Sketching Better Experiences

Devin Hunt · @hailpixel

What we'll be covering

What sketching is how it helps you build better things & three techniques that you start using now.

Who I am

Founder of Lyst.
Working on Dex.io.
Did that YC thing once.

I've also made a lot of mistakes

These techniques have helped me build better things

What is sketching?

Anthing that rapidly communicates an idea.

Often visually

Why sketch?

Manifestations

Why I have such a hardon for paper

But really, anything that let's you work

Quickly & legibly

So...

How do we make awesome shit?

Personas

Personas are sketches of your customers.

Personas · The Technique

A fictional character who represents the audience you are designing for.

Personas · The Technique

Anatomy of a Persona

Anatomy of a Persona

“PNDJA”

How to create good personas

Make them up & update them as you learn.

How to create good personas

User Stories

User Stories put you in your audiences' shoes.

User Stories

User Stories are sketches of what you think your customers do.

How features are often created

“We need to add a 'save for later' button... so users can save things for later”

How we should be doing it

Don't define solutions.

Define problems that need solutions.

Anatomy of a User Stories

“As a customer
I want some desire
so that I get some benefit.”

Anatomy of a User Stories

“As a shopper
I want to save things
so that so that I can purchase them later.”

Anatomy of a User Stories

These stories can form the foundation of your product.

A handful of user stories can decribe an entire functional spec!

User Sketching

User Sketching exposes how people user your stuff

In a Nutshell

Make people draw your experience.

Fuck it! We'll do it live!

Get your paper ready.

First

Draw an amazon.com product page for the Kindle Fire.

Actual Amazon Page

Second

Identify meaningful objects.

Third

Make histograms!

Think of it as

Reverse Click Testing.

Collecting User Sketches

These sketches are like pokemon.

Gotta catch them all!

Collecting User Sketches

Collecting User Sketches

They only need to have used your product once.

Using the Evidence

What is being used?

What is being missed?

It's free idea generation

Rework your experience to match the histogram.

It's free idea generation

Or emphasize the amazing things people are missing.

Aside · Polish

Remember

Our job is to create experiences.

Job Done

Devin Hunt · @hailpixel

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