Last Thursday, Hill Holliday hosted the “User Experience Techniques: Inspiring Users to Identify What They Didn’t Know They Needed” event organized by the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange (and tweeted in real-time).

Michael Hawley, VP of experience design at Mad*Pow, kicked off the session and introduced a few techniques for getting valuable information from users.  He suggests using “triading”, a technique whereby the moderator asks the participant to compare three objects. As an example, he used three fast food logos and asked the audience to compare the three in terms of similarities and differences.  Another technique mentioned, laddering, occurs after the object attributes are identified.  When performing this technique, the moderator continuously asks the participant “why” to uncover “the core value”.  Interactive games and story telling are other effective techniques.

Dan Berlin, senior research associate at OTOinsights,  talked about neuromarketing and ways of determining what the user is thinking before the user even realizes, from a pre-attentive and physiological perspective.  He spoke of Quantemo, which measures eye movements and fixations through eye tracking, heart rate and respiratory rates, skin responses, facial patterns, and brain waves.

Dean Whitney, president of interactive at Garfield Group concluded the session with ways of incorporating UX principles into software development processes.  To produce successful products, some features may be sacrificed for time. It is better to get a product in the hands of the users, than to bloat the product with too many features.  Every feature should be evaluated and rated to ensure certain features are prioritized.  Users should be involved in the process at an early stage.  Social networks and free tools should be leveraged to promote the product.