The importance of UX Design

Color Scheme Designer

Here is another awesome Color Scheme Designer! The interface is incredibly simple to use, which means you can start creating a color palette in seconds. There are a wealth of options in the type of scheme you require, from monochromatic to accented analogic. Check it out! http://colorschemedesigner.com/

Testing your business model

Test your business model and help structure your emerging start-up company with this tool! Lean Launch Lab organizes your effort to validate and fine-tune your underlying business model assumptions. https://www.leanlaunchlab.com/

Future of Digital

Business Insider's Ignition event shared a slide deck on the future of digital. There are very interesting things to note as you decide on your next business endeavor. Enjoy! READ MORE

Pop App for Prototyping

Happy New Year! 3treeDesignLab would like to introduce you to Pop App, which enables you to create interactive prototypes. It helps you drive the development process more so you thoroughly think through user experience and functionality.

 When you're ready to get it designed, 3treedesignlab is here for you. Have fun with this app!
https://popapp.in/

Design is Key

By Thuy Ton

Interesting article on how design can make or break a startup's success. As a Product Manager/ Project Manager, I believe that what you sell is just as important as how you sell it.  This article touches upon key components to any product development where a team misses the point of how they are selling something. 

Innovation is keeping things simple and clear so the user doesn't get lost in your product. The importance of any business is to really think about how your business model will align with the product being development. Then validate your concepts with beta users and user groups to really solidify the usability, function and features. Everything else will fall into place. 

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Experts Say: Design Can Make or Break a Startup’s Success

October 10, 2013 by lalorek  LINK TO ARTICLE

By SUSAN LAHEY

Reporter with Silicon Hills News 

It was a big day for startups to learn about design in Austin Wednesday.
An evening panel for Startup Week, From Idea to Product, was led by Adrian Taylor of Pushstart Creative. Panelists were Aaron Vorn Eigen, also of Pushstart, Patrick Barrett, co-founder of Greater Good Labs, designer Ty Rarick, and Selina Silvas, senior interaction designer at Mutual Mobile, where the panel was held.

Taylor started by asking what constitutes a good product and panelists answered everything from a useful product to a sustainable product. Ultimately, Barrett said, “a stop sign is a really good product…there’s a continuum of utility and emotional frivolity that might have a stop sign at one end and mink underwear at the other. Nest has done a great job of taking commodity products and turning them into fetish items.”

Who is Your Customer?

The problem, the panelists agree, is that most people who design a product think of themselves as the user and never really explore the question of usability. Silvas said her favorite method of determining whether a product is useful is to begin by building a story around it and asking “How does this fit into somebody’s life?” “A lot of product ideas have nothing to do with a person. Just because you know it will be used by a certain type of employee, it’s still a person.”

She complained about working on a project for a company that specializes in data collection and conversion metrics. They wanted to present their metrics as validation for the viability of their products. But, Silvas said, their website was designed to drive visitors along a particular path, so the metrics weren’t based on what people chose to do, they were based on what people were directed to do. That doesn’t prove viability.

Most of the designers acknowledged they hated having to go find end users, pick their brains and change their products accordingly because, Taylor said “You’re in love with your idea and the user is going to tell you your idea is wrong.”
Rarick, who spoke at the MiniTrends 2013 conference, urged startups to look at the minitrends, where competitors are going to be in two-to-three years.

Paper Airplanes

Barrett said startups should also start by releasing a product with one feature and committing to iteration. Many companies tend to go the opposite direction, Taylor said, layering on feature after feature and believing “they’re making this awesome and better and more.” But frequently it’s more complexity than users want to deal with.

Taylor is a big proponent of making the lowest fidelity version of an item before investing in a prototype. Can it be made of paper? Then make it of paper. Vorn Eigen said their company keeps the 3D printer busy, too, cranking out prototypes.

“It’s absolutely crucial to watch humans interact with the product,” Barrett said. “Yes, you’re putting them in a really weird situation and saying you’re not observing and judging them but you are observing and judging them,” he joked. But in that context “don’t get lost on a single data point. One user might have a learning disability when it comes to your product. Otherwise you’re constantly revising for a single user at a time.”

Taylor recently held a similar talk at Capital Factory. After the panel, he said, he wants to help Austin become as successful as Silicon Valley and designing a great user experience is the key to that.

Letting Your Customers Lead—Design Research for Startups

In a brilliant move, SXSW Eco introduced “Straight to the Point:” 15-minute long sessions designed for little bits of information that don’t need a whole hour. In some cases, these sessions turned out to be pitches for business, but at least they were only 15 minutes long!
Wednesday, for example, Daniel Goldfarb partner and head of design research for Greenstart spoke on “Letting Your Customers Lead—Design Research for Startups.” Greenstart began as a clean tech incubator in Silicon Valley but pivoted to become a company that focuses on helping startups with design of everything from user experience to logos. The company still works in clean tech and it takes its pay in equity.

By investing design help into their client’s products, he said, they’re greatly reducing the risk of their investment because the most successful products are those that “delight” their users. Most startups he said don’t have millions of dollars or lots of time to do extensive market research on who their customers are or what appeals to them.

•customer discovery
•problem solution fit
•proposed mvp
•proposed funnel
followed by:
•feedback
•customer validation
•product market fit
•business mode
•sales and marketing roadmap
and, if necessary, a pivot.

Greenstart does market research, digging into customer preferences with approaches common to market research experts: such as asking people not just which beer is their favorite, but which animal best represents their favorite beer. This provokes a deeper analysis and critical thinking about customers like what they like, what attributes are most important to them about their brand of choice.

Startups, Goldfarb said, need to design products thinking about the context in which they live—technologically, socially, politically. They need to understand how people’s usage of technology is changing and what their competitors are doing.

“We spend a great deal of time talking to people,” he said, “going to their houses, watching them use things…getting at the context: What are they scared of? What do they love?”

Drive Your Business

Owning your own business takes time, effort and a lot of discipline. You find yourself with limited time and resources to sustain your business as well as attract new customers. As a business owner, here are some things to consider as you take your business to the next level:

1)  Drive Traffic To Your Web Site Via Social Media

The use of social media is essential in any business. The most influential social media platform driving consumer behaviors does depend on the type the business you have. Although, Yelp, facebook, linkedin, pinterest, and google+ are the major players that we have seen success with 3treedesignlab clients. The journey from social to purchase is driven through awareness. 

A recent study with 6,000 participants conducted by Vision Critical evaluated Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest to show how a company's social media strategy can drive sales. (Source: Forbes-Social Media Moves Consumers )

The top line findings:

• About 40% of social media users have purchased an item after sharing or “favoriting” it on these sites. (The company uses “Shared or Favorited” to mean pinned/repinned/liked on Pinterest; shared/liked/commented on Facebook; tweeted/retweeted or favorite on Twitter.)
• Facebook is the network most likely to drive customers to purchase.
• Social media drives not just online purchasing, but in-store purchasing as well – and at about equal rates.

Social media has become an extension of advertising. Big companies pour millions of dollars into advertisement and marketing to stay in front of the market. Many small businesses and entrepreneurs do not have that option. Thus, the easiest and simplest way to engage your audience is through word of mouth, which now-a-days is called social media. 

Here are some tips:

• Extend your business via social vehicles through your network of friends and family Invite them to be an extension of your marketing team
• Provide incentives programs for new customers who visit your web site
• Set up incentives programs with your current clients when they provide testimonials or write a review about your business on yelp, etc

2) Engaging Your User With Content

Having fresh content to engage your audience is important in any business. The messaging and content itself helps to drive the client through the sale cycle.  The rule of thumb here is to focus on tips, advice, suggestions, and what your business is capable of doing.

 Think about WHY people would want to come to your web site: 

• “This is what I know”. Being Resourceful. Updated information regarding your particular expertise. For instance, content packaged as white papers or case studies that give customers a perspective on your expertise. 

• “This is how I can help you”. Providing tips/advice. People are always looking for how to do things better. For example, including How-to-videos on your web site or on youtube while linking it back to your web site.
• "This is what is happening around me”. Relevant content about your market/industry. You want to be known as an expert in your field of work. Share information that is relevant. Knowledge is power. For instance, Forbes or wall street journal providing trends on mobile apps or technology.

• “This is that I’m all about”. Providing content from you. Write something that will give your audience information about who you are and what your company represents. They want to know the person behind the company. They want to partner, grow with and purchase products/services with people who are relatable. "People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it." Check out this inspirational TedTalk explaining this concept- Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action: 

Although, it's always best to write your own content, it's not always easy to do. Here are some suggestions on how to engage users and present relevant content:

First, connect yourself to powerful resources. In our digital age, you have a lot of content around you. Link yourself up to the source of knowledge in your industry. Join communities/ interest groups on LinkedIn or on Google+. Follow people on twitter. Get yourself connected.

For example, you find an editor who knows your market, follow him/her on linkedin, twitter, google+, etc. Go to the source and be in front of the news. Be careful of who you select because your customers count on you to provide them with reliable information. This builds trust. 

Second, weed out what you think your audience would like to hear, read or see. Post the content on your web site. Remember to pick the BEST of the BEST. You are building your reputation. 

Lastly,  share it with your customer base through social media, blogs, status updates, or email marketing campaigns. Show you are engaged. Exposure is key here. 

3) Marketing Messaging and Management

There is free software called Bufferapp (https://bufferapp.com) that automates the delivery of content across multiple social media platforms. This makes it a lot easier to manage all the exciting content you have collected. So, put together your list of content as advised above, then create your scheduled posts or updates accordingly. 

Some advice here is to schedule your marketing campaigns mid-week. At the beginning of the week, most people will not see your posts or status updates. Towards the end of the week, people have mentally checked out. So, the more visibility, the better the results.

The purpose of your posts or status updates are to create brand recognition. If people keep seeing your business, they will start to associate your business with a concept. Our mind link images to emotions and thought. With more visually appealing marketing messages, you can captivate your audience and give them the experience you want to be associated with. That's the lasting impression. 

At the end of the day, the purpose of any web site is to increase awareness and revenue. In our digital world, word of mouth has now disguised itself as social media. Make your web site work for you by driving interest and allowing traffic to flow in and out of your site.  The only way of doing that is to expand your reach by plugging yourself into the digital world, co-exist in that world, and everything else will fall into place. 

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20 Stats About How Social Media Influences Purchasing Decision 

(Source: Salesforce Marketing Cloud)

1. Consumers are 71% more likely to make a purchase based on social media referrals (Hubspot)

2. Social networks influence nearly 50% of all IT decision makers (LinkedIn – learn more at TechConnect ’12)

3. Out of 53% of consumers who said they use Twitter to recommend companies or products in their Tweets, 48% bought that product or service(SproutSocial)

4. Twitter is the #1 online channel for influencing purchasing decisions surrounding electronics (Mashable)

5. 15,100,000 consumers go to social media channels before making purchase decisions (Knowledge Networks)

6. 49% of consumers use Facebook to search for restaurants (Mashable)

7. 74% of consumers rely on social networks to guide purchase decisions (SproutSocial)

8. 58% of Facebook users expect offers, events or promotions when they become fans (Hubspot)

9. Facebook is the most effective platform to get consumers talking about products (SproutSocial)

10. Facebook is the #1 online channel for influencing the purchase of baby products (Mashable)

11. 79% of consumers like a Facebook company page because it offers discounts and incentives (Forbes)

12. 44% of automotive consumers conduct research on forums (Mashable)

13. 38,000,000 13 to 80 year olds in the U.S. said their purchasing decisions were influenced by social media (Knowledge Networks)

14. 81% of US respondents indicated that friends’ social media posts directly influenced their purchase decision (Forbes)

15. As of June 2011, there were 213,000,000 fans of Facebook Pages (Mashable)

16. 32.5% of women say they’re influenced by special offers on Facebook vs 29% on Twitter (Business2Community)

17. 78% of respondents said that companies’ social media posts impact their purchases (Forbes)

18. Moms are 45% more likely than other women to say they made a purchase from a recommendation on social(MarketingProfs)

19. 70% of active online adult social networkers shop online, 12% more likely than the average adult internet user (Nielsen)

20. 44% of social media savvy women said their trusted/favorite blogger influences their purchasing decision(Business2Community)