Steve Krug, web usability expert, writes:

People often ask me: “What’s the most important thing I should do if I want to make sure my site or app is easy to use?” The answer is simple: It’s not “Nothing important should ever be more than two clicks away” or “Speak the user’s language” or “Be consistent.” It’s  … “Don’t make me think!”

Unfortunately, in order for your user to not think, you have to think a lot about user experience. Today, we’ll talk about the importance of design and writing in your digital projects. We will also discuss the value of thinking through your project’s wireframes, as well as user personas. A wireframe is a mock-up of a website, a way to sketch out the design and hierarchy of a website before getting into the technical details of creating pages; it’s an important step in determining how you want your users to navigate your digital project. A persona is a representation of your target user(s).

Before the  Workshop

• Watch User Experience and Wireframing for Digital Projects (39:48) and complete the wireframe and persona activities. DSSFs should use this OneNote notebook to begin working on wireframes and personas for their own projects. Try to make at least one persona and create the wireframe for at least the homepage of your digital project and how the project could be organized.
• Find a digital project and be prepared to talk about its design, navigation, and how you interacted with it. Recommended places to look:
  • DH Awards 2020
  • DH Awards 2019
  • DH Awards 2018
  • Gettysburg College Digital Projects