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 Share Stories

“There are two ways to share knowledge: You can PUSH information out or you can PULL them in with a STORY.” While most of us are regularly faced with reading PowerPoint presentations to understand research results, we rarely get the pleasure of hearing a great story that rings our empathy bell. That’s usually what I yearn for when I go to conferences. The food and networking is great, but what I always remember and share with others are the presentations that told me a great story.

We are hardwired to respond to faces

Our brains are hardwired to detect and identify faces. The brain has a specific region for recognizing faces called the fusiform gyrus, or the fusiform face area. This specialized part of our brain helps us to identify faces within less than a second and to quickly distinguish one face from another. Our eyes tend to quickly locate and lock onto images of people and their faces. 

Humans have forty-three different muscles that are capable of making as many as 10,000 unique facial expressions. Here are the 7 universal expressions of emotion, along with some physical traits that characterize each.

Make sure to register for our webinar on The Role of Facial Expressions in User Research.

In February 2016, Key Lime Interactive wrote an article on The Role of Body Language in User Research. These are the highlights of our findings.

Recently, I was asked to present a brief overview of the history of Human-Computer Interaction, or HCI. When I first started studying in the field of HCI, I could not locate any succinct overviews of the field, and I still can not, so I decided to turn my presentation into a blog post, I hope you find it helpful.

What is the role of body language in user research? Let’s say you find yourself in the middle of a test session and the user you’re with isn’t doing the best job of articulating their thoughts and feelings. You should remain vigilant in listening to the participant, but you can also focus more of your attention on their nonverbal behaviors like posture, hand gestures, facial expressions, etc. This nonverbal data can be coupled with other qualitative feedback you observe, and it will help you better understand what the user’s actual feelings and emotions are during the test session.

Ask any UX designer or Human Factors researcher about their most memorable moments planning or running usability tests, and you’ll hear some real eye-openers. From challenging client relations, to logistical nightmares, to balky participants, planning and executing a successful usability study requires attention to detail, a deft personal touch, and a fair bit of improvisation in the face of the unexpected.

At the end of October, our Senior User Researcher, Kelley Parsons, attended the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) Conference. Kelley presented to an intimate crowd at the Student Lounge about "UX Consulting War Stories". Kelley wanted to share her experiences and give a unique perspective of everyday life as a UX consultant. The audience connected with Kelley's down-to-earth approach and loved her lessons learned from over 20 years experience working in this industry. One attendee approached Kelley and said, "Thank you soooo much! We have waited all day for a presenter like you!!!"