SXSW 2014 Tools and Inspiration Ryan Davidson Technical Director @Discorax
Octalysis by Yu-kai Chou Key Takeaway:
@yukaichou
There are tools available to analyze your game/app/site to optimize the User Experience to be most effective. Note: I did not say “most fun.” • • •
The 8 Core Drivers of Gamification Left Brain vs Right Brain Drivers White Hat vs Black Hat Gamification
http://www.yukaichou.com/gamification-examples/octalysiscomplete-gamification-framework/ Also read about how to build habits in a multi-device world. http://www.nirandfar.com/2014/03/multi-device.html
Age of the Alchemist: D&D and User Experience Let’s start with a question… Why would someone use a Role Playing Game to help them create a marketing campaign?
The answer… … because at the core, RPGs and Experience Design have the same goals. Look at the image. Both strive to create opportunity for users to engage in an experience that is fun and memorable. RPGs are personal. This is also why gamification is such a popular method of user engagement. This all starts with a spreadsheet…
Age of the Alchemist is created and presented by Vincent Higgins and Tyler Wilson from DDB California http://schedule.sxsw.com/2014/events/event_IAP24635
Age of the Alchemist: D&D and User Experience Creating Personas We all know that personas help guide our creative approaches, but how can we adjust for the variety of “real life”? The answer is market research and dice. Market percentages can be assigned to dice values and then rolled to instill a variety of real variables into your personas. This eliminates bias you bring to personas. Creating the character as a team also helps you relate to your persona from various perspectives as you would a character in a game.
Tip: always narrate your persona’s story. Give them a background and depth.
Different agencies see users differently. These personas can embody these differences if created together as a team.
Tip: Sometimes you can’t relate to a persona. Don’t force it, let someone who can drive the story.
Age of the Alchemist: D&D and User Experience Embrace the funnel: Building the Dungeon Your game can use some or all levels of the funnel. • Awareness/Inspiration (mass media, user motivation) • Consideration/Interest (consumer behavior) • Conversion/Intent (brand-initiated communication)
Each level has a series of rooms. Entering a room triggers an event. Events are based on Use Cases pulled from your market research. The goal is to get your persona through the dungeon (advertisement and noise of everyday life) to a conversion (sale).
Age of the Alchemist: D&D and User Experience Gathering the insights As you play through the scenarios in different levels of interest, the game mechanic throws random (but real) use cases at your character. You use these scenarios to gain insights you may have overlooked and help team members see the users perspective differently. For Example: Your persona has a preference for winter vacations. They receive advertising for summer sale from a competitor. Do they have enough constitution to overcome that and move on toward a conversion on your product? If not, maybe you need to adjust your creative to account for that. See what just happened? Now imagine hundreds of those insights being gathered in a matter of hours. This is a powerful tool, driven by real data. Oh yeah, and it’s A GAME! The whole team is having fun and engaged throughout the process.
Age of the Alchemist: D&D and User Experience Valuable? Consider how often teams approach a marketing challenge from their own narrow discipline (account manager, art director, content creator, developer, producer, etc). The playing of this game can bring all of the expertise to the table (pun intended) at once and help build a holistic approach to User Experience that is grounded in REAL DATA!
Key Takeaways: When you start with the right set of market research, you can gain incredible insight quickly and get your entire team fully engaged in solving complex problems by treating User Experience and the creative process like a game. Now break out your D20 and let’s get started!
Nano Size Me: The Science of Small Talk Key Takeaway: The future of data is trust. Regardless of devices, experiences, or ownership, the relationship between a brand/company/government and a person hinges on trust. Note: the brand is part of the conversation again.
Re: Data Privacy Concerns Some panelists felt like data concerns were “generational,” and we’ll grow out of them. Others think that people don’t like to be surprised regardless of age, and I agree. People want transparency into data about them. They want to know how it’s being used and to curate if necessary.
The Opportunity: Users know companies have data about them. Users want access so they can put it to good use themselves. To make behavioral changes (Fitbit, shopping habits, geodata) or to delete parts they don’t want shared.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/2014/events/event_IAP27072
Transformational Design: Beyond UX Key Takeaway: Experience is…[Feeling] what we are [Doing] with/in the [Material] Design is…Rearranging materials to transform experience. So….What is Transformational Design? It’s the moment when the experience is changed as a result of what you’ve designed. http://schedule.sxsw.com/2014/events/event_IAP21585
Client comes with a problem… Don’t think about the final solution at the outset, think about the experience. That’s how you innovate.
Mastering Interactive Development Lingo: Understanding what your developer just said Key Takeaway: Communication is a two-way street. It’s the responsibility of the expert to communicate clearly, but it’s also the responsibility of the rest of the team to express when things are unclear. The Hidden Costs of Miscommunication • Unfamiliar Lingo • Unfamiliar with Process • Making Assumptions • Rework & Lost progress
“ The single biggest problem” in communication is the illusion that is has taken place.
- George Bernard Shaw
Webinar from The Nerdery http://nerdery.com
Mastering Interactive Development Lingo: Understanding what your developer just said Wireframes vs Visual Design What they are:
What they mean to you:
Interactions between elements
Does it do what it needs to do?
Layout and functionality
All present and accounted for?
Look and feel ‌ and more
Function meets form
Your visual vocabulary
Form improves function
Mastering Interactive Development Lingo: Understanding what your developer just said QA: SUPPORTED ENVIRONMENTS What they are:
What they mean to you:
Combination of hardware/OS/Software
Need to be specific
Environments users use
Best ROI to reach your users
Environments Development targets
Can limit functional/visual options
Environments QA tests
Check software functions/looks as designed
Mastering Interactive Development Lingo: Understanding what your developer just said Buzz Word Bingo! If you hear these terms and don’t understand them, you should speak up.
UX • • • • •
Information Architecture User Research Contextual Inquiry Visual Design Template
Dev • • • • •
GIT,SVN,VCS FE Dev, BE Dev Unit Test API CMS
QA • • • • •
UAT Penetration Testing Vulnerability Assessment Regression Testing Issue Tracker
THANK YOU