Presenters: Laura Mason, Ecora; Gregg Almquist, Experient Interactive and Design

Without Style Guidelines (“The Frankenstein effect”)

. Product was fragmented – page design and language seemed pieced together
. Inconsistency made product harder to use and undermined users’ confidence
. Most important information wasn’t always first on page
. Various synonyms used for the word “enter”
. Tone bounced around from formal legalese to very casual

Purpose of style guidelines:

. Allows editors and UX specialists to set consistent approach to global style and design based on standards/best practices
. Allows others to use the same approach to create a unified, consistent user experience
. (Good) Consistency = Easy to Learn = Improved UX

Why People Didn’t Use Style Guidelines

1. Style guidelines were designed for editors, not developers and engineers.
2. No compelling reason for people to use the guidelines.
3. People _hate_ being told how to do their jobs.

Promotion Activities
. Get buy in from team leaders _first_.
. Avoid making people defensive; use neutral examples.
. Focus on critical guidelines.
 
[1] Guidelines Review
A meeting with other teams to review the guidelines (or highlights) and the principles on which they’re based. Other teams can ask questions and make suggestions.
Promote it as a review and feedback meeting.

[2] Guidelines Workshop
A workshop for teams to do exercises, games, and other activities to get hands-on experience applying style guidelines.
Promote it as a skill-building workshop.

[3] Guidelines Walkthrough
Representatives from teams review the style guidelines and walk through the product to identify areas where style guidelines haven’t been applied.
Promote it as UX activity or annual product improvement exercise.

[4] Guidelines Lessons Learned
A lessons learned session with team members to discuss what went well with the style guidelines and opportunities for improvement.
Promote it as a means for teams to tell you what worked well for them and what could be improved.

Results: An Unintended Win – Shared Responsibility for User Experience (UX)

Teams became:
. More aware of/responsible for the UX
. More likely to recognize style issues and other UX problems
. More active contributors to guidelines
. More likely to write up bugs for guideline
. More likely to ask for UX’s help in solving problems

Other activities that created shared responsibility for UX:
. Participatory design
. Observing usability studies
. Participating in cognitive walkthroughs
. Review of heuristics

Advantages of guideline activities:
. Provide fundamentals for participatory design
. Active application vs. passive observation
. Style guidelines are a specific, practical application of heuristics
. Guidelines are less open to interpretation