11 posts tagged with "User Experience"

The Problem​

Documentation is an integral part of all software products, and for it to be useful, it must be comprehensive and detailed. However, this presents a challenge for both users and developers. Users, especially those who are newcomers to the software, can find it daunting to sift through large blocks of text, while developers often struggle to make documentation appealing and digestible.

Throughout university, I have been in the former category. As a user, I have always found documentation difficult to grasp. It often left me with more questions than answers. It especially did not help that the documentation websites I used often had terrible navigation and few resources to help me grasp what I was reading, leaving me scouring through various sites to find information that was tucked away in some hidden corner.

As a co-op student with LINCS, I was tasked with migrating the Canadian Writing Research Collaboratory (CWRC) documentation site. This website provided information about and access to the three ontologies developed by the CWRC, each with its own set of documentation. This had me worried, because how could I develop a website that could display documentation effectively while taking into consideration navigation, aesthetics, and page layouts?

I have spent most of my summer improving the accessibility of the LINCS project website. During this process, I have learnt so much about how those with disabilities navigate the Internet. There has been a lot to do, and it's taken up a lot of my time—but it certainly doesn't have to be that way! If designers incorporate accessibility from the beginning, minimal extra effort makes for a better experience for all users, not only those with barriers.

When designing and building a web application, ensuring that it is responsive is paramount. A responsive application looks good and functions well on all screen sizes and devices. LINCS applications are being designed to be viewed in a wide range of ways: from tablets to laptops to whiteboard-sized interactive screens. It can be quite hard to achieve this level of responsiveness, but with the help of CSS tools, techniques, and frameworks, the task becomes a lot easier...

The UX team has been conducting user research on LINCS tools to get them ready to move from development to production. So far, we have completed card sorts, usability tests, surveys, and interviews. This research has provided us with a wealth of information. However, if we want to translate what we’ve learned into meaningful, productive changes to the tools’ designs, we must keep actionability at the centre of our research practice...

When I began my first co-op placement, I had no idea how software development worked in a professional environment. Previously, my experience had only been in the classroom, where  my classmates and I developed software for assignments. When I moved into a professional context, I was exposed to new ways of collaborating, among them stand-up meetings, or stand-ups...

During my time at LINCS, the UX team has laid the groundwork for implementing an intuitive and effortless user flow for ResearchSpace. To accomplish this, we have conducted numerous user and usability tests, interviews, and card sorts.

Working on ResearchSpace was my first real experience in the world of UI/UX. It was also my first time working on a design team, and I was blown away by the talent of my peers...

The situation is this: you’ve been asked to design a way for a researcher to easily move between two tools. You familiarize yourself with both tools, learn about the known issues, and read about what’s already been tried. You spend a few days deciding on the best way to get from point A to point B. You spend a few more days designing how it will look. Finally, you unveil your prototype in a meeting with the development team ... only to find out that moving between the tools is not technically possible. Or that it would take too long to build your design. Or that moving between tools opens up new issues on the back end.

How do you go forward? ...

The road to UX for me has been long and winding, and I, much like the LINCS users in the Tube Map in Figma, have found myself at various stations along the way, assessing where I should go next. Initially studying Life Sciences at University of Toronto, I made the switch after first year to a specialism in Sociocultural Anthropology. Upon graduation and unsure where to go with my career, I began a Masters of Public and International Affairs at University of Ottawa. I quickly realised that I was too passive by nature to be a diplomat, and I lacked the passion for politics that many in my cohort shared. What I really wanted was something related to my background in Anthropology.

And so, enter UofT’s Faculty of Information...

Before becoming a UX Design student at University of Toronto, I used to solve a problem just by identifying what the problem was and then coming up with a band-aid solution. However, over a period of time, I realized that by using such an approach—opting for the easiest solution—I was often actively ignoring the real problem and sometimes even allowing it to worsen...

“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it’s this veneer—that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” - Steve Jobs

If you are a developer, designer, or a creative individual interested in design, you are probably familiar with the phrase “good design is invisible.” Everything is designed—there is thought behind every project or product—but only a few things are designed well. When design is done poorly everyone tends to notice its flaws, but when design is done well it usually goes unnoticed...