Paul Thorpe, Head of Visual Design and User Experience Design (UX) at our fellow LTG company, LINE Communications, presented a seminar at the Learning Technologies Summer Forum in June 2014. It covered what UX is and why it's so important today, as well as touching on some of Paul's personal thoughts on designing great experiences.

1. © LINE Communications 2014
25 years of transforming business
through learning innovation
User Experience vs. the Visual Designer
Paul Thorpe, Head of Visual & UX Design

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Hello ☺
My name is Paul and I’m a designer
I love my job.

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This is about User Experience Design

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UX is a term on everyone’s lips
© 2004 Scott Adams Inc.

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Visual Design = User Experience Design
Makes sense, right?
UI, branding, layout, colour, typography,
photography, illustration, animation…

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What UXD isn’t
What UXD is
What UXD means to me
Why UXD should matter to you

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Question…
Is there a designer in the house?
Any UX practitioners?
We are ALL user experience
practitioners

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UX Design is not…

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…only
concerned
with the
visual
UX Design is not…

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…about technology.
UX Design is not…

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UX Design is not…
…just about
the user.

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UX Design is not…
…expensive

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UX Design is not…
…optional

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UX Design IS…

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User | Experience | Design

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User | Experience | Design
Know your audience
Who are they? What do they need?
What motivates them?

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User | Experience | Design
How we want the user to feel
What will they say about it?

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User | Experience | Design
The holistic learning application
About staying true to the intended experience

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The elements
of UX Design
User
Experience
Design UI Design
Information
Architecture
Business
Objectives
User Needs
Look and
Feel
User
Behaviours
Content
Field research
Face to face interviewing
Creation of user tests
Gathering statistics
Creating personas
Feature writing
Requirement writing
Asset creation
Interaction design
Usability
Accessibility
Prototyping
Interface layout
Visual design
Taxonomy creation
Terminology creation
Copywriting
Presenting and speaking
Brainstorming
Sound design
Scriptwriting
Client consulting

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UXD in elearning
The industry has been slow to adopt UX techniques
Design decisions were traditionally based on:
" what we thought looked good
" what was trendy
" what was on brand
" what the client said they wanted

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How users feel about it
Today, an application’s success depends
on ONE thing…

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Case study:
NHS Learning Academy

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NHS Learning Academy
Training up to
10,000 people a year !
in the most far-reaching
and comprehensive
leadership development
portfolio the NHS has
ever developed.

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NHS Learning Academy
Centred around a virtual
campus made up of over
1,200 hours of content,
including e-learning,
workbooks, video walls,
quizzes, immersive scenarios
and links to libraries of material
from universities.

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NHS Learning Academy
The online campus is supported
by various workshops and
extensive assessments over a
two year period, ending with a
research project.
On completion of the
programme learners receive a
master’s degree in Healthcare
Leadership.

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NHS Learning Academy
10,000 people a year
1200 hours of content
2 years

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• visceral learning experience
• visually and contextually rich
• intelligently structured
• surprised and delighted users
• realistic scenarios through
high-impact dramatic video
sequences
• a range of supporting
materials when they needed it

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This is amazing! I’ve worked in open and distance
learning since 1982 and have never seen anything as
powerful. The final video just blew me away.
NHS Learning Academy
“
”

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Conclusion
‘Functional’ design simply isn’t good enough
Need to adopt a smarter, more progressive and effective
way of working
UX thinking ensures a better understanding of the user
and business objectives
Will lead to great learning experiences

32. © LINE Communications 2014
25 years of transforming business
through learning innovation
Get in touch
Paul Thorpe
Head of Visual & UX Design
paul.thorpe@line.co.uk
@UXPaul
Get in touch!