michael Hawley, SVP, Director of Experience

Interviewing is an artful skill that is at the core of a wide variety of research methods in user-centered design, including stakeholder interview ...

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<p><em>Prioritizing web projects is more important then ever.</em><br /> <br /> Michael Hawley, SVP, Director of Experience</p> <p>As a company with an existing web offering, there are likely a large number of potential changes or feature additions that you could add to your site. In fact, the number of projects you could undertake may seem overwhelming. The challenge you face is not brainstorming new opportunities, but rather prioritizing all of the different options you have for upgrading or redesigning your site given your resources...</p>

Prioritizing Web Projects

Author: Michael Hawley

Prioritizing web projects is more important then ever.

Michael Hawley, SVP, Director of Experience

As a company with an existing web offering, there are likely a large number of potential changes or feature addition ...

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<p><em>Perceiving Opportunities for Differentiation</em><br /> <br /> Michael Hawley, SVP, Director of Experience</p> <p>A common activity at the outset of many design projects is a competitive review. As a designer, when you encounter a design problem, it&rsquo;s a natural instinct to try to understand what others are doing to solve the same or similar problems. However, like other design-related activities, if you start a competitive review without a clear purpose and strategy for the activity, doing the review may not be productive.One risk...</p>

A Visual Approach to Competitive Reviews

Author: Michael Hawley

Perceiving Opportunities for Differentiation

Michael Hawley, SVP, Director of Experience

A common activity at the outset of many design projects is a competitive review. As a designer, when you encounter a design pr ...

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<p><em>Card sorting is a tool to reorganize information-rich websites.</em><br /> <br /> Mike Hawley, SVP, Director of User Experience<br /> <br /> If your company designed an information rich website such as an intranet or content portal a few years ago, chances are the site could now be bursting at the seams. The types of information or messages that get put on the site have likely changed and increased in number. Also, the deployment of content management systems may have opened up content creation to a wide team of providers...</p>

Card Sorting

Author: Michael Hawley

Card sorting is a tool to reorganize information-rich websites.

Mike Hawley, SVP, Director of User Experience

If your company designed an information rich website such as an intranet or content portal a few y ...

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<em>Transforming the Patient-Provider Realtionship<br /> </em><br /> Amy Cueva, Founder, Chief Experience Officer<em><br /> </em><br /> Mobile technologies are slowly gaining traction in the healthcare space, and our research indicates that for an increasing number of healthcare providers, smartphones and tablet computers are fast becoming standard equipment in every &ldquo;medical kit&rdquo;...<br />

Portable and Powerful

Author: Amy Cueva

Transforming the Patient-Provider Realtionship

Amy Cueva, Founder, Chief Experience Officer

Mobile technologies are slowly gaining traction in the healthcare space, and our research indicates that for a ...

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<p><em>Extending card sorting techniques to inform the design of website hierarchies.</em><br /> <br /> Author: Mike Hawley, SVP, Director of User Experience<br /> <br /> When developing hierarchies for information rich websites, designers and usability researchers often turn to card sorting for help making design decisions. Card sorting offers a systematic and statistically significant process for answering questions about hierarchy design. However, those of us who have run card sorts know there is an art to conducting successful card sort studies, and there are many variables that can affect the usefulness of results...</p>

Extending Card Sorting

Author: Michael Hawley

Extending card sorting techniques to inform the design of website hierarchies.

Author: Mike Hawley, SVP, Director of User Experience

When developing hierarchies for information rich websites, designers and us ...

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<p><em>A Research Interview Technique for Uncovering Core Values</em><br /> <br /> Michael Hawley, SVP, Director of Experience</p> <p>A number of my previous Research That Works columns on UXmatters have focused on semi-structured user research techniques. My interest in these techniques stems from my desire to get the most out of my time<br /> with research participants and to leverage foundational work from other disciplines to gain unique insights for user experience design. With this in mind, a colleague of mine recommended...</p>

Laddering: Interview Technique

Author: Michael Hawley

A Research Interview Technique for Uncovering Core Values

Michael Hawley, SVP, Director of Experience

A number of my previous Research That Works columns on UXmatters have focused on semi-structured user research te ...

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<p><em>Eliciting user experience comparisons in the customer&rsquo;s voice.</em><br /> <br /> Michael Hawley, SVP, Director of Experience</p> <p>If you do user research, chances are good that you conduct a fair number of user interviews. Our training tells us to minimize bias by asking open-ended questions and choosing our words mcarefully. But consistently asking unbiased<br /> questions is always a challenge, especially when you&rsquo;re following a participant down a line of questioning that is important and you haven&rsquo;t prepared your questions ahead of time...</p>

The Repertory Grid

Author: Michael Hawley

Eliciting user experience comparisons in the customer’s voice.

Michael Hawley, SVP, Director of Experience

If you do user research, chances are good that you conduct a fair number of user interviews. Our train ...

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Insights
  • Consumer Decisions in a Social World
    In a recent issue of the Harvard Business Review that focused on branding, David Edelman articulates how consumers’ engagement with brands is evolving with the proliferation of social media and other digital channels.
  • The Legend of Miyamoto: How Nintendo Shaped UX
    Perhaps the greatest innovation Miyamoto brought to the gaming industry—and by extension, the web—was the popularization of a narrative structure. This may seem pretty silly to think about now—not unlike thinking that the mouse or GUI wasn’t a big deal—but it was pretty revolutionary for its time.
  • Mad*Pow Boston Harlem Shake
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