Observing the user experience : a practitioner's guide to user research / Mike Kuniavsky.

The gap between who designers and developers imagine their users are, and who those users really are can be the biggest problem with product development. Observing the User Experience will help you bridge that gap to understand what your users want and need from your product, and whether they'll be able to use what you've created.

Filled with real-world experience and a wealth of practical information, this book presents a complete toolbox of techniques to help designers and developers see through the eyes of their users. It provides in-depth coverage of 13 user experience research techniques that will provide a basis for developing better products, whether they're Web, software or mobile based. In addition, it's written with an understanding of how software is developed in the real world, taking tight budgets, short schedules, and existing processes into account.

Explains how to create usable products that are still original, creative, and unique · A valuable resource for designers, developers, project managers---anyone in a position where their work comes in direct contact with the end user · Provides a real-world perspective on research and provides advice about how user research can be done cheaply, quickly and how results can be presented persuasively · Gives readers the tools and confidence to perform user research on their own designs and tune their software user experience to the unique needs of their product and its users.

San Francisco, CA ; London : Morgan Kaufmann, [2003], ©2003.

xvi, 560 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Part I: Why research is good and how it fits into product development. Typhoon : a fable -- Do a usability test now! -- Balancing needs through iterative development -- The user experience.

Part II: User experience research techniques. The research plan -- Universal tools : recruiting and interviewing -- User profiles -- Contextual inquiry, task analysis, card sorting -- Focus groups -- Usability tests -- Surveys -- Ongoing relationships -- Log files and customer support -- Competitive research -- Others' hard work : published information and consultants -- Emerging techniques.

Part III: Communicating results. Reports and presentations -- Creating a user-centered corporate culture.

Appendices. The budget research lab -- Common survey questions -- Observer instructions.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 542-544) and index.