Observing the User Experience

The disconnect between who designers and developers expect their consumers to be and who those users actually are might be the most challenging aspect of product development. Observing the User Experience will assist you in bridging that gap and understanding what your users want and need from your product, as well as if they will be able to use what you've built.

This book gives a complete toolkit of approaches to help designers and developers see through the eyes of their users, filled with real-world experience and a lot of practical information. It covers 13 user experience research approaches in full, which will serve as a foundation for designing better products, whether they are Web-based, software-based, or mobile-based. Furthermore, it is created with a real-world understanding of product development in mind, taking into account constrained budgets, short timelines, and current processes.

Since the first edition was published, the user research industry has blossomed with new technologies and approaches. This second version incorporates such improvements, as well as major revisions to existing sections. It also includes brand-new content on observational research, smartphone usability, diary studies, remote research, and cross-cultural and multilingual projects.

As one of the best books on user research, the book is a wonderful resource for designers, developers, and project managers -in fact, anybody whose work affects the end-user experience- since it explains how to balance usability with creativity and uniqueness while also providing a real-world perspective on research. This book teaches you how to conduct user research on a budget and in a timely manner. Following the completion of this book, you will have the resources and confidence to do user research on your own design, tailoring the user experience to the specific demands of your product and its users.

While the book is about asking the appropriate questions to potential clients, it is also packed with life lessons that are applicable to any situation in which you must ask questions (think job interviews, salary negotiations, buying a house, etc).

Authors: Elizabeth Goodman and Andrea Moed

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/Observing-User-Experience-Practitioners-Research/dp/0123848695