Usability & Info Architecture :: Andrea Richeson

Usability & Info Architecture

Student Projects (University of Texas iSchool)

McCombs School of Business, Usability Review
- Personas – A Literature Review (pdf format)
- Persona Template for Business School Project (pdf format)
eCommerce Best Practices – a literature review (pdf format)
iSchool website – usability review project
Designing for the Mobile Web – a literature review (pdf format)
Whole Foods – mobile design project
- Whole Foods Mobile Sitemap (pdf format)
- Whole Foods Mobile site design presentation (pdf format)
- Whole Foods Mobile – functional site comps (Xhtml, designed for iPhone 320×480)

General Usability & Information Architecture

Explaining Information Architecture

Flexible Fuel: Educating the Client on IA. by Keith LaFerriere
Technology’s Untanglers: They Make It Really Work (New York Times)

Heuristics

Templates for Usability Testing

Usability.gov Templates
Usability Toolkit
Evaluation Toolbox for Aviation Technical Writers – Heuristic Review (great examples of voice)

Software for Usability Testing

Morae (for PCs)
Silverback (for Macs)

Flow Chart Programs

Lovely Charts – http://www.lovelycharts.com/
Gliffy – http://www.gliffy.com/
OmniGraffle (Mac)
Visio (PC)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Google SEO Guide

Usability & Return on Investment (ROI)

Usability is Next to Profitability, Business Week, 2002
Users Begin to Demand Software Usability Tests, Computerworld, 2002
Recap/commentary: Selling user experience work, by Abe Crystal, 2005
The Value of Design. Design Council
Usability Is Good Business, by Donahue, Weinschenk, Nowicki, 1999, PDF format
Designing for the Bottom Line. The Selling Points of Hard and Soft ROI, in Dr. Dobbs, 2002
Is ROI an Effective Approach for Persuading Decision-Makers of the Value of User-Centered Design? by Dray, Susan, Clare-Marie Karat, Daniel Rosenberg, David Siegel, and Dennis Wixon, 2005
All Those Opposed: Making the case for user experience in a budget-conscious climate, by Jesse James Garrett
The Business of UX Metrics: How to measure and manage the user experience, by Phil Goddard, HFI, 2007
How can the effectiveness of intranets be measured? by Nancy Goebel, 2009
An Analysis of ROI Measurement and Metrics across Usability Professionals (.doc format), Rich Gunther
Leveraging Business Value: How ROI Changes User Experience, by Scott Hirsch, Janice Fraser, Sara Beckman
ROI Is Not a Silver Bullet: Five Actionable Steps for Valuing User Experience Design, by Scott Hirsch, 2004
The Red Herring of Usability ROI, by Scott Hirsch, 2003
ROI Calculators, from HFI
The infoDev e-Government Toolkit and Portal | Analytic Models for Measuring Costs and Benefits | Planning and Designing e-Government Projects – Costs And Financing
High Payoff in Electronic Government: Measuring the Return on e-Government Investments, by the Intergovernmental Advisory Board, 2003
- E-Government Won’t Succeed Without Some Marketing, by Eric Chabrow, 2003
- E-Gov Delivers Benefits on Many Fronts, GSA #10016, by Eleni Martin, 2003
- Traditional ROI Measures Will Fail in Government, by Andrea Di Maio, Gartner, 2003

An Accountant’s Advice in Making the Business Case for Enterprise 2.0. by Bill Ives, 2009
When ROI Isn’t Enough: Making Persuasive Cases for User-Centered Design, by Colleen Jones, 2007
Assessing the value of human factors initiatives. by Kerr, M.P., Knott, D.S., Moss, M.A., Clegg, C.W., & Horton, R.P. (2008). Applied Ergonomics, 39, 305-315.
Cost-Benefit Analysis of E-Government Investments, by Sorin Kertesz, E-Democratie, Harvard University, JF Kennedy School of Government (how to apply NPV valuation tools to an e-Government application)
The Return on Investment (ROI) for Personas, Ann Light, 2006
Return on Investment for Usable User – Interface Design: Examples and Statistics , by Aaron Marcus, 2002. PDF format
Professional usability testing and return on investment as it applies to user interface design for web-based products and services, by Charles Mauro, 2002
Report Review: Nielsen/Norman Group’s Usability Return on Investment, by Peter Merholz and Scott Hirsch, 2003
Jakob Jumps the Shark, by Peter Merholz, 2007
Net Now – Valuing UX Design, The Red Herring of Usability ROI, October 17, 2003
Usability ROI Declining, But Still Strong, Nielsen Alertbox, Jan 22, 2008
Do Government Agencies and Non-Profits Get ROI From Usability? , Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox, February 12, 2007
Usability Can Save Your Company, by John S. Rhodes, 2000
25 reasons why saving time on your intranet is a bad metric. by James Robertson, 2008
Intranets: measuring before and after. by James Robertson, 2008
Beyond enthusiasm: making the business case for your organization’s use of Web 2.0. by Louise Ross, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
Institutionalization of Usability: A Step-by-Step Guide, by Eric Schaffer, 2004
Get ROI From Design, by Randy Souza, Forrester, 2001
Usability ROI, by Usability First, 2005
Cost and Return on Investment, Usability.gov
Making the Case for Usability in Government, Usability.gov
Final Presentation (ppt format) - The Business of Usability: Developing Metrics to Justify our Existence and Budgets. A summation from the Usability Professionals’ Association (UPA) 2006 Workshop
Business Benefits of Usability (UPA resource)
Selling Usability (UPA resource)
Resources: Usability in the Real World: The ROI of Usability, in Usability Professionals’ Association, originally published in the Winter 2002 User Experience Magazine as part of “Return on Investment for Usable UI Design” by Aaron Marcus
Case Study: Intranets, Usability, and Value, by Jeffery Veen
UX in the Boardroom: A Solid Case for Investing in UX, by Kate Walser, 2009
Web Manager University recently commissioned these new Howcast videos on Usability and Plain Language: How to Increase Usability of Government Websites and Boost Your ROI & How to Use Plain Language on a Government Website
Usability: A Business Case, by Susan Weinschenk, HFI, 2005.

Personas, Getting to know your audience

Personas.(an annotated resource list) by Dey Alexander Consulting
Long Live the User (Persona): Talking with Steve Mulder. by Liz Danzico and Steve Mulder
The User is Always Right. A Practical Guide to Creating and Using Personas for the Web. by Steve Mulder with Ziv Yaar
Create and Satisfy Demand: Two Tools to Complete the Marketing Loop. by Steve Mulder
Bringing More Science to Persona Creation (ppt presentation). by Steve Mulder and Ziv Yaar
Podcasts: The User is Always Right: A Practical Guide to Creating and Using Personas for the Web. by Steve Mulder
Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner’s Guide to User Research. by Mike Kuniavsky
The inmates are running the asylum. by Alan Cooper
About Face 2.0. by Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann
The Persona Lifecycle. Keeping People in Mind Throughout Product Design. by John Pruitt and Tamara Adlin
Communicating Design. by Dan Brown
A Designer’s Research Manual: Succeed in Design by Knowing Your Clients and What They Really Need. by Jenn and Ken Visocky O’Grady
Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, Third Edition. Designing Large-Scale Web Sites. by Peter Morville, Louis Rosenfeld
Look at it Another Wayby Indi Young
Research Paper – Real or Imaginary: The effectiveness of using personas in product design. by Frank Long
Extending a Technique: Group Personas. by Mike Kuniavsky
Personas: Matching a Design to the Users’ Goals. by Christine Perfetti
Personas and the Role of Design Documentation How it’s less about deliverables, and more about design. by Andrew Hinton
The Best Way to Understand Your Customers. by Peter Merholz
Personas 99% Bad? by Peter Merholz
Personas and the Advantage of Designing for Yourself. by Joshua Porter
Persona non grata. by Steve Portigal
Making Personas Work for Your Web Site: An Interview with Steve Mulder. by Jared Spool
Three Important Benefits of Personas. by Jared Spool
Personas are NOT a Document. by Jared Spool
Crappy Personas vs. Robust Personas. by Jared Spool
Putting Context nto Context. by Jared Spool
Focus Questions for Site Visits. by Jared Spool
SpoolCast: An Interview with Kate Gomoll on Field Studies. by Jared Spool
Field Research Fundamentals: An Interview with Kate Gomoll. by Ashley McKee
An introduction to personas and how to create them. by Tina Calabria
How personas and scenarios can change your website for the better – Part 1. by John Wood
How personas and scenarios can change your website for the better – Part 2. by John Wood
Does your persona eat twinkies? by Steve Calde
Building a Data-Backed Persona. by Andrea Wiggins
Goal-Directed Design: An Interview with Kim Goodwin. by Christine Perfetti
Perfecting Your Personas. By Kim Goodwin
Taking Personas Too Far. by Kim Goodwin
Getting from Research to Personas: Harnessing the Power of Data. by Kim Goodwin
Ignore that designer behind the persona. by Chris Noessel
Using Personas to Create User Documentation. by Steve Calde
The Origin of Personas. by Alan Cooper
Reconciling Market Segments and Personas. by Elaine Brechin
User Research for Personas and Other Audience Models. by Steve Baty
Personas: Setting the Stage for Building Usable Information Sites. by Alison J. Head
Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design Accessibility in User-Centered Design: Personas. by Shawn Lawton Henry
Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design Accessibility in User-Centered Design: Example Personas. by Shawn Lawton Henry
Making Personas Sparkle Like Diamonds, Part 1. by Bryan Eisenberg
Making Personas Sparkle Like Diamonds, Part 2. by Bryan Eisenberg
Feature: The Return on Investment (ROI) for Personas. by John Pruitt and Tamara Adlin
Beyond Fake Personas. by Angela Quail
Squiggles help find personas. By Patrick Kennedy
Persona Examples. (pdf format) by Razorfish
Persona Builder (web application)

eCommerce

Ecommerce User Intefrace Design for the Web. By Lawrence Najjar
Reducing shopping cart abandonment: How to minimize orphaned carts. By Michael Bloch
5 Universal Principles For Successful eCommerce-Sites. By Jeff Olson, March 23rd, 2009
Argus Whitepaper: Retail Ecologies, E-Commerce and Information Architecture
Argus Whitepaper: Information Architecture of the Shopping Cart
Top Ten Mistakes of Shopping Cart Design Revisited: A Survey of 500 Top E-Commerce Websites
by Shivashankar Naidu and Barbara S. Chaparro
Online Shopping. by John Horrigan, Pew Internet & American Life Project. Feb 13, 2008
Ten Usability Heuristics by Jakob Nielsen
First Principles of Interaction Design by Bruce Tognazzini
Web Form Design. by Luke Wroblewski. See his blog: Functioning Form
Robert Barnett – on Information Design, Business Forms, Procedure Manuals, Usability and other subjects
Jessica Enders on form design
Accessible Forms by Marla Erwin
8 Characteristics Of Successful User Interfaces by Dmitry
Software Usability Research Laboratory
Shopping cart abandonment benchmarks by Chris Baker
The art of the cart: Why people abandon shopping carts By Craig Goldwyn
eCommerce & Shopping Cart Usability: 21 Best Practices
Shopping Carts Gallery: Examples and Good Practices
Study Data: Absolutely Pitiful Ecommerce Shopping Cart Abandonment Stats — 4 Ways to Improve Yours By Anne Holland
Economic concerns haven’t had much effect on results, but it’s going to take something “monumental” to push e-commerce to the next level. By Jessica Tsai Posted Mar 10, 2008
E-Stats – the U.S. Census Bureau’s Internet site devoted exclusively to “Measuring the Electronic Economy.”
E-Stats, Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales
Improve Online Check-Out Functionality. by Marta Baigorri, Forrester. December 22, 2008
Shopping Cart Usability
Best Practices for Online Checkout Process. By Ruth Boyd.
8 Best Practices for Reducing Shopping Cart Abandonment. By Terry Jukes. February 12, 2009