Artificial Intelligence

UXforAI.org
Web Development/ Ongoing Research

Problem

What Does A Designer Need To Know To Create An Amazing UX For AI?

What started off as a list of links and a first coding project, has evolved into an ongoing research project. 

Artificial intelligence is the topic of all the latest news, and has the potential to touch every element of technology. I had recently completed a full-time UX study, but none of the coursework addressed the specific challenges when designing for AI technology. I wanted to create a resource that could help address this.

  • How much does a designer need to understand about how AI works to design for it?
  • Where can designers learn the fundamentals of how AI works?
  • How does the UX process change to accommodate for AI technology?
  • What are ways designers can connect, discuss and communicate what they've discovered?

Objective

Create A Resource For UX Designers
This is an on-going research project built to provide resources, reliable content, places to connect with others in this space and general AI design news.

  • User Research
  • Technology Research
  • UX Strategy
  • Information Architecture
  • Interaction Design
  • User Interface Design

Assumptions

  1. Designing with AI is different than web/mobile design development without AI
  2. Designers that have been working in tech, but not yet exposed to designing with AI are curious, and want to learn about it
  3. Designers who are currently working with AI are willing to share their experiences

Day 1

I entered a one day hack-a-thon and found myself without a team, so decided this was a perfect chance to start my first coding project. I had nothing more than a list of links, so did some quick wireframes to layout what I had so far.

Google's Material Design was a great place to choose a color palette. A quick search for icons that represented AI, UX and design thinking helped focus the initial branding.

Sometimes fast is best. I had a Google font, a logo and basic layout in under an hour. I then chose a name and ordered a domain.

It was pretty exciting to have my first coding project hosted, but I quickly realized I didn't know where to find new content.

User Research

Discovery
Needing a place to get started, I reached out to 40 lead designers who are currently working with AI. My introduction included the project overview and I simply asked if they had time to chat about the idea.

General topics of conversation:

  • What is your experience like designing with AI?
  • Is designing a product with AI different than designing for one without AI?
  • (If appropriate) What do you need to consider when you don't have a visual UI?
  • How well did you understand how the AI technology worked before designing with it?
  • Where/how do you learn about AI?
  • Can you recommend any reliable content sources?
  • Are there areas of UXforAI.org that you could contribute to?
  • Who else should I reach out to?

Talking to Real People 

The response to my request has been amazing! There are several designers who completed a survey, and many more that I've been able to have actual conversations with. Their insight has opened new avenues of exploration, and wonderful insight into reliable sources of content.

  • Introductions have been made to other designers, scientists, engineers, writers and educators to help find content and futher the discussion
  • Content sources have come from books, LinkedIn groups, newsletters, company blogs, Meetups, Medium writers and academic sites
  • From designer interests, AI for UX has been added as a topic
  • AI systems can fail in ways humans often don't understand. Designing for this experience is about designing for uncertainty. How can this topic be approached and categorized?
  • Several designers are looking for usability principles for AI / design principles for AI. Is there a leader or group of designers who can start to address this? How can I initiate this conversation with my project?
  • Understanding AI capabilities is essential to design, not necessarily how it's created. Many designers still want to learn more. How can we create a guide for the fundamentals of AI for designers?

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Persona Development

As I continue to gain insight on the right content, the next step in research will be to talk to those new to AI who would be coming to the site to learn.

  • What were they looking for that brought them to the site?
  • What kinds of topics would they expect to find?
  • How might they find further info on an article they found? Look for other articles on the site? Reach out to the author? Look for a discussion group?
  • How might they expect to be notified when there are updates to the site? Newsletter, Twitter?

Strategy

Right now, the project is simply about adding the right content, and keeping it focused. As it develops, the strategy will shift, based on research and users.

  • To wrap up each conversation, I asked about the best way to engage the UX community in conversation. Still evaluating the right format: newsletter, slack channel, Facebook group?
  • How do designers create a line of communication with AI scientists and engineers, to learn from each other?

Information Architecture

Sitemap

A one page scrolling site was a great starting point, but is becoming too simple to hold the amount of content that is being added. (A good problem to have!) As with the research, the development of the site will evolve as more input is gained.

  • The current categories are listed, but don't include several of the outstanding concepts that have come up in conversations.

Interaction Design

Wireframes

  • A temporary fix to accommodate new content is to add an accordion feature to the single page site
  • Once the persons are developed, content and features can be prioritized according to the research findings and the layout re-designed

Next Steps

This is such a fun project to work on! I'm learning so much, and connecting with amazing community members. There is much more planned:

  • The Global AI Hackathon is coming to NY the weekend of June 23-25. Looking forward to being a part of a team there
  • I am incredibly lucky to be able to attend O'Reilly's Artificial Intelligence Conference June 27-29. So excited to meet new community members, and brainstorm about what I don't know that I need to know
  • Meetups: conversations with new community members from both AI technology and UX design
  • Ten AI companies that I've reached out to, hoping to connect with their design teams

If you'd like to have a conversation or contribute to this project, I'd love to hear from you! You can reach me at arinclement@gmail.com.

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2017 Arin Clement