UX Scotland 2013 - slides, resources & write up

The UX Scotland conference took place 20 & 21 June here in Edinburgh and I was lucky enough to go along. Lots of great resources from the sessions are now online, and I've summarised a few notes I jotted as I listened.

Big content strategy challenges from Rahel Bailie

At last week's UXPA Scotland session, we were lucky enough to have author and content strategist Rahel Anne Bailie. Her talk prompted a bit of food-for-thought for me, and highlighted a few resources and bits of follow up reading.

Steve Krug talks agile UX

Steve Krug gives a presentation to a group of developers for Outsystems. Video and slides are available, along with Outsystems' short eBook on usability rules for developers.

Usability test facilitator help from Steve Krug

Steve Krug has long had a load of resources related to his excellent book 'Rocket Surgery Made Easy' freely available online. He's just added a nice extra resource to help you with user testing facilitation.

User experience comics workshop

UX comics - no, not comedians, but a sequential series of pictures communicating a story or experience. I attended a workshop on the topic today at the UX Scotland conference.

The future of content management - Karen McGrane

Content strategist Karen McGrane gives an hour long presentation on where she sees web content consumption going and the challenges this presents to web publishers. To be fair, it's not just the future - these are the challenges we're facing right now and have been for a good while.

Micro content - it's the little things that matter

Well crafted web pages or great features in an app will be undermined if the micro content associated with it isn't right. The little snippets of teaser text, form labels and help text give users confidence and encourage deeper engagement.

Top tasks vary by medium - McGovern

Gerry McGovern presents an overview of his research for Cisco highlighting that your target audience is likely to have a different set of top tasks depending on how they engage with you.

Mobile in Higher Ed survey results 2013

We all know use of mobile touchscreen devices is on the rise, but little is written specifically about the university sector. Karine Joly has repeated her annual survey of US Higher Ed web managers to provide a summary of analytics data and colleges' approach to accommodating these visitors.

Collaborative user research recording

If you've ever done user testing, you'll know that one of the most onerous aspects is reporting on findings. And then getting stakeholders to read them. This collaborative recording approach - including a spreadsheet template - could well be worth a try.

Confab Content Strategy Conference write up

Gutted that I couldn't go to the London content strategy conference, Confab 2013 as it has a number of sessions with authors, thinkers and speakers I admire. Thankfully, Martin Belam has written blog posts to summarise each session.

The cost of adding

Gerry McGovern writes about the hidden costs of adding content and features. It's easier and in our nature to look to add rather than remove, but we rarely think about the implications.

Some UX myths debunked

Frank Guo explains why 3 commonly held 'rules' of usable websites aren't true for uxmatters.com

Calls to action tips

What's a call to action? It's the reason a web page exists. The thing you want your reader to do next.  This presentation provides 20 do's and don'ts, covering a range of graphical and editorial considerations.

UX Apprentice - a beginner's tutorial

A nice resource from the Basamiq people that takes you through the fundamentals of user experience design quickly and simply.

Search enhancement - invest in people

Gerry McGovern writes about search, inspired by a New York Times article. The point? No matter how smart technology gets, the best search experience needs human involvement.

UX presentation for CIM

This week I had the pleasure of presenting at a Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) conference in Edinburgh. My presentation? "Marketing is dead, long live user experience!" (I didn't get lynched).

Today's top web design & UX mistakes

A couple of articles with one thing in common - mistakes being made today on websites again and again. One focusing on user experience and one on web design boo-boos.

How organisations stifle good design

An excellent opinion piece by Leisa Reichelt on the challenges faced by designers. Not tricky design problems though. Organisations, politics, ego and immovable complex processes. Sound familiar?

Customer journey mapping resources for better UX

Leisa Reichelt, a user experience consultant, sells her services and at the same time does a great job of succinctly explaining what a customer journey map is and why it should be important to you.