Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash. User research can be conducted in many ways. You could usability test a prototype in a lab, interview users to discover their motivations, or guerrilla test a sketch you’ve drawn up. One thing the above methods all have in common is that good facilitation is key to generating the best… Continue reading 6 steps to becoming a better facilitator for user research
Category: Design
Design is the method of putting form and content together. Design, just as art, has multiple definitions; there is no single definition. Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated.
My experience interning in the bay area
Take every feedback in a positive way No matter what you do or how well you do it, some criticism is eventually going to come your way. I know as a designer, people get attached to whatever they are working on and when someone critique’s their work, they often get offended and start taking that… Continue reading My experience interning in the bay area
Hidden privilege in design — and more UX links this week
The hidden privilege in design ›By Hareem Mannan. “Did you get anyone else’s insight on this project? Was it just you all? Have you considered how that might be limiting at all?” I felt the question permeating through every fiber of my being, reverberating in my mind until it was the only thought I had.… Continue reading Hidden privilege in design — and more UX links this week
Reddit collapse comment thread redesign
The new Reddit desktop design finally rolled out for my account recently. I love how unified it feels with the mobile site and app. However, it wasn’t long before I ran into my first user experience problem. While reading the comments on the first post, my mouse automatically moved to the left of the comment’s… Continue reading Reddit collapse comment thread redesign
How to reshape and grow a design team
This is a 4 part series on the experience and lessons learned growing our ideal design team as a new design manager at Copper. Why aren’t we getting the right type of candidates in our job pool? You get headcount and budget, you look for an old job description (there is always an old job description… Continue reading How to reshape and grow a design team
What the art of puppetry taught me about user experience design
I recently visited the Center For Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia for a backstage tour. Going into it, I knew very little about puppetry arts. I had seen the muppets, and I could imagine someone making a sock puppet to entertain children with, but I didn’t know much else. What I didn’t realize was how… Continue reading What the art of puppetry taught me about user experience design
Things that are missing from your job description
Photo by Joanna Kosinska Write clear emails Be flexible; briefs change Find problems before they occur Bring energy to the table Don’t take design critique as an insult Understand the impact of moving that button Make people around you feel comfortable Bring 3 solutions with every complaint Don’t give up too fast Mute your microphone when… Continue reading Things that are missing from your job description
Reality check: how to use the new Google Material Design theming
The Sketch Plugin First I’m downloading the Material Theme Editor from the official Website. Currently, there is only a plugin available for Sketch. As Sketch is my favorite tool for creating wireframes and mockups — I’m happy for using an existing tool. To get an idea of how to get started with the Material Theme Editor, I checked… Continue reading Reality check: how to use the new Google Material Design theming
You don’t know it yet, but you want to be a UX/UI designer
The last years have been a transformative period for the tech industry. Multiple innovations have created a new set of challenges for business. Therefore, companies need to change the way they fabricate products and services and the way they develop these solutions to adapt themselves in no time to new requirements. With so many digital… Continue reading You don’t know it yet, but you want to be a UX/UI designer
How does Headspace hold up with usability heuristics and accessibility?
In UX design, usability is the ease of use of an interface, or how easily a person can learn and use the product. How can we evaluate the usability of a product objectively? From 1990–94, Jakob Nielsen developed broad rules of thumb known as heuristics that should be considered when objectively evaluating interaction design. These… Continue reading How does Headspace hold up with usability heuristics and accessibility?
The application of cogntive psychology to User-Interface Design
B.A. Critical and contectual dissertation written in 2011 originally posted at http://purofu.com/dissertation.html Do we see our thoughts? A great paradox in plain words, but an inevitable juxtaposition between everyday stimuli and the human thought process. Can a repetitive pattern in our habitualism be the study of much greater things in order to make our lives… Continue reading The application of cogntive psychology to User-Interface Design
Putting Health Back in the Hands of the People; Designing Health for the Mobile Experience
As this was an open brief to help redesign any mobile application currently in the market, we felt that it would be much more meaningful to choose an app that would benefit the public. We threw out many ideas about apps that we could redesign; from transport to second-hand goods market, food delivery as well… Continue reading Putting Health Back in the Hands of the People; Designing Health for the Mobile Experience
Bidirectionality: arabic UX that extends beyond the screen
Let’s assume you’ve just been approached with a proposal of working on a highly prospective, Arabic UX project for the first time in your career. Alternatively, your company is looking to expand into the MENA market and needs to design and localize their product to new grounds. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Still, your knowledge of… Continue reading Bidirectionality: arabic UX that extends beyond the screen
Bicycles don’t work
Only dumb people use bikes (for Formula 1 racing) The first time I got on a bicycle it didn’t go too well. My next few attempts also just failed and the whole thing was frustrating. It didn’t work. I would have been much better off sticking to walking on my feet. Until I finally got it.… Continue reading Bicycles don’t work
Animation principles in UX — and more design links this week
The ultimate guide to proper use of animation in UX › By Taras Skytskyi. Nowadays it’s hard to impress or even surprise with an interface animation. It shows interactions between screens, explains how to use the application or simply directs a user’s attention. While exploring the articles about animation, I found out that almost all… Continue reading Animation principles in UX — and more design links this week
Redesigning the information architecture of a university website — a UX case study
This article is a retrospective piece for a project that was done as part of the User Experience Design Immersive Course in General Assembly (Singapore). Feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] if you’d like to chat more about this project. Thanks! :) The Task We had 10 days to: redesign the Information Architecture… Continue reading Redesigning the information architecture of a university website — a UX case study
The full stack product manager
I smiled as I read the title and thought, “Alright Lopp, I’ll bite”. How could I resist? I paired up with the one-and-only Michael Lopp to facilitate the session and it was truly one of the most interesting a-ha conversations that I’ve had the opportunity to take part in for a while. Honestly, this also… Continue reading The full stack product manager
Leveraging accessibility in digital publishing — a UX case study
What is Meredith? Meredith Corporation is a public, diversified media firm dedicated to delivering trustworthy content to audiences of scale that drive financial return for shareholders. The company focuses on magazine publishing, television broadcasting, content licensing, and data/marketing services. As of 2018, Meredith is the largest magazine publisher in America and is recognized as the… Continue reading Leveraging accessibility in digital publishing — a UX case study
Redesigning social interactions on iOS with iMessage
This story is part of a serie that focuses on redesigning existing experiences and trying to bring new coherent features to them. Check out Youtube 2.0, macOS Newton, and iOS Mogi if you want to know more about this serie! Apple introduced with iOS 12 Screen Time that allows you to know the time you… Continue reading Redesigning social interactions on iOS with iMessage
Our app idea already exists, but we’re going to do it anyway
Existing Apps I’ve found while doing research Image found on Wild Edibles Blog Wild Edibles Wild Edibles is an app that primarily focuses on identifying plants using photos, in-depth descriptions of each plant and details of where it can be found. This app has recently announced that it will allow you to add your own notes against… Continue reading Our app idea already exists, but we’re going to do it anyway
The road not taken: dealing with unintended user actions
“So, when the user clicks here, this will pop up” “What if user doesn’t clicks there?” “What do you mean?” “What if user clicks elsewhere?” “Oh. hmmm……..” This was my first design grooming session with PMs and developers. We were discussing about potential designs which would go into the next sprint. I had thought that I had come… Continue reading The road not taken: dealing with unintended user actions
There is no better “growth hack” for SaaS than talking with your customers
(The Customer Lifecycle. Please let me know if you know the source.) It sounds simple — but it’s not easy: talking with your customers through every stage of the customer lifecycle. There’s been a lot said about the value of talking to your customers before you build the product to ensure market fit, but very little said about… Continue reading There is no better “growth hack” for SaaS than talking with your customers
Stop ‘delivering’ software with Agile — it doesn’t work
When either of these 2 things happen, maybe your best talent starts to leave the organisation. Maybe your product fails to create change for its customers and you stop growing/start shrinking. Maybe your org decides that this ‘Agile’ thing isn’t really for them and moves back to Waterfall. Agile fails because its our belief that… Continue reading Stop ‘delivering’ software with Agile — it doesn’t work
DesignOps or UX Strategy or Design Management or Design Leadership?
It looks like “DesignOps” is about to supplant “UX Strategy” and other terms to describe digital product design management. The term has appeared more and more in recent years. Now it is riding the wave of a hype cycle with the release of the “DesignOps Handbook” by InVision. However, the concept itself is hardly new — it’s… Continue reading DesignOps or UX Strategy or Design Management or Design Leadership?