Norman Doors: how do we still get this wrong?

The confusing design of Cybertruck’s doors. Tesla Cybertruck The concept of the “Norman door” is a well-known and widely recognized principle among designers. Named after design guru Don Norman, it describes any door that proves confusing or difficult to use, highlighting a common design flaw. In this article, we will discuss the application of the… Continue reading Norman Doors: how do we still get this wrong?

Design Systems Teams: Understand Your Users So They Can Serve Theirs

Welcome to the next edition of my Design Strategy blog series. Today, I’ll be sharing a story from some recent client visits that will help y’all recognize WHY you should do things differently to mature and scale your digital accessibility program quickly. I will once again skip the “how-to” dry laundry lists of tactical “do… Continue reading Design Systems Teams: Understand Your Users So They Can Serve Theirs

The extended designer, and the design machine

The Extended Designer spends less time making products, and more time making progress. The Extended Designer spends less time making products, and more time making progress. 2023 has been Generative AI’s breakout year, but that has been greeted by some fairly mixed responses, particularly from Designers. As the terrain we all live on reconfigures around… Continue reading The extended designer, and the design machine

Three very good standardized UX surveys for industrial use

Pros and cons of the questionnaires SUS, PSSUQ, and ISO 9241–110 plus three more openly available, science-grounded, business-driven UX surveys (all including question sources) User Research Methods User research is one of the most important, if not the most important element of user experience (UX) and design. In this area exist many methods and materials, grounded in… Continue reading Three very good standardized UX surveys for industrial use

Facilitating effective ideation meetings

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Designing engaging and productive gatherings Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash In today’s hybrid work landscape, meetings have become abundant, but unfortunately, many of them still suffer from inefficiency and ineffectiveness. Specifically, meetings aimed at generating ideas to address various challenges related to people, processes, or products encounter recurring issues. The lack… Continue reading Facilitating effective ideation meetings

Good UX is not enough without a proper communication plan

To make a design thrive, you should support it with strategies to make it even more robust and accepted. There should be a coexistence between a practical design that should be free of explanation (invisibility) and effective communication (notoriety) Like many designers, I’ve been practicing this mantra all my career: “Good design is invisible,” but… Continue reading Good UX is not enough without a proper communication plan

5 book recommendations to help drive accessibility adoption and strategy

These books helped us help our coaching crews, and they may help you and yours Deque offers a unique accessibility coaching service. We embed coaches in the software development lifecycle (SDLC) across whole teams as well as side-by-side with specific roles. Coaches support teams in incorporating accessibility practices into their design/build/test processes. A coach’s responsibilities… Continue reading 5 book recommendations to help drive accessibility adoption and strategy

AI is going to change UX research forever

The rise of AI will impact everyone. But in what way can UX designers use AI to their benefit? And how do we design AI systems? AI will revolutionize every sector, but unexpectedly UX research might suffer a huge impact. Photo by me. The rise of AI is creating a lot of buzz in almost every modern… Continue reading AI is going to change UX research forever

Digital humans are here. They sound and look just like us.

Now digital humans are here. They sound and look just like us. Digital humans, AI-powered digital counterparts, are going to change how we interact with the world around us. https://medium.com/media/5d057cb8920f355e7fa126d3cedcac2c/href In 2016 Miquela Sousa, or @lilmiquela, quickly grew to be one of Instagram's top influencers. At a first glance, there is little wrong with the 19-year-old Brazilian-American… Continue reading Digital humans are here. They sound and look just like us.

Systems and Operations in the Design Profession

Systems and operations in the design profession Photo by Deva Darshan on Unsplash I always loved conceptualizing and visualizing processes. As a product designer, I ended up working with a design team, doing user flows, user testing, design sprints, etc. As I was growing as a designer, I did more facilitation, customer journeys, created big conference… Continue reading Systems and Operations in the Design Profession

Ask a UXR #2: introducing user research to an organization

On asking the existential questions about a UXR’s purpose, being a thought partner, and bringing questions, not just answers This is the second post in a bi-weekly UXR Q+A series. Submit your questions in the comments, or in this Google form, and it they may be answered in future posts. Follow “Ask a UXR” by subscribing… Continue reading Ask a UXR #2: introducing user research to an organization

How IBM revolutionized corporate America with design

For more than 100 years, IBM has been one of the prominent names among computing giants, dominating the early global market with technical and service superiority. They forged a path of innovation leading to Nobel Prizes, lucrative defense contracts, and they even helped to put a man on the moon. IBM CEO, Thomas J. Watson Jr.… Continue reading How IBM revolutionized corporate America with design

Be a cultivator of ideas to achieve trust, buy-in, and design excellence

Be a cultivator of ideas because you are more likely to achieve design excellence when you include ideas from a diverse group of people. Field Of Sunflowers by Matthew T Rader One of the UX Designer‘s primary roles is to not generate all the ideas but to cultivate ideas from the various stakeholders in a project. Early… Continue reading Be a cultivator of ideas to achieve trust, buy-in, and design excellence

Remote friendly or unfriendly?

Some easy steps to elevate remote working amongst colleagues and teams. I’ve been a product designer for a few years now, working in different countries and environments, with clients in completely different time zones, colleagues in different offices geographically, working remotely due to coronavirus, and of course, worked full time in the office with colleagues. Over… Continue reading Remote friendly or unfriendly?

Web Design for Beginners (Epic Free Course!)

If you’re new to web design, this free course on web design for beginners will teach you everything you need to know. “How do I pick typefaces, how do I pick colors, what the heck is whitespace, and how do I position and size elements correctly?” These are exactly the kinds of questions… Continue reading Web Design for Beginners (Epic Free Course!)

Why blockchain and Web 3 user interfaces will suck for a while

How Web 2.0 grumpiness + Web 3.0 hubris are contributing to terrible user experiences on the cutting edge of tech. Statler and Waldorf definitely aren’t interested in Web 3. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF62EGPppFU My point in a nutshell: Web 3 people are generally not interested in lessons from the past, and experienced tech people don’t need Web 3… Continue reading Why blockchain and Web 3 user interfaces will suck for a while

10 Essential Design Tips for Photoshop

Photoshop’s been the industry standard for artists and designers for decades, adding new and improved features every year. This is great for those of us who’ve been using it for years, but it can be a lot to take in for someone just getting into the digital art world! So I’ve made a list of… Continue reading 10 Essential Design Tips for Photoshop

Why e-commerce is failing people and the planet

We need to stop designing with blinders and scaling solutions designed for the individual Illustration by Marie Dupuch Betting on convenience to grow e-commerce The number of parcels sent internationally has increased by 4.5 times in the last 6 years, from 43bn in 2014 to 131bn in 2020 (B2B, B2C, C2B). UK deliveries account for 4%… Continue reading Why e-commerce is failing people and the planet

30 Web Development Best Practices for Beginners

There is a lot to learn as a web developer. For starters, the syntax of HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and how these fundamental web languages work together. However, on top of that you need to learn how to code well: how to use the web technologies like a professional, to create efficient, maintainable, and scalable… Continue reading 30 Web Development Best Practices for Beginners

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Which One is Right for You?

In one of our previous posts, we compared WordPress and Shopify to help you figure out which might be better choice for you to set up your own online store. We separately covered different factors like cost, extensibility, support and customization etc. to see how both these platforms stacked against each other. WordPress Shopify vs.… Continue reading WooCommerce vs Shopify: Which One is Right for You?

Shopify vs WordPress: Which is Best?

Setting up an online store has never been easier. However, it can still be confusing. There are just so many different platforms and services available for you to start selling your products online that it becomes hard to make the right choice. This is especially true for beginners who have never set up an eCommerce… Continue reading Shopify vs WordPress: Which is Best?

How to Optimize Custom Software Design for Better User Experience

There are plenty of important steps to optimize custom software design for a better user experience (UX), and more responsive user interface (UI). Today’s developers are always looking for new ways to maximize quality, enhance architecture, and leverage the latest design trends. Implementing these procedures, they are able to build flexible, unique, and adaptable software… Continue reading How to Optimize Custom Software Design for Better User Experience