Designed with flexibility and readers’ needs in mind, this purpose driven book offers new UX practitioners succinct and complete intructions on how to conduct user research and rapidly design interfaces and products in the classroom or the office.
With 16 challenges to learn from, this comprehensive guide outlines the process of a User Experience project cycle from assembling a team to researching user needs to creating and veryifying a prototype. Practice developing a prototype in as little as a week or build your skills in two-, four-, eight-, or sixteen-week stretches. Gain insight into individual motivations, connections, and interactions; learn the three guiding principles of the design system; and discover how to shape a user’s experience to achieve goals and improve overall immediate experience, satisfaction, and well-being.
Written for professionals looking to learn or expand their skills in user experience design and students studying technical communication, information technology, web and product design, business, or engingeering alike, this accessible book provides a foundational knowledge of this diverse and evolving field.
A companion website will include examples of contemporary UX projects, material to illustrate key techniques, and other resources for students and instructors. Access the material at uxonthego.com.
1. Introduction 2. Take an Active User Stance 3. Build Your Temporary Team 4. Map Your Best UX Cycle 5. Find and Understand Your Users 6. Ask, Observe, and Involve Users 7. Design with Users 8. Test and Begin to Sift Through the Data 9. Collect and Analyze the Data 10. Find the Story in Your Data 11. Present Data to Users, Team Members, and Stakeholders 12. Persuade with Personas 13. Manifest Your Idea in Sketches 14. Wireframes and Mockups 15. Create a Prototype or Minimum Viable Product, and Test It 16. Capture the Lessons and Disassemble the Team 17. Prepare to Do It Again
Biography
Andrew Mara is an Associate Professor and Faculty Head of Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication in the College of Integrative Arts and Humanities at Arizona State University. He has been teaching user experience, innovation rhetoric, and technical writing for 16 years. In addition, he has created an interactive arts app, built a digital dissertation studio, edited a special issue of Technical Communication Quarterly, performed a social media gameshow, and published over 20 journal articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings on writing innovation and communities of practice.
"UX on the Go: A Flexible Guide to User Experience Design is a pedagogical gift to our field. In sixteen carefully scaffolded chapters, Mara and contributors provide students and faculty alike with the practical and theoretical tools necessary to understand, manage and demystify complex project cycles, user-driven decisions, and action first paradigms. The creative challenges and UX examples in this book will define how rapidly-adjusted project cycles, user-driven decisions, and action- first paradigms are taught in our classrooms for years to come."
Jim Ridolfo, University of Kentucky
Author of Rhetoric and Digital Humanities, Digital Samaritans: Rhetorical Delivery and Engagement in the Digital Humanities, and Rhet Ops: Rhetoric and Information Warfare
"UX on the Go stands out as a textbook with its emphasis on getting out in the field and meeting users — the people all the work is about. From beginning to end, Andrew Mara identifies the role of UX research and practical ways to include users in the entire process, engaging them and embedding their stories in the product."
Whitney Quesenbery, Center for Civic Design
Author of Storytelling for User Experience, Global UX, and A Web for Everyone
"In UX on the Go: A Flexible Guide to User Experience Design, Andrew Mara gives us a very clear and practical exploration of UX design. I very much appreciated his step-by-step approach to designing with the users’ needs and experiences in mind."
Richard Johnson-Sheehan, Purdue University
Author of Writing Today, Technical Communication Today, and Writing Proposals
