Over at Influx we’ve been integrating actually doing something into our presentions. Even a simple 30 minute library patron observation exercise puts theory into practice and makes a presentation about UX much more valuable.

Building upon these observations we have a new get-your-hands-dirty package called the User Research Jumpstart. I’m really excited about it. The service is an effort to get libraries – in addition to learning by talking – learning by doing.

An added benefit of the User Research Jumpstart is that after it’s done libraries have some real user research that they can use to make improvements.

Here’s more about the User Research Jumpstart.

Drawing on our experience with libraries and library websites of all types we distilled our knowledge into a website interface that is good for libraries and good for library users.  

We love libraries.  In our work, we’ve watched users struggle, we’ve learned from mistakes, and we’ve applied what we know to this template. Every library and every set of users is unique, but we can confidently say that One-Pager is founded on the common ground that libraries and library users share.

Whether your patrons are 8 years old or, 85 years old, viewing the website on a phone, tablet, or a PC, One-Pager offers one consistent, usable interface for giving them library information they need.

What ideas informed the development of One-Pager?

• Designing for Mobile First
  Patrons access library websites on a variety of devices. Not only did we want One-Pager to render well on all of these devices, we knew thinking of mobile sites first would force us to include only what’s important.
• Saving the Time of the Reader
  People want to quickly grab needed info and move on. Very few libraries have the organizational bandwidth to create excellent destination sites to captivate patrons.
• Librarians are Busy
  With budgets spread thin most libraries can’t give their websites the attention they deserve. Providing less content frees librarian to spend more time making the important material excellent.
• Writing is Important
  If you have a website you are a publisher. You can create a great website only by taking this role seriously.
• Clarity through Simplicity
  Simplicity isn’t decoration. It is the result of a design process meant to create usable products

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Isn’t the One-Pager demo site quite small?
Yes, purposefully so. Many library websites are filled with information that users don’t care about, largely because library website development is stuck in a rut. It is focused on solving problems in one way: the additive way.  

Smaller sites are easier to maintain and allow patrons to find what they want faster. You might think that there is a lot of essential content on your library’s website. A proper One-Pager implementation process will expose the parts that are extraneous and make maintaining and using your website easier.

One-Pager isn’t interactive. Why not?
While we value two-way communication with patrons, we value usable library websites more. Patrons are better served by being able to easily find what they want than by being able to leave a comment. The two aren’t mutually exclusive, however, and One-Pager is a solid foundation from which to grow.  

We are happy to develop One-Pager as a Drupal, WordPress, or Joomla theme specifically tailored to your library’s needs so your patrons can comment as much as they would like.

I’m interested. What should I do next?
Well, next you should take a good hard look at your library website and go for a quiet walk around the block.

Download One-Pager’s code. Tinker with it. Then, shoehorn your current site’s content into the framework and see what works and what doesn’t. Test it with a few people.

Finally, when you are ready to make the principles behind One-Pager really work for you, we invite you to work with us to turn your library website into a lean, efficient, content delivery machine.

Will One-Pager automatically solve all of our website problems?
No. A good website doesn’t arrive swaddled in blankets, delivered by stork. Effectively using One-Pager will require user research, content strategy, writing skills and good design intuition.

What if my library doesn’t know how to do this stuff?
We can help guide you through a user-centered design process that makes sense for your library. We can help you determine critical tasks, assess library needs, rewrite content, help with usability testing and more.

Contact us at team@influx.us with any questions.

Thanks!
-Aaron Schmidt, Amanda Etches-Johnson & Nate Hill

Question about the presentation? Just ask.

Typekit has gone from invite only to open registration.

What is Typekit? Think of it as YouTube for fonts. With it you can consistently display non-standard fonts on websites. Previous solutions haven’t been as easy to use, nor have they been as respectful of type foundries’ rights. Despite a (currently) somewhat limited amount of fonts from which to choose, Typekit is win-win.

Take a look at “Attention font nerds” above. It isn’t an image. You can copy the characters. They’ll be indexed by search engines and be read by screen readers.

A word of caution

Typekit might let us express ourselves more effectively on the web but it could also lead to some ransom note looking pages. Please be responsible with Typekit. When in doubt, limit your font use to one serif and one sans-serif per page. Use size, color and weight for emphasis.

Log in or sign up?
Fodder for facilitating library card sign ups.

How to Write a Mission Statement That Isn’t Dumb
What’s is your “big hairy audacious goal”?

http://trentwalton.com
This blog’s information architecture is a little confusing but we are in love with its visual design.

Making Content Shine
An example of rewriting content for the web.

The Making of influx.us
What we kept in mind while making this site: a mini-case study.

With its old-timey feel it really stuck out among the (sterile looking in comparison) printed signs.

Let me caution, however, that this is nearly varsity level signage strategy. The imperfections of this sign are an asset only because it is surrounded by decent looking professionally designed signs. Much like library websites need to be easy to use before they can be filled with social goodness, signs in a library would have to be cohesively well designed before they could benefit from something like this.

First there was Helvetireader a clean, stripped-down skin for Google Reader inspired by Helvetica. Now there are similarly inspired interfaces for Gmail, Google Calendar, and Twitter. How much would I love to see Helvetilibrary?

This is a nice way to facilitate some positive interaction.

Check out the URL too. It is semantic and, especially for an airline, pretty short.

http://jetblue.com/help/contactus/help_contact_compliments.aspx

Our UX Shakedown provides libraries with an easy to read, illustrated report detailing what’s good on the site and what could be improved.

To celebrate the inception of INFLUX we’re holding a contest and giving the winner a UX Shakedown.

The Contest

Convince us why we should give your site a Shakedown. How you do that is up to you. Make us laugh, make us outraged, inspire us, motivate us. You might want to keep in mind that we’re big fans of things like flickr, watching videos online, and screencasts.

How to Submit

Use our contact form or mail info@influx.us.

Important Dates

Deadline for submissions: 31 December 2009, 11:59
Announcement of winners: 11 January 2010.

Fine Print

Nothing outrageous, just a couple things worth mentioning:

• The lucky winner is not obligated to do anything with the recommendations we come up with as a result of our Shakedown (but you know you’ll want to!).
• We’d like to post selective results of the contest right here on the site. By entering the contest, you’re agreeing to let us do that. And for that, we thank you!

Any questions? Leave comment, use our contact form or email info[at]influx.us

Active Furniture is inconvenient on purpose. Reminds me of one of the times I heard someone say that they didn’t want their library’s furniture to be “too comfortable.”

10/GUI is an attempt to move away from the mouse, into realistic multi-touch computing. Don’t forget, somebody (Douglas Engelbart) had to invent the mouse too.

10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.

Sure, there’s good food to buy but that’s not the only reason I’m a fan. While not really liking the sort of half baked tiki/naval/Pacific Islands aesthetic of the store, I like being there. I know that as soon as I pass the produce section I’ll find some coffee to sample and sip while I shop.

Also, I look forward to seeing what employees have drawn and written on the signs. Here is my favorite from earlier today.

I’d like to know how many people take the time to read these little quips.

What’s a good indicator that an organization is effectively capturing the hearts of their customers? Without solicitation, a customer makes a commercial for you.

Audience: What are our users like?

Doing some persona work told us that an interesting challenge we’d have was to teach people a bit about UX while promoting our services.

Requirements: How can we meet their needs?

We did some brainstorming over email and IM. We made lists and crossed things off and ranked things. In the end we had a clear picture of what type of stuff needed to be on the site. Having done the work above, this process didn’t take too long and we felt confident of the results.

Wireframing: Constructing a skeleton

The wireframing process for building this site was lo-fi. I sketched a bit, threw some stuff out, sketched a little more and was happy with what I had. Amanda needed to see it and I hate scanning things, so I just took a photo of my notepad and emailed her.

Content: Meat on the bones

This was the hardest part. Not only because we wanted to get started on the visual design, but also because we have (at least) three rules for content. It should be meaningful, friendly, and as short as possible. Finding the right balance of the three is important and we’ve spent time thinking about almost every word on the site. We kept the process fresh through a process of writing drafts and revising. Repeatedly.

The result is content that’s easy to grab and go. We’ll be continually optimizing the content after looking at analytics for the site and talking to people that have used it. If we get any questions often it will tell us we should consider adding that info to the site.

Visual Design: The skin

Amanda and I like stark minimal designs but this site isn’t just for us. We started thinking about color right away. There were no right or wrong ideas, only potential solutions. Here are a few experiments.

We modified a WordPress theme called Berita. There are some nice parts to the theme’s mechanics but there are also some things I don’t like at all. I can’t fully recommend it.

Feedback: Initial interactions

Like all websites, this one needed to be reviewed and tested by people other than its creators. A big thank you to everyone that reviewed the site and provided feedback as we approached launch. They found typos, gave us suggestions about strengthening the tone on our services page and critiqued the visual design. A few people told us the site was pretty corporate looking, so we upped the amount of orange in an attempt to off set all of the (lovely!) grey.

Essential Tools for this Project (& Others)

Paper & Pencil
iChat
Google Docs
Firebug
Coda
WordPress
Photoshop & Illustrator & Acorn

Content is not a nice-to-have extra. Content is a star of the user experience show. Let’s make content shine.

Here’s a quick before and after from the recently redesigned District of Columbia Public Library website. Even without clicking the images to see them full size it is clear that the second one is easier to read.

Before

This page coldly presents library policy.

After

This revised page is conversational and answers real questions.

There’s no point putting information on the web, even if you think it is interesting or useful, if it isn’t easy to find, read & process.

By the way, I’m fully aware that the most convenient thing on this Get A Card page would be an actual form with which to apply for a card online. It is on the way. Hurrah for iterative changes and continual improvement.

Opening quote by Colleen Jones via inspire ux.