fffunction workshop

Today the last fffunction workshop was about information architecture, sketching, prototyping and user testing. 

We used the same hypothetical user profiles we created last week to create a structure for our website. For this we planned a website which would work for them considering all the potentials, failures and options. We then expanded it after to think about other users and what might drive them in their decision making when they work across the site. This got us really thinking as we had to create labels, push buttons and tagging. 

This was all done through simple sketches and the group I was working in really thought about how it would translate across different devices and platforms. This is really important when you are working on the content and how it will work across multiple devices with different people, each with different needs.

This then led to a prototype sketch with a model iPhone to mock up what we had produced in the small timeframe. 

Every site needs focus grouping or user testing and this was no difference. We used students who were not in the group to user test the site for us, this enabled us to check and see if we had considered each choice and we presented each task differently to each user. To aid us we also asked the user if they could think out loud when they were deciding on their choices.

The whole workshop led by fffunction was incredibly valuable and I would like to thank Adam and Dan for coming down each Friday. I am interested in keeping in touch to join in with their 'hack days' as this sounds very interesting and positive.

fffunction workshop

Dan and Adam from fffunction a web design agency based in Bristol came down to Falmouth university today for their second part of their three day workshop instalment. Over the course of three weeks this November, fffunction are leading workshops for a selection of students in their third year.

Today's main focus was to explore users, empathy mapping, personas and user journeys.

In particular we were looking at UX's, user profiling and personas to make judgements in design. To start off the workshop we worked in groups of 8 where we used post-it notes to hypothetically display the user journey a prospective student would take in finding out about Falmouth university when they are considering which higher education course to study within. We mapped this out on the wall and then assessed what we had included.

This led to creating user profiles in smaller groups of the same hypothetical user journey. We had to think about what their motivation was and all the potential touch points which the user could find themselves involving with. This took a lot of careful planning as we had to explore the problems and failures which could interact with the mapping of this route.

It was a great workshop and I look forward to next Friday's session. Thanks Dan and Adam!

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