David Lee King

showed examples of bad experiences on the web – ContentDM, flash/html choice library home page, zero results page in a catalog, being blocked for accessing del.icio.us too quickly,

then showed how flickr turned downtime message into a contest and how users had fun with it – they turned something negative into a fun, positive experience

wants to introduce us to the concept of experience planning – user-experience design and the experience economy model (staging experiences for the user)
mesh them together for the library website

Jesse James Garrett’s “The Elements of User Experience” (free version at http://www.jjg.com/)

five elements, corporate version:
1. strategy – user needs and site objectives; gather information about users (e.g., a usability study of your current site)
2. scope – focus on content requirements (what is needed on the site) and the functionality of what the site must include
3. structure – interaction design (application flows for user tasks with visio or mind manager) and then the information architecture of the site
4. skeleton – wireframing; where you start creating the site, but less worried about visuals and more about where pieces appear on the page; can start doing usability testing when it’s ready
5. surface – visual design of the site; hopefully by then everything is usable and is working correctly

library version:
1. strategy – planning
2. scope – figuring out what’s needed and who will do the work
3. structure – fill in the details
4. skeleton – an outline of the site
5. surface – visual design

don’t take 1–2 years to implement this model – still need to resdesign quickly

“The Experience Economy” by Joseph Pine and James Gilmore
“Priceless” by Diana LaSalle and Terry A. Britton
“The Ten Faces of Innovation” by Tom Kelley

Cold Stone Creamery – “celebrates the ice cream event” not selling ice cream

Build-A-Bear – you don’t pay, you “continue the experience”

types of experience:
– memorable
– choreographed
– positive
– invisible (how our websites are supposed to work – should just work well)
– negative
– ordinary

showed realms of experience (which can be mixed)

guidelines:

how?
– ask (what are the negative experiences your users are encountering?)
– save extra steps (cut down on the steps/barriers)
– trigger points (beds and alarm clocks for hotels)
– improve the dinosaurs (find something that hasn’t changed in a long time and improve it)
– map a journey (understand a customer’s mindset and where they’re coming from)
– merit badging (an actual emerging lifestyle – people are collecting experiences; e.g. instead of giving things to people, take them somewhere; visiting all the locations of a particular business)
– focused design (being seamless and focused in your design considerations)

applying this to library websites:

– ask your customers what they want (showed Superpatron Ed Vielmetti!); can also do usability studies with focus groups
 – when user fills out a form, take the neutral “thank you” page and do something with it; e.g., give them a library card number on the screen (Monterey Public Library does this!); link to the catalog, show some new books or videos, etc.; keep website visitors browsing on your site (stickiness)
– ask your staff what they’d like to see changed, what they’d like to do, etc.
– what extra steps exist on your website? (“Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug); do you *really* need all of that information you’re asking for in your forms?
 – library card applications
 – ILL forms
 – catalog searching
– trigger points
 – ask
 – figure out how to improve
 – are your databases easy to find online? can users login to their catalog accounts directly from your home page?
– find stuff that hasn’t changed (“We’ve always done it that way…”); e.g., DDS signage
– does the customer’s journey start at the door of your library? at the main page of your website? probably not; used taxes as an example; create a story for personas and then figure out how to fill their needs
– look for merit badge opportunities – how can your website be part of that process
– focused design; no hiccups, remove distractions, consistent look and feel; they just want your website to work

where to start:
– read the books mentioned and start thinking
– incorporate one thing at a time
– some is better than none

pretend you’re a patron! try to forget everything about your website, try to find something, and count clicks to find it

il2006