SoCal UX Camp! I finally had a chance to go back to summer camp! The SoCal UX Camp leaders taught us cheers; we played games, and got to check out the interesting sights on UC Irvine’s campus.

What is SoCal UX Camp?

“SoCal UX Camp is a free, user-driven, collaborative “unconference” for User Experience Designers, Research Analysts, and students alike from Southern California. A one-day gathering of User Experience folks to share, present, network, learn and discuss.” (https://socaluxcamp.com/

Why did I go? The title grabbed me! Camp? I’m in! Usability studies and design research interest me. What better way to learn than at camp?

UX—An Editor’s Role

I learned more about one of my favorite editor roles. In My Top 3 Editor Roles, I described testing some of the processes on live websites.

As an editor, I want to:

• explore the design
• possibly research why the designers/developers selected the format they did
• perform the tests
• write up a full report

During SoCal UX Camp, I learned from leaders in the field about the art of user design and the and process of user experience testing.

Keynote: Jared Spool

After the rousing cheers and camp rules, Jared kicked off the day with “Insecure & Unintuitive: How We Need to Fix the UX of Security.” Through humor (cats are the hackers) and serious research studies, Jared showed us that the log-on dialog box is the most expensive section of the website. Users can’t recall passwords and recalling the credentials results in lost productivity and could result in security breaches.

As UX professionals, we need to fix this process.

1. “If it’s not usable, it’s not secure.”
2. Place the burden on the system, and not on the user.
3. Create a sophisticated threat model.
4. Use security perimeters.

Pointers from the Pros

Carol Rossi–Getting Started with UX research

1. Carol’s 5-Step Research Study Process: Prepare; Run; Synthesize; Share, and Reflect.
2. Develop a test plan template during the Prepare phrase.
3. Use Reflect instead of the usual Post-mortem: Review what went well and what needs improvement.

Rhett Kuseski–Back to Basics

1. Rhett’s 5-Step Design Process: Research/Discover (requirements gathering; scenarios); Define the Problem & Users (create personas); Solution/Brainstorm; Design a prototype, and Test the Prototype/Provide Feedback.
2. Why does UX matter? Users’ experience will make or break our products!
3. Different types of testing, depending on the project:
   • Usability testing.
   • Guerilla testing.
   • Accessibility testing.
   • Benchmarking.

Wendy Eichenbaum–Mapping the Customer Journey

1. Wendy’s Customer Journey Process: Discover Need > Research > Assess > Decide > Purchase > Order Fulfilled > Use/Return.
2. Define the user’s journey.
3. Develop maps for each scenario.

SoCal UX Camp Take-aways

• To maximize the design effort, use multi-functional collaborative teams
• Design a detailed project plan
• Use personas for the customer journey
• Conduct interviews during the research phase
• Assign task ownership
• Create a report that highlights the findings

Above all, Jared reminds us: “We don’t have to keep doing what we’ve always done.”

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Ready to launch your website? Have your target users tested the site? I can help you! Let’s connect!