Data and Design: BFFs or Frenemies? Steve Mulder
@muldermedia
2 UX & Design Research Testing Analytics
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5 Trap #1 We design by blindly following data
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7 Trap #2 We measure the wrong thing
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10 What we measure becomes what we reward
11 What we reward becomes what we do and what we are
12 Trap #3 We become optimizers instead of designers
13 Optimization via A/B or usability testing The danger of
optimizing to a local maximum Local maximum
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15 1. Data is the platform from which we leap
16 For NPR, Arbitron ratings data tells us that audience is up
but listening time is down
17 Third-party research validates trends in media fragmentation
and digital adoption
18 Channels proliferate, presenting both opportunity and
challenge Radio isnt going away, its going everywhere.
19 Our own research and personas reveal changing consumer
behaviors & opportunities
20 Its not about building things that users know to ask
for
21 New digital interfaces in familiar locations (connected
car)
22 Experiments with new listening experiences Exploring
experiences that meet needs users cant yet articulate
23 2. Data helps us know how high weve jumped and whether to
keep going
24 The Facebook experiment: Local station stories geo-targeted
on NPRs Facebook stream
25 Local stories saw consistently higher engagement and grew
local audience
26 Pivot and double-down: We created a workflow tool so we can
scale this offering
27 and more about continuous learning 3. Its less about
achieving goals
28 Yes, this sounds like Lean Startup thinking
Assumption/hypoth esis Minimum Viable Product Analytics, researc h,
testing
29 Designing choice in the new NPR app Original design: Give
users more control/choices Hypothesis to test: Fewer immediate
choices + simplicity = longer listening Results: Listening time up
8%
30 Usability testing (and third-party research) on the infamous
hamburger nav
