Download PDF Bottlenecks Aligning UX Design with User Psychology David C C Evans Books

Product details Paperback 284 pages Publisher Apress; 1st ed. edition (February 11, 2017) Language English ISBN-10 1484225791

Bottlenecks Aligning UX Design with User Psychology David C C Evans Books Reviews

• This book provides the best synthesis to date of (a) empirical findings from psychology and (b) user-centered design-thinking for products based on information technology. Content-wise this book gets it right. However, there is one stylistic issue that detracts from its strengths. The author explains that he wanted to write the as if the content is being stated by 'we', the population of potential users, to a target reader conceived as a product designer or manager who most needs to be enlightened by this information. But this technique fails in practice, causing more awkwardness and confusion than clarity. The problem is that the author is describing complex concepts and findings from scientific research in psychology, with a highly technical, sophisticated vocabulary. It therefore fails any sense of fittingness or plausibility that 'we' the mass of all users would have — or even care about — such specialized knowledge that is needed by designers, but not by us as users. It also makes the author sound like an inauthentic politician, or a kind of aspiring bureaucratic 'expert' who believes his specialized knowledge authorizes him to speak for mass populations. But the bottom line is, as noted above, that the content is excellent, and the author has provided great value to designers with it.
• As a recent college graduate with a BS in Psychology and a minor and Computer Science, I can say that this book brought a lot of real-world insight to how we can apply simple psychological concepts in the design everyday products to make our daily use of applications, websites, and overall technology a productive and intuitive addition to our lives rather than a burden or something inefficient one has to struggle through to get the end result.
  
  If you are debating getting this book, just do it! The amount of insight in Bottlenecks is immeasurable. The structure and language is extremely easy to absorb as David (author) covers dense psychological and design principles. The way he applies one to the other and shows the reader through examples we have lived through or struggled with really allows the concepts to sync with readers more easily than other similar books.
  
  The perspective this book has is unique but very important. I found the content immensely invaluable - I have been and will continue to share what I've learned in Bottlenecks with peers, family, and those in my workspace.
  
  Thank you, David, for creating an easily digestible book with such important content!
• This is THE go-to reference for anyone whose task is visual or electronic communication. David Evans has specifically created a resource targeting the host of professionals whose task is to convey memes (i.e., any “idea, . . .invention, [or]. . .particle of culture”) into public awareness; and not only to convey them but also to ensure reception of those memes, and foster their retention in memory and integration in the viewer’s behavior. In other words, bloggers, webmasters, marketing personnel, game creators, trainers, PR personnel, software developers, filmmakers, entertainers and a host of other specialists. I would add that anyone whose job involves education would be well-served by this resource. If you need to adopt the most effective, most powerful principles to convey your message, Dr. Evans has produced an encyclopedic compendium of the most critical research from the fields of perception, psychology, neuroscience, optics, motivation, attention, communication theory, computer sciences, and a good deal more.
  Despite the rather dry and academic sound of the foregoing description, Evans’ has produced a lively and highly readable work. He clearly has taken his own best advice in the design and execution of this resource. Adopting a “voice” of the end user, Evans leads the reader through a clinic of what to do and what not to do, with real-world examples. The result is both a road map of how to create the most effective and lasting communications and a reference manual for specific “bottlenecks” (his term for the things that impede viewer acquisition of memes).
  It is clear that Dr. Evans not only knows the talk, he has “walked the walk” in the trenches of industry, education, product development and marketing. He distills highly technical information into readily understandable and practical tools that have direct application. As a psychologist and educator, I am enormously impressed by this very welcome resource. It occupies a ready-access place in my own professional library.
  Richard Guest,, Ph.D.
• As a UX Research professional with a background in marketing research and social science, I truly appreciate this book. Using a unique voice, the author is able to balance complex academic/scientific concepts with practical business/real-world examples. One of my favorite takeaways is a gentle reminder that the human mind has particular psychological limitations (as described so well in the book) that should be more widely considered when designing interactive digital experiences. The author does a great job of expressing to product managers, developers, researchers and designers what end-users can't necessarily articulate in usability studies or surveys... That the success of a product or service experience can be greatly increased by having a deeper understanding of the natural psychological shortcomings of users while on their journey - and reducing associated pitfalls along the way. This book gives you that deeper understanding, and thus, helps you become a more human-centered designer.
• I have been scouring the internet for resources on user onboarding best practices and I came across this book. I have since carried it around with me where ever I go! Each chapter is very focused on a specific topic with enough information to get your brain going on how you might test the theories on your own products. A fun read even with deep topics like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Erik Erikson's Life Questions. Highly recommend this for anyone hoping to design products that will bring value to people's lives!