User Experience is a great discipline to get into, especially right now. Hundreds of companies around the world have started applying UX principles in their processes and products, and many more are starting to “get” that UX, properly applied, adds…
My Quora answers
I write a lot on Quora, answering questions. Here’s are all my answers from there. Joseph Dickerson
What’s inside your UX workshop tool box?
by Joseph Dickerson • April 22, 2013
What I try to have in my portable workshop "kit:" Sticky notes. Lots of sticky notes, all different colors and sizes. I always have more than I think we'll need… And sometimes we run out. Estimate how many you'll need,…
What makes a really good charity website?
by Joseph Dickerson • April 16, 2013
I think there are four things that make a good charity website: A clear mission statement. What does the charity do? What is the mission of the charity? A clear statement of the charity's goals right up front tells potential…
What are the parameters for user experience audit?
by Joseph Dickerson • April 5, 2013
You can’t go wrong by starting out using the 10 Usability Heuristics for User Experience Design, as created by Jakob Nielsen: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/… They are “best practices” for interaction design, and they are (in summary): Visibility of system status Match between…
What are the “open problems” in UX design?
by Joseph Dickerson • March 30, 2013
An "open problem" is a question without a known solution, and the interesting thing about user experience design is that we don't have a lot of open problems or questions, it's that we often have TOO MANY ANSWERS. A couple…
What are the latest trends in mobile design that a UX team should follow to build a good app?
by Joseph Dickerson • March 19, 2013
Flat design. Apps that have skeumorphic elements are old news, the new design “style” is Flat. Not to say that skeumporhism doesn’t have it’s place – you just need to do it right. Drag down to refresh. Lots of apps…
What would be good interview questions for a user experience design lead?
by Joseph Dickerson • March 9, 2013
I always like to throw some "hypotheticals" into an interview for a UX designer, and here's a couple I sometimes use: "You have two choices: Lead a high profile design project with a huge budget that has a low chance…
How many times would James Bond have died if he had not been incredibly lucky?
by Joseph Dickerson • March 7, 2013
LOTS of times. A sample (incomplete) list: From Russia With Love: Red Grant was watching Bond at the gypsy compound and Bond would have been stabbed in the back during the fight if Grant hadn't shot the anonymous attacker. Goldfinger:…
When creating web and mobile application UIs, what is better: "Flat Design" or "Skeuomorphic Design"?
by Joseph Dickerson • February 16, 2013
It depends. Yes, I know, that's a cop-out, but not really… There are benefits and drawbacks to both, and what your are designing and who you are designing for is just as important as the design "style" ("Flat" or "skeuomorphic")…
Should companies with in-house UX teams evaluate their own work or engage external UX consultants to do so?
by Joseph Dickerson • February 12, 2013
Bringing in an external consultant to evaluate a team's work is a BAD idea, for several reasons. First off, the consultant can be the best UX professional in the world who makes the most cogent points possible… but he or…
What are best practices for participatory design sessions?
by Joseph Dickerson • February 11, 2013
Participatory design is a great way to have an engaging conversation with users about a particular task or situation. The main thing to remember about participatory design is this obvious point: Users aren't designers. During the design session they are…