This document discusses the importance of user centricity in corporate environments. It begins by stating that taking a user centric approach can help companies reach product/market fit sooner, understand users and markets sooner, and lower acquisition costs. However, it notes that truly user centric products require validation with target users. While user testing provides validation, it does not validate things like organizational needs, problem solving ability, or technical viability. The document then discusses various tools and methods that can be used to gain feedback and validation at different stages, including interviews, surveys, design principles, design studios, design sprints, and data validation. It argues that these tools are important to help align stakeholders, speed up the design process, and make ideas

1. User Centricity
In a corporate environment

2. “The creation of an identity
or personality and the
promotion of this identity
through visuals (indirect)
and campaigns (direct).”
36 years old, father of 2, living in Brussels
12y of passion about user experiences
Work for Wijs as UX lead in the Belfius team
Hi, I’m Kenny

3. We are a digital-first
communications agency.

4.
For companies whose clients & markets
are transforming through digital.

5. STRATEGY STORY
What we do
SYSTEM SCALE
Understanding the:
• Organization
• Audience
• Customer journey
Defining the:
• Identity
• Communication Concept
• Tone of voice
Designing the:
• User experience
• Key message
• Technical engine
Generating:
• Awareness
• Traffic
• Leads
• Content

6. Ok, that’s enough marketing
for now

7. USER CENTRICITY

8. Why user centricity makes sense
for corporates

9. Reach a product/market fit sooner than the competition
Understand the market sooner than the competition
Understand the users in the market sooner than the competition

10. The User
Your product or service

11. The User
Your product or service
Lower acquisition cost
Lower on-boarding threshold
Competitive advantage

12. However, reality check

13. User-centric products
require user validation
We need to validate often and early with a
relevant target group.
And this is where it becomes difficult.

15. But also…
USER
≠
DESIGNER

16. What user testing gives you
Validation on a high fidelity design
Validation of the mental model and the user flow
Validation on the interaction design
Validation of the solution

17. What user testing doesn’t validate
The new product is what the organisation needs next
The new products solves a real problem
The new product fits the brand position
The new product is profitable
The new product can co-exist with other products
The new product is technically viable
Validation of the problem

18. The bad news
We still need company-wide validation
And we’re not good at this

19. Project starts
“This is a high-exposure project, I want in!”
“We’re working on the same thing, let’s collaborate.”
“Make sure you keep X and Y in the loop.”
“Make sure it aligns with our 2025 plan.”

20. Challenges
• Misalignment on strategy
• Lack of speed, validation hell
• Corporate Politics
• Business centricity
• Risk aversion
• …

21. Challenges
• Misalignment on strategy
• Lack of speed, validation hell
• Corporate Politics
• Business centricity
• Risk aversion
• …
• This isn’t “our brand”
• I’m not convinced this is the “way to go”
• “Can you send it to me first?”
• “How can we push this to our users?”
• “It’s too early to test, make it better”

22. Yes, we’re talking about
Feedback

23. Sadly, there’s no silver bullet

24. But we have tools

25. The good news
Feedback means engagement
and engagement often results in progress

26. ASKING END USERS

27. Surveys

28. It’s simple
If we want to know what they’re
searching for…
Let’s ask them

30. Outdated?
Old-school? Invasive? Frustrating? Irritating?
Probably

31. But it works.

33. As a direct input for
information architecture

34. Some things we learned
To avoid annoyance, make sure that:
• After completion, it’s not shown again
• It’s limited in time
• It’s only for a percentage of users
• It’s one step, not a complete survey

35. Interviews

36. Fail to plan =
Plan to fail
Prepare properly for interviews:
• make sure that you get sufficient context
before you start
• Make sure you inquire top-tasks

37. http://digitaljobstobedone.com/jtbd-cards/

38. DESIGN PRINCIPLES

39. agreement on the big things
Allows
discussion on the details

40. Hard work that pays off
during design discussions

41. • Don’t waste time discussing the big strategic choices during the design iterations
• Discuss principles once, not during every iteration
• Removes emotional and subjective arguments (for the most part)
• Allows interdisciplinary validation (everyone can suggest a principle)
Why use Design Principles?

42. DESIGN SYSTEMS

43. 43

44. 44

45. 45

46. 46

47. Team Product
New Styles, Patterns,
Ideas…
New Styles, Patterns,
Ideas…
New Styles, Patterns,
Ideas…
Every new hire and every new project receives
a blank cheque for reinventing the wheel
Without a Design System…

48. Using a Design system
=
more energy to focus on the real
problems

49. 49
Making it evolve is
great, just don’t touch
the basics

50. DESIGN STUDIO

52. My product is the
most important
one
My service has
the most value
This should be
on the
homepage Contact options
should be
above the fold

53. The faster we make our ideas tangible,
the sooner we will be able to evaluate them,
refine them,
and zero in on the best solution

54. IterationBriefing
Presentation
Generation
Critique
Design Studio

55. Individual ideation
Combined ideas
within groups
Pitch & iteration
between groups
Design Studio

56. Example
Designing the websites for a
large international
manufacturing corporation
40+ stakeholders from
15+ division

57. 57
Individual ideation

58. “The creation of an identity
or personality and the
promotion of this identity
through visuals (indirect)
and campaigns (direct).”
All stakeholders work together to transform
their individual ideas into a
consolidated solution
Combining ideation
Landing Page
Features and benefits
Search
Industries
Related information: news,
customer story, testimonial,
featured product, promotion,
service
Call to action
Footer
Links to popular pages

59. The ideas emerged from the Design Studio
are pushed further and put together in
collaboration with UX architects, designers
and developers
Making it concrete

60. • Create a shared ownership vision
• Hold open and honest critiques session
• Negotiate ideas
• Align on what’s important and what’s not
• Generate new ideas and business insights
Why use Design Studio?

61. DESIGN SPRINT

62. 62

64. Product, service or problem
Challenges
Challenges
Challenges
Challenges
1 2
Map Sketch Test & Learn
Design Sprint
3 4 5
PrototypeDecide

65. On steroids

66. 66

67. Instant, actionable feedback

68. 68

69. How can we create a product offering that fits the needs of millennials?

70. 10 weken / 7 design sprints
Multi-disciplinary team, next to the
organisation
Goal: create the ideal telecom
experience of tomorrow
What we did

72. • Confront every team member with genuine user feedback
• De-risk big and scary ideas
• Introduce early prototyping
• High velocity
• Extreme interdisciplinary collaboration
Why use Design Sprints?

73. DATA VALIDATION

74. Using data analysis
The tools are numerous but can provide you
with quantified and actionable insights.
These are hard to argue with, because they
are based on a representative analysis.

75. 2 small examples
Real estate developer

76. Average fold
Bron: HotJar
Homepage - Scrolling (Mobile)
Cookie consent

77. Search queries on the home page - Deep dive
• Investigated 100.574 queries, executed on the homepage
• Categorisation of keywords using the count and the type of values

78. Search queries on the homepage - Deep dive
• Location is crucial
• in 76% of the cases, location is specified
• in 33% of the cases, the type is specified
• in 20% of the cases, price is specified

79. • Hard to de-bunk, it’s measured behaviour
• Often easy to set-up
• A lot of historic data available
• Very fine-grained
Why use Data validation?

80. OVERVIEW

81. TimingPurposeCost
User validated design
When to use which tool?
Interviews
Surveys
Design Principles
Design Studio
Design Sprint
Data Validation
cheap
cheap
expensive
expensive
expensive
expensive
Job to be done
Job to be done
Efficient design validation
Efficient corporate alignment
Lean iterative design
Data-driven feedback
Mid-term (recruitment!)
Short-term
Long-term (ongoing effort)
Short-term
Mid-term (availability team!)
Long-term (learning curve)

82. WHAT’S NEXT?

83. Technology will inevitably influence how
we manage feedback.

84. Internet of things
Artificial Intelligence
Buzzword
bingo

85. Facial Expression Analysis
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86. Galvanic skin response

89. QUESTIONS?

90. trendrapport.wijs.be

91. Thank you