Brian Dys

Author: Brian Dys

  • UX Workshop with Elizabeth Baylor – Day 1

    The design team at PayMaya had the opportunity to have a two-day workshop with Elizabeth Baylor—a senior UX researcher at Google.

    Day 1 topics covered the following:

    • UX Process
    • Usability and Usefulness
    • Generative and Confirmatory Research

    The Curse of Knowledge

    We assume that others think like we do but that is only an assumptions. Here is where research comes in handy—to test our assumptions.

    UX Process

    Two keywords in UX: effective and delightful. People’s experiences in using a product or service must be effective (doesn’t waste time while achieving their goals) and delightful (makes them feel good while doing it).

    In UX Research, the effectiveness and delightfulness of solutions must be backed by insights and data. Success metrics is measured.

    1. Discover
    What’s the problem?    		2. Explore
    Conceptualize on the possible solutions
    4. Iterate
    Polish the solution    		3. Design
    Implement solution based on a concept that works

    When you’ve invested time in discovery and exploration and the solutions failed during implementation, it is easier to look into the implementation phase for improvements rather than attributing the failure due to a bad concept.

    During the design and iteration phase, you’re already testing for usability and polishing the solution.

    Usability and Usefulness

    During the Discovery and Exploration phases, it is better to test for usefulness, then during the Design and Iteration, the usefulness and usability. Test them separately in order to easily attribute where the problem lies

    1. Discover
    Usefulness    		2. Explore
    Usefulness
    4. Iterate
    Usefulness and usability    		3. Design
    Usefulness and usability

    Usability (Problem)

    Imagine an ice cream dropped and melting on the group—generally inedible and it’s a problem when the goal is ice cream consumption.

    Can users successfully reach their goals while using the product or service?

    Six to eight users (anyone) could be recruited to test the product—enough to uncover 85% of usability problems.

    Usefulness (Preference)

    Imagine your favorite ice cream flavor—each person has his/her own. Flavor, in this example, is a preference.

    In testing for usefulness, sampling matters. Recruit who’s in scope and know who’s out of scope. Identify your primary and secondary target users.

    Generative and Confirmatory Research

    Generative: Discovering new ideas

    • Literature review
    • Contextual inquiry (observation)
    • User interviews (open-ended, ethnographic)
    • Focus groups
    • Free listing
    • Card sorting (open, unconstrained)
    • Photovoice
    • Diary studies

    Confirmatory: Selecting right idea

    • Behavioral observations (quantitative)
    • Structured interviews
    • Rating and ranking tasks
    • Card sorting (closed, constrained)
    • Usability studies
    • A/B testing
    • Surveys

    Conclusion

    Test your assumptions.

    Put pain points to a test.

    Avoid self-centered design.

    You are not the user.

    Your solution is only as good as your understanding of the problem.

    Research’s effectiveness lies in the right sample and the right method.

  • Reading List: Week 4, November 2020

    The last week of November was Jaycelle’s birthday week so we were focused on preparations and celebrations. I didn’t really get to read a lot of stuff this week (in fact, I only got one).

    • To Create a Better Society

      Yes, we need to go into communities. But we should be looking to find the creative people in those communities who are already addressing their problems. People who live in the community don’t need anthropologists and design researchers to figure out their needs. They know the problems and they often have creative ideas. Moreover, they present practical solutions because they understand the culture, the capabilities, and the resources of the community.

      Don Norman

  • First Day High

    Woke up early morn scampering to find all the knickknacks that once filled up my backpack. I emptied it since March early this year and retired it into a forgotten corner of the house. The quarantine’s end wasn’t in sight, after all. All the things that I think I might need when in the office were all lined up on my desk — they are the following:

    • water tumbler
    • coffee tumbler
    • laptop computer
    • notebook and pen
    • battery pack
    • umbrella
    • digital pouch
    • toiletry pouch
    • shades
    • jacket

    The bag? Yes, it’s nowhere to be found. I was about to check a mountain of luggage one by one and thankfully, Jaycelle was half-awake to tell me that it might be in a box full of bags. There it was, my old army green friend.

    My MRT Ride
    My bag and I, we’ve been through thick and thin.
    (more…)

  • Reading List: Week 3, November 2020

  • Reading List: Week 2, November 2020

    [ntt_percept post=”on-exaggeration”]

    Oh yeah, the reading list

  • On Exaggeration

    Grabe! One would exclaim in a local language (Tagalog) as exaggeration of a feeling or an event. It’s part of my daily expressions, and exaggeration is one I consider a great tool in my existential musings.

    It is not unlike a thought experiment or addressing edge cases in UX.

    Two persons are in danger, who will you help first?

    How do we handle a very long string here?

    Will you eat turd for a million dollars?

    What would you do if a love one is gone tomorrow?

    Yes, simple questions, albeit provocative. The scenario might less likely happen today but what if it does? What would you do? How would you react?

    In talks of exaggeration, there’s a pitfall to avoid, though — when facts are misrepresented for manipulation with malice. On the other hand, thinking in extremes helps us in realigning our principles and values with how we think and who we are now. It helps us be prepared for things unforeseen.

  • Reading List: Week 1, November 2020

    [ntt_percept post=”over-the-probationary-period-hump-at-avaloq”]

    Oh yeah, the reading list

  • Over the probationary period hump at Avaloq

    A couple of weeks since lockdown (nearing April), Jaycelle and I made this major decision — for the lack of better words — to level up. It was scary, indeed, because the pandemic surprised us all. Most companies halted their hirings yet there I was with an offer on the table.

    Fast forward to six months — this was an eventful week as I have passed the probationary period at Avaloq. The team’s trust and support has been tremendous. It is challenging — this role of a manager and individual contributor — nevertheless, everyone’s willingness in collaboration and their dedication to the craft made the ride rather smooth.

    Here’s an excerpt from my third month evaluation, which I feel like will always ring true in my career.

    What are your initial impressions of working with Avaloq? Have your expectations been fulfilled?

    Challenging

    3 months could very well feel like a year of working in Avaloq — probably because almost every thing was done online. It will even be more challenging if there were physical interactions with people — getting to know their ways of working, finding the right balance between personalities, all in achieving a common goal of championing UX and elevating the knowledge and skills of the Avaloq UX design team.

    Exciting

    Each step of the way, I would discover different kinds of terrain in Avaloq — mostly rugged hills and mountains. How to navigate it? Surely, you have to go around them or climb them. Stumbling blocks? You have to clear them for people following your lead. Some blocks can be arranged into stepping stones for us to reach higher levels.

    What excites me is the big room for improvement that I am contributing to in filling. Accomplishments, they’re a bonus. There’s always what’s next.

    I’m in the right place, at the right time

    When I wished to transition to the next level in my career — Avaloq is the next level. It is global — I find myself collaborating with people who have widely different perspectives and knowledge which I learn from. The UX design team in Manila is solid and open for growth. It is a perfect combination of a conducive environment wherein I can grow and support others’ growth, as well.

  • Brian Dys Artist Signature

    Recently, I hopped on to Spotify as an artist. I released several electronica singles under the label Weet Weew. The experience was liberating in the sense that I’ve been putting it off for quite some time and finally got to grapple with it. I got to revisit some old compositions and reacquainted with a DAW (digital audio workstation) of choice: FruityLoops.

    The logo of Weet Weew Music to My Ears record label.

    The signature

    Preparing for a (rather bleak) future when crazed fans would ask me for autographs, I thought I needed to have one. So I practiced using a big round-tip marker and settled with a 0.6 mm-tip pen.

    Brian Dys Artist Signature on Notebook
    A scanned photo of a notebook with Brian Dys signature.

    With a trusty scanner, I scanned it with a resolution of 600 to be able to “blow it up” and properly enhance it. From Photoshop to Illustrator to Figma to its destination, Spotify — it took me around an hour to do all this.

    The process

    1. Photoshop

    We’re using Adobe Photoshop to prepare the material for vectorization in Illustrator.

    • File → Open
      To open the material
    • Image → Adjustments → Desaturate
      To convert it to grayscale
    • Image → Auto Contrast
      To make the paper whiter and ink blacker
    • Image → Adjustments → Threshold
      To convert the paper to pure white and ink to pure black; yes it will pixelate, that’s why it’s important to have a high resolution material; some areas might be lost, so you might be working on several layers with different threshold amounts
    • Window → Channels
      Copy and paste the artwork into an alpha channel and select it (it will select the white part, so, invert the selection to select the black part)
    • Window → Layers
      Go back to the layer while the selection is active
    • Layer → New → Layer Via Copy
      To copy and paste the black part into a new layer
    • Layer → Delete → Layer
      Select the original layer and delete it
    • Manual Adjustments
      Now you have a line art (with transparent background) that is fairly easy to adjust — like if you need to extend or erase some parts
    • File → Save → .PSD
      Save the file as Photoshop file

    2. Illustrator

    We’re using Adobe Illustrator to convert the prepared material into vector. Sure, from the scanned material we can go straight here — I personally see the result is better when we prepare the material prior vectorization.

    • File → Open
      To open the .psd file
    • Photoshop Import Options dialog → Convert Layer to Objects
      To keep the layers (if any) in the material
    • Select the Object
      To select the particular layer we will vectorize
    • Window → Image Trace
      To customize settings for vectorization
    • Object → Image Trace → Expand
      To vectorize the object and see its layers
    • Manual Adjustments
      Now you have vector objects — remove any unwanted layers like solid backgrounds (to make the background transparent); also prepare for the desired artwork and artboard size
    • File → Export → Export As → .SVG → Use Artboards
      Save the file as Scalable Vector Graphics file; for handwritten signatures in particular, the default setting for SVG Options will do (it’s a different case when you have images and fonts in your material)

    3. Figma

    Figma is awesome because you can use it for free and it is web-based (use it alongside Facebook on the other tab of your favorite web browser). Really, this part is optional — it just so happened that my Spotify header image template is conveniently in Figma (you can use Photoshop or Illustor, too).

    Right after I uploaded my updated header image to Spotify, I turned to see that my notebook has grown itself some robot doodles, courtesy of Bryce. Consequently, I asked him if we would like to color it in Photoshop and that lit up his face!

    Signature and Doodles
    A pen and notebook with Brian Dys signature and some robot doodles.

  • Reading List: Week 5, October 2020

    [ntt_percept post=”on-copying-and-collaboration”]

    Oh, yeah, the reading list