Diary Studies: Understanding Long-Term User Behavior and Experiences

Summary:  Participants log daily activities as they occur to give contextual insights about real-time user behaviors and needs. Defining Diary Studies A diary study is a qualitative user research method used to collect insights about user behaviors, activities, and experiences over time and in context. During a diary study, participants report their interactions and experiences… Continue reading Diary Studies: Understanding Long-Term User Behavior and Experiences

Basics of Unmoderated Usability Testing

This article will introduce you to the basics of Unmoderated Usability Testing. We will explain why you should conduct such testing, how to prepare tasks, or how to recruit the right participants. You are currently reading one of our 101s. This blog introduces you to the basics of Unmoderated Usability Testing. If you… Continue reading Basics of Unmoderated Usability Testing

Modernizing LOTO — Prioritizing User Requirements with the Kano Model

[unable to retrieve full-text content] I worked on this project for nearly 2 years at my previous workplace, and although I can’t dive deep into the technical details due to NDAs, the process itself was an incredible learning journey for me. And that’s what we will be focusing on, the journey not the destination. In… Continue reading Modernizing LOTO — Prioritizing User Requirements with the Kano Model

Deque adds IntelliJ and WebStorm plugins to axe DevTools Linter

We’ve just tripled our Integrated Development Environment (IDE) support! In addition to a VS Code extension, Deque now offers axe DevTools Linter as a plugin for paid IntelliJ IDEA and WebStorm editions. A quick refresher on axe DevTools Linter Axe DevTools Linter is a powerful tool for your software development team. We provide a mini-linting-toolbox… Continue reading Deque adds IntelliJ and WebStorm plugins to axe DevTools Linter

How to Plan Your First Successful Website

Development By Simon Sterne 3 days ago Planning a new website can be exciting and — if you’re anything like me — a little daunting. Whether you’re an experienced freelancer, a team of hardened developers, or a small business owner, a well-structured plan is critical for success. In this post, I’ll give you the benefit… Continue reading How to Plan Your First Successful Website

12 Figma tips to work more efficiently

We all know Figma makes regular updates to their features that can be new and awesome, like previewing typography, or it can be a modification that may change an established workflow, like the infamous local variables. So as someone who uses Figma almost every work day, minus some meeting-heavy days, learning to apply new features… Continue reading 12 Figma tips to work more efficiently

Distinguishing between ARIA and native HTML attributes

As a developer, you want to create more inclusive and accessible digital experiences for your users. Great! It’s possible, however, that you might be feeling a bit confused or overwhelmed by the element attributes that can affect the usability for users of assistive technology. ARIA (or WAI-ARIA, Web Accessibility Initiative-Accessible Rich Internet Applications) defines some… Continue reading Distinguishing between ARIA and native HTML attributes

The Art of Engineering AI Prompts

AI By Louise North 3 days ago In the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence, the ability to communicate effectively with AI tools has become an indispensable skill. Whether you’re generating content, solving complex data problems, or creating stunning digital art, the quality of the outcomes you receive is directly influenced by the prompts you… Continue reading The Art of Engineering AI Prompts

Crafting an effective design system strategy

How to build a strategy, not a roadmap A design system is a product. A product that solves concrete tasks: ensuring consistency reducing development time and much more Most often, the main reason to create a new product is that you want it to be different from the existing ones on the market. After all, why waste time… Continue reading Crafting an effective design system strategy

3 Common Color Accessibility Issues One Can Easily Avoid

Color is often used to evoke emotions and emphasis. That’s one of the reasons why designers see color as an important element in their work. Colors communicate messages on both psychological and visual level. The importance of color is undeniable, but is basing the message solely on color the right thing to do? This post… Continue reading 3 Common Color Accessibility Issues One Can Easily Avoid

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

Housing, It’s a Human Right (Part 2)

A 3-Part Series on the digital accessibility of the housing process experienced by people with disabilities. In this 3-part series, we will look at the challenges and rewards of the entire experience surrounding the process of acquiring housing for people who live with a disability.  We will look at: Buying an existing home Leasing an… Continue reading Housing, It’s a Human Right (Part 2)

Designing a colour system

Building multi-brand colour systems that support light and dark modes with minimum effort. It is all about organizing, naming and choosing the right colour values for the system to work. I would like to share my view on the issue and tell about the methods I choose to make the system. Made with design tokens Design tokens are… Continue reading Designing a colour system

Why Unique ID Attributes Matter

Ambiguous IDs can cause both your developers and your users a lot of frustration, and may ultimately damage customer relations. A Little Background It’s one of the most common WCAG 4.1.1 violations reported by automated accessibility testing tools such as aXe, and it can cause a fair share of problems for your users. It happens… Continue reading Why Unique ID Attributes Matter

15 Best New Fonts, October 2023

Fonts By Ben Moss Yesterday We’re entering the final quarter of 2023, and even in the pre-holiday lull, there are still plenty of fonts to get excited about. In this month’s edition of our roundup of the best new fonts for designers, there are lots of revivals, some excellent options for logo designers, and some… Continue reading 15 Best New Fonts, October 2023

Ensuring negative numbers are available for everyone

This post is co-authored by Michael Fairchild and Jeremy Katherman. That little minus sign before a number is very important. It can mean the difference between having money in your bank account or paying overdraft fees. It can be the difference between a deposit or a withdrawal. Negative numbers can be indicated in several ways,… Continue reading Ensuring negative numbers are available for everyone

We need to have “The Talk”

Generative AI raises legal and ethical issues for all of us A couple of months ago I posted my concerns about the ethics of Generative Art and AI/ChatGPT. In that piece, I suggested that there need to be some Ethics and Standards guidelines in place to guide UX and Graphics professionals in the use of these… Continue reading We need to have “The Talk”

How to create a color ramp used in design systems

Whether you’re a brand designer putting the finishing touches on a color palette or a product designer laying the foundational work for a design system, I will walk you through how to create color ramps utilized in design systems. If you’re new to creating color palettes for digital spaces, check out my previous article, Color for… Continue reading How to create a color ramp used in design systems

How to AI

Three approaches to deploying generative AI for brands and corporations. 11 out 12 are generated by AI. One is real. Which one? | Source: Imagenavi & Jimmy Fermin History rhymes This isn’t a trick question: 11 out of 12 in the image above are generated by AI. Which one is the real person? I posed this quiz… Continue reading How to AI

15 Best New Fonts, September 2023

Fonts By Ben Moss 4 days ago Nothing upgrades your designs like selecting the right font. It’s all too easy to fall into the trap of using the same typeface over and over, so every month, we publish this roundup to freshen up your font menu. In this month’s edition, you’ll find plenty of sans-serifs… Continue reading 15 Best New Fonts, September 2023

Our desire for certainty can make us terrible planners

Memory, Image Theory, and the empty pursuit of certainty Midjourney Sometimes it feels like all we do is plan — and then plan for more planning. But what are the cognitive mechanisms we use to ‘plan’? and are they optimized for getting things ‘right’? If we were optimized to be right, we probably wouldn’t be so quick to… Continue reading Our desire for certainty can make us terrible planners

How to ‘un-stuck’ your design work

Three lifelines to call on when you’re feeling stuck creatively I’ve been a professional designer for over twenty years, working across a wide range of media: UX/UI, motion, branding, web design, mobile apps, and creative coding. Most lately, I’ve been developing my font design practice. Design is a long journey of exploration and growth. You… Continue reading How to ‘un-stuck’ your design work

Accessibility of the Button: Should We Fix It or the Root Cause Problem?

Let me tell you a story along the lines of…Button, Button, Who’s Got The Button? Typical “how to” articles are dry laundry lists of tactical “do this/don’t do that” mechanics that do nothing to help you think about WHY you should do things differently. Today, I’m going to share a more strategic accessible design approach… Continue reading Accessibility of the Button: Should We Fix It or the Root Cause Problem?

Almost Ready! WCAG 2.2 is one small step away from being officially done!

A new version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is almost ready. WCAG 2.2 should be finalized in August 2023. This is a minor version update. If you are already familiar with WCAG 2.0 and/or 2.1, you probably have a number of questions. And we’ve got up-to-date answers! Why isn’t WCAG 2.2 ready yet?… Continue reading Almost Ready! WCAG 2.2 is one small step away from being officially done!