Some suggestions: Identify the problem you are trying to solve in the design. Is it to accomplish a task, to enjoy a free moment, to communicate or capture a moment? Have a clear-cut problem statement and direction for what you…
Category: My Quora answers
My Quora answers, UX 101, UX Articles
What are good ways to start learning user experience (UX) design?
First, understand that the user experience design is across multiple industries and areas – software, service design, retail, hardware, you name it. You should focus on the domain that you want to focus your user experience design efforts in and…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
How can a software company attract and keep great user experience designers?
As someone who has hired UX designers and also been brought in to implement UX design principles into a company (who had no understanding of the discipline), I have some opinions on this question. Here’s the main one: UX designers…
Geek, Movies, My Quora answers
How would you rank all the James Bond movies?
Movies, My Quora answers
Why do movies made by Orson Welles struggle to make money in the box office despite many of them being considered masterpieces?
Several reasons. First off, he was doing independent films for a significant chunk of his career. Because of that he did not have the studio system to promote and distribute his films, so he was facing significant headwinds even getting…
My Quora answers, TV, Twin Peaks
Will the new season of Twin Peaks be based upon Mark Frost’s book, ‘The Secret History of Twin Peaks’, that came out last year?
Somewhat. As I understand it, the book is a “backstory”/prequel that fills the gaps between the ending of the last episode and the new season. Some things that are detailed in the book (like SPOILER Pete dying in the bank…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
How does UX help a company innovate (and/or create “disruptive” innovation)?
User Experience, or User Centered Design, allows you to look at how people work and what they do. The key is to focus on the user needs, to uncover and document opportunities to support people’s workflows and therefore define solutions…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
What websites have the best new user onboarding flows?
When it comes to on-boarding new users in a web site or app, there are two ways: the old way, and the right way. The old way was akin to the setup processes that we see when you install a…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
Is design manipulative?
Great, great question. I just designed a kind of “quick start” experience that would sign users up for a series of options in one click. It looked good, tested well… But it would also take advantage of something I call…
My Quora answers, UX 101, UX Articles
Is User Experience (UX) really just where marketing meets development?
The summary answer to your question: no, it’s not. Though I can understand why you would get that impression based on the people you have worked with – people who confuse minimalism with user experience design, or are calling themselves…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
How do you articulate and demonstrate the actual business value of your UX designs?
It's tricky, but a key success metric is and always shall be one thing: money. Did the design, when implemented, save the company money (by reducing costs) or make the company money (by increasing sales of an item). I have…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
Is a UX Architect just ‘half’ a Designer?
Interesting questions since my current job is… (checking) a UX Architect for a Fortune 500 company. I'm reminded of a joke from the classic Woody Allen movie Love and Death: Girl: I'm half saint, half whore.Woody: Let's hope it's the…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
Can the film production process teach the agile world how to make software?
I've written articles and presentations around leveraging ideas and techniques from moviemaking in the software development process, and my honest reaction to this question is… No. Moviemaking is definitely a collaborative process, but it is also one that is driven…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
What tools and processes do you use to prepare wireframes and other interaction design documents for iPhone applications?
There are two aspects of the question: one is around tools (“what tool do you/should you use?”) and the secondary question is around process (“how do you go about using your tools?”) I’ll answer the second question first and then…
My Quora answers, UX 101, UX Articles
What are some good ways to plan a UX project?
A primary thing I would find out is who the client’s customers are. Are they middle-class housewives? Gen Y hipsters? If you don’t have an understanding of who the customers are then you will have a hard time designing a…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
What did Dieter Rams mean when he said “good design is honest”?
I think he means that good design aligns with the materials used and is straightforward about it’s purpose. A coffee pot isn’t made of wax paper, it’s made of materials that support the heat and liquids that you put through…