Omni Core · UI and UX Optimization · Module
Understanding use
How people actually use the thing, established by watching rather than by inferring from analytics.
The idea
How it works
Analytics show what happened and cannot show why. A drop-off is visible in the data and inexplicable from it; watching one person attempt the same thing explains it in minutes.
A small number of observed sessions surfaces most significant problems. The barrier is not cost but discomfort, since watching people struggle with something you built is unpleasant.
Working with it
In practice
- 01
Watch five people
Real users, real tasks, no guidance. It takes an afternoon and finds most of what matters.
- 02
Use analytics to find where, observation to find why
The two answer different questions and neither substitutes for the other.
- 03
Look for the workarounds
What people do instead of the intended path. Each is a design problem they have already solved.
- 04
Include people who are not fluent
Experienced users have adapted. New and infrequent users show what the interface actually demands.
One level in
The components of understanding use
A component is something that exists afterwards which did not exist before — a deliverable or a mechanism, not an intention.
The barrier to watching people use it is not cost. It is discomfort, and that is why it is skipped.
The other modules in ui and ux optimization
Design decisions
What is being changed and why, with the reasoning recorded so a later change does not undo it for reasons nobody remembers.
LearnTesting changes
Establishing whether a change improved anything, on a measure agreed beforehand, with enough volume to be readable.
LearnAccessibility
Whether the interface works for people using assistive technology, keyboards only, or with impaired vision or motor control.
Learn