Designing your life Masterclass: creating good experiences at home & work 842 3 hrs 50 min In designing experiences for others, we focus a lot on how to make life better for our users.  Alongside this is the recognition that how your team creates good experiences comes down to how they work and think together. Rarely, do we, or teams, stop to design their own lives or cultures. In this Masterclass, Frank Spillers tackles the farreaching topic of “right living”, or as TED founder Richard Saul Wurman once said, ‘Designing your life is the most difficult problem of them all’. Today, you need to be totally creative, adaptable, and innovative. That is to say, these design skills and mindsets are highly sought-after and guarded by designers, innovators, and teams. Yet the world we live in throws up obstacles including challenges to our attention and stress. Teams and individuals that can solve problems elegantly and that demonstrate success thrive. However, even success can be an obstacle. The more familiar you become, the more confident you become of what constitutes the right path. However, as UX Designers know, good journeys don’t just happen, they are meticulously designed and tested before confidence is felt. So how to apply User Experience and Service Design processes, mindsets, and tools to your life and your team? In this Masterclass, Frank Spillers shares what he has learned applying Human-Centered Design to daily routines and rituals while empowering teams to improve, make better decisions and get better results. Leveraging a couple of decades of experience, Frank will show you how you can mirror healthy cognitive practices at home and with your team while feeling happier and getting better results from design efforts at work. This course is based on Frank’s experience as a design researcher, entrepreneur, and category leader. You will get Frank’s experience of what he has found to work and how to tackle the challenges of life and designing, including Wellness, Purpose, Curiosity, Motivation, and more.

UX KPI Masterclass- Deepening UX measurement into every layer of your process and organization. 817 3 hrs 5min

Agenda:

This Masterclass starts with the premise, ‘if you don’t measure, you don’t improve’. More importantly, UX is a verifiable methodology with techniques that can be measured. Not only is the return on investment (ROI) of UX necessary, the habit of measuring your impact is vital to UX maturity and repeat success. As a result, high-performing UX teams need to be based on a culture of measurement. But what to measure? Measuring UX Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) means connecting your UX activities to business value. First, it starts with aligning the right metrics with the UX activities and outcomes you are expecting. For example, Web analytics are not enough. Furthermore, behavioral click-through analytics are equally half-measured. Instead, a mix of qualitative and quantitative KPI’s are needed. In this Masterclass, Frank Spillers will cover the business case for UX ROI as well as specific KPI’s to solve specific projects and scenarios. We will cover the spectrum of UX activities ranging from Web sites and Web applications (B2C & B2B) as well as Mobile Apps and less tangible efforts such as Accessibility and Service Design. You will learn how to embed quality of UX across your process and organization.

About Monthly MasterClasses:

These monthly meet-ups are topic-driven live events with an informal presentation by Frank Spillers and group activities and discussions. Monthly MasterClasses are included as part of your membership. They allow a deep dive into important UX topics, with insights drawn from process best practices and case studies from Frank’s two decades in the field.  

This is Ethnography Doing workshop- part 2/3 789 3 hrs 40 min See Part 1 here Essential documents/ links: Member log-in, see this group About the workshop: The focus of this hands-on learning experience is on how to do Ethnography. In this workshop, we will learn all the steps in Ethnography. First, we will start with recruiting target users for the actual study. Next, we will learn how to moderate user interviews, with an emphasis on the capture of quality data. Finally, we will unpack and analyze the data and insights. Participants will learn by doing. The UX Inner Circle provides supported mentoring with opportunities to practice skills with peers. The workshop will be led by industry veteran and Master UX Trainer Frank Spillers. Frank will share tried and tested process know-how he uses daily at his award-winning UX Consulting firm, Experience Dynamics. Note: This workshop will be split into smaller working sessions. In addition, participants will be required to spend time outside of class managing users. Bonus workshop: The real data gathered in this workshop will lead to a second workshop. “Insight Sprints- bringing your team along the user research journey“. This workshop is focused on organizational process and evangelizing insights.

Miniclass- Use Cases and UX

This is Ethnography Doing workshop- part 1/3 785 3 hrs 20 min See Part 2 here Essential documents/ links: Member log-in, see this group   About the workshop: The focus of this hands-on learning experience is on how to do Ethnography. In this workshop, we will learn all the steps in Ethnography. First, we will start with recruiting target users for the actual study. Next, we will learn how to moderate user interviews, with an emphasis on the capture of quality data. Finally, we will unpack and analyze the data and insights. Participants will learn by doing. The UX Inner Circle provides supported mentoring with opportunities to practice skills with peers. The workshop will be led by industry veteran and Master UX Trainer Frank Spillers. Frank will share tried and tested process know-how he uses daily at his award-winning UX Consulting firm, Experience Dynamics. Note: This workshop will be split into smaller working sessions. In addition, participants will be required to spend time outside of class managing users. Bonus workshop: The real data gathered in this workshop will lead to a second workshop. “Insight Sprints- bringing your team along the user research journey“. This workshop is focused on organizational process and evangelizing insights.

UX Writing Masterclass- Increasing conversion rates with emotional impact 773 3 hrs 6 min

UX Writing- Increasing conversion rates with emotional impact (Masterclass)

UX Writing is critical to creating a good experience. At its core, UX writing relies on the strategic use of words in alignment with UX goals. For example, good copywriting helps facilitate three important goals: 1) quick scanning, 2) reading and comprehending, and 3) taking action. Taking action relates to usability & accessibility and, of course, to conversion rates. In this Masterclass, we will prioritize how you can leverage emotional impact for improved customer conversion rates. It has been estimated that words and content are the most important element of a User Interface. Even being ranked in search engines by Google (SEO) now requires good UX: made up of the pillars of user-centered and mobile-friendly content. Content is also the cheapest “UI” to change. So it makes sense that you spend time being deliberate and customer-centered when it comes to copy. In this Masterclass, Frank Spillers will cover known best practices to copywriting based on industry best practices as well as his vast UX consulting experience. Most importantly in this monthly meet-up of the UX Inner Circle, we will discover ways you can support user task completion and conversion behavior with copy. This includes affecting the navigation and flow of your website or mobile experience.

Topics we will cover in this Masterclass:

• How to create a content UX strategy.
• How to conduct a content usability audit.
• Aligning the 5 pillars of content usability.
• How to create powerful copy that’s customer-centered.
• Getting audience considerations right: locally, globally, and diversely.
• Inclusive Design & Ethical UX copywriting essentials.
• Using emotional impact to amplify the power of your copy/ microcopy.
• Propelling your users to action.
• Tips for improving your overall UX and SEO with UX Writing.
• Process strategy: improving how you create and manage content, prototypes, and copywriting

Cross-Cultural Design Workshop: Toward Localization UX- Part 2/2 767 3 hrs 12 min

• Cost: Buy this course and attend it live or get the recording for only $100** USD: [wlm_stripe_btn sku=payperpost-767 button_label="Buy Now" pay_button_label="Buy Now" coupon="1"]

Part 2 continues the Part 1: Cross-Cultural Design workshop... Localizing user experience to meet the unique needs of different locales requires a localization + UX approach.  This Workshop gets to the heart of designing for users across cultures. First, we look at cross-cultural design challenges and how to bring UX maturity to localization efforts. In designing across cultures, we aim to bring a cultural sensitivity to design choices. Why? Users won't adopt designs that feel out of place, inappropriate or foreign. Second, we tackle the problem of culture and how to design for varied audiences.

Don't think this is just for global design projects. This method applies to your users at home who may as well live in another country. Most companies do not understand the at-home culture of their users. Worse, in aiming for Inclusive Design, the needs of underrepresented users can be misunderstood or ignored. Most importantly, if we understand user needs from a cultural lens, we can better design for user adoption.

Third, getting the mechanics of cultural differences right is critical for Localization UX. Machine translation won't save you. Assuming 'one UX size fits all' will harm you. Instead, it is important that your UI and your code be well optimized after you have identified the right UX strategy. Topics covered in this workshop:

• Translation and transcreation: moving beyond the simplistic model of Loc=Language
• Designing for difference: understanding cultural needs
• Conducting global user research
• Detecting cultural sensitivities
• How to tackle user adoption
• Localization UX for Web, Mobile, and experiences
• Agile localization issues and tips
• Validating design concepts with global users

About UX Inner Circle Workshops:

These workshops are live events with an informal presentation by Frank Spillers and group activities and discussions, with a more hands-on experience to learning the material presented. Online workshops are included as part of your UX Inner Circle membership. They allow a deep study of UX topics, with insights drawn from process best practices and case studies from Frank Spillers two decades in the field.

Cost:

VALUE of $399…join the UX Inner Circle to get this and enjoy access to $10,385 worth of value- recording trainings from 20 years of Frank Spillers’s work.

FREE FOR INNER CIRCLE MEMBERS

Want to access the MasterClass? Join now starting at USD $49 Nonprofit-Student-Emerging Market/ $99 Individual/$349 Team of 4 ***FREE WITH UX INNER CIRCLE MEMBERSHIP** Pricing Options ($49, $99 or $349 per month) 30- Day Free Trial

Masterclass: Storytelling – strategies for getting user needs embedded in teams and designs 760 3 hrs 22 min You have heard of User Stories from your dev team, right? After all, they are part of good Agile development. However, the question of user stories brings up a bigger issue which is where are the stories coming from? When doing User Advocacy, it is important that you are sharing stories from the ‘problem space’ of the user. As it turns out, Storytelling is a core soft skill for UX Designers and UX Researchers. Because Human-Centered Design brings in the “messy details” of people’s lives, it is important that scenarios, tasks, goals, and emotional or social aspects get clearly communicated. Storytelling is the vehicle for educating, informing, inspiring, and evangelizing user needs. If all you do is invent user stories, then you will only live in fantasy land– the corporate norm. Most importantly, stories help dispel assumptions about users. Corporate dev & design teams are plagued with assumptions. Furthermore, internal teams are filled with unconscious biases— the biggest of which is ‘confirmation bias’ (where you see what you want to see). That’s why, when it comes to assessing product or service features against user needs and abilities, most teams fail. The fix to seeing beyond your own belly button is a great, real, eye-opening, jaw-dropping user story. In this Masterclass, we will learn Storytelling skills with an aim to improve design decision communication among teams. Topics covered in this Masterclass:

• You will learn Story structure, and how to use it to aid in design decision conversations.
• Storytelling UX essentials- how to get the best user stories with the highest business impact (ROI).
• Microstorytelling- going viral with user insights.
• Improv- going into Mentalizing to activate ‘hidden empathy’ for user scenarios.
• Using Story as a Research tool- using ‘Story-mapping‘ to communicate your user journey.
• Using Story as a Design tool- using ‘Question-storming‘ to warm up teams to user needs discovery.
• Turning your team into a Story-centric UX group: communicating to stakeholders and non-UX teams.

Cross-Cultural Design workshop: Toward Localization UX part 1/2 749 2hrs 56 min

• Cost: Buy this course (Part 1 &2) for only $100** USD: [wlm_stripe_btn sku=payperpost-767 button_label="Buy Now" pay_button_label="Buy Now" coupon="1"]

See Part 2: Cross-Cultural Design workshop...

Cross-Cultural Design workshop

Localizing user experience to meet the unique needs of different locales requires a localization + UX approach.  This Workshop gets to the heart of designing for users across cultures. First, we look at cross-cultural design challenges and how to bring UX maturity to localization efforts. In designing across cultures, we aim to bring a cultural sensitivity to design choices. Why? Users won't adopt designs that feel out of place, inappropriate or foreign. Second, we tackle the problem of culture and how to design for varied audiences.

Don't think this is just for global design projects. This method applies to your users at home who may as well live in another country. Most companies do not understand the at-home culture of their users. Worse, in aiming for Inclusive Design, the needs of underrepresented users can be misunderstood or ignored. Most importantly, if we understand user needs from a cultural lens, we can better design for user adoption.

Third, getting the mechanics of cultural differences right is critical for Localization UX. Machine translation won't save you. Assuming 'one UX size fits all' will harm you. Instead, it is important that your UI and your code be well-optimized after you have identified the right UX strategy. Topics covered in this workshop:

• Translation and transcreation: moving beyond the simplistic model of Loc=Language
• Designing for difference: understanding cultural needs
• Conducting global user research
• Detecting cultural sensitivities
• How to tackle user adoption
• Localization UX for Web, Mobile, and experiences
• Agile localization issues and tips
• Validating design concepts with global users

About UX Inner Circle Workshops:

These workshops are live events with an informal presentation by Frank Spillers and group activities and discussions, with a more hands-on experience to learning the material presented. Online workshops are included as part of your UX Inner Circle membership. They allow a deep study of UX topics, with insights drawn from process best practices and case studies from Frank Spillers two decades in the field.

Cost:

VALUE of $399…join the UX Inner Circle to get this and enjoy access to $10,385 worth of value- recording trainings from 20 years of Frank Spillers’s work.

FREE FOR INNER CIRCLE MEMBERS

Want to access the MasterClass? Join now starting at USD $49 Nonprofit-Student-Emerging Market/ $99 Individual/$349 Team of 4 ***FREE WITH UX INNER CIRCLE MEMBERSHIP** Pricing Options ($49, $99 or $349 per month) 30- Day Free Trial

UX Writing: How to use words as a design power ...

User Advocacy- Fighting for the Rights of Users Masterclass 742

3 hr 36 min User Advocacy is a core UX ‘soft skill’, that is recognized as essential to doing UX, but is rarely taught. As a result, UX professionals learn User Advocacy organically, through experience, and over time. However, teams that need to “move quickly and fix things” find themselves cutting corners, implementing “Lean UX” and leaving users out. In addition, this habit forms the basis of failed Inclusive Design efforts. Where empathy means: “I think I understand your experience”, advocacy means: “I take your side and fight for your rights”. User advocacy means you bring user representation to your design conversations and decision-making processes. Coincidentally, all top-performing UX’ers do solid user advocacy. In UX work, user advocacy is a regular job skill. Every day and in every meeting, there are enemies of UX– people who don’t value or appreciate the perspective or needs of the user. In many cases, the insensitivity to users or user needs is not deliberate.  It is often simply the lack of familiarity with Human Centered Design processes, roles, and mindsets. Enter user advocacy… User Advocacy is critical to doing good UX. Weak user advocacy amongst technology teams is a sign of poor UX management. In this Masterclass, we will change the ‘spoken about but never taught’ phenomenon, so that you come out being a stronger advocate– with a game plan.

In this monthly meetup of the UX Inner Circle, Frank Spillers will cover this topic based on practical tips about what works and what does not. The following topics will be covered:

• The updated User Bill of Rights: what are we fighting for?
• How to ensure that users get put back into “UX”.
• Strategies and tips for discussing user needs and behaviors in meetings.
• How to “sell” User Research (both sides: user testing + field research).
• How to teach other teammates to do user advocacy.
• Assessing your User Advocacy skill level (and developing a path to upskilling).
• Organizational advocacy and the business case for cross-functional teams adopting User Advocacy.
• Extending user advocacy to reach underrepresented users: Disability Advocacy, Cross-Cultural Advocacy, Inclusion Advocacy.

Inclusive Design workshop 739

3 hrs

Agenda:

Inclusive Design celebrates universal access by deliberately adjusting and adapting to the needs of underrepresented communities and users. However, to do inclusion right, it needs to be default in your design and development process. It needs to be automatic and not a sideline effort or something the DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) team handles or champions.

In this workshop, Frank Spillers will cover the following topics:

• Why Inclusive Design? Establishing the business case.
• How to conduct an Inclusive Design audit.
• How and why to reach underrepresented user groups: people of color, women, disability, LGBTQ+, aging, socio-economic status and more.
• Accessibility and Universal Access: principles and lessons from AA to AAA.
• Designing for user values with value-sensitive design & ethically aligned design.
• Inclusion in UX Design core tasks & activities.
• Leveraging Participatory Design for stakeholder inclusion.
• Reworking product and service development and design process toward inclusion as default.