Gestural interaction has been around for a while now. Inspired by movies such as Minority Report, engineers and designers have made the ideas seen in that film a reality for millions of users. From the simplest “shake to play another…
Category: UX Articles
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Tools of the Trade
There are quite a few tools that you can use to create designs and then test said designs with users, and in my many many years as a UX professional I’ve tried out most of them. First, let’s cover design…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: How to analyze user research data (and produce results)
Once you have gathered your user data, through either user interviews or usability testing, you need to analyze it. While some may consider this a daunting task, it’s not: it is, however, an activity that requires focus and objectivity. In…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Best practices in interface design
When it comes to designing user interfaces, there are a lot of factors to consider – the standards and conventions of the medium you are designing in, the usage patterns of the features you are implementing, and the goals and…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: How to facilitate a usability test
When you are facilitating a usability test, there are many different factors that you should keep in mind. These techniques will help you get the most out of your test and will prevent most awkward uncomfortable moments. Here’s those tips.…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
What are good ways to analyze website users? Do you need to capture data like age or educational background?
You can approach it two ways – you can get your web analytics and spend some time looking at or you can setup a survey to capture personal information. They key question you need to answer is this: What is…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: On usability testing
Once you have created an interface, you need to test it, and this is known as usability testing. How do you do that? Well, it’s easier than you may think. First, let’s define what we mean by the term “usability…
UX 101, UX Articles
UX101: On user interface design
All you have learned about user research, information architecture, and interaction design is the foundation for the next step – execution. Taking all you have learned and defined and then designing screens that let users accomplish tasks and get things…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Interaction Design and Models
In user experience conversations you will often hear the term “interaction design” bandied about. What does it mean? Here’s the Wikipedia definition: Interaction design, often abbreviated IxD, is “about shaping digital things for people’s use”, alternately defined as “the practice of…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Creating and using journey maps
When we previously covered personas, we discussed how personas could be used as the subject of user stories or (more detailed) scenarios. These narratives detail what goals the persona wants to achieve and (in the case of scenarios) the detailed…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Information Architecture and different models of thought
When you are structuring the information architecture for the content and functionality you are providing to your users, you need to think of how those users think of the domain. How do they think of the information? What preconceived models…
Apple, Technology, UX Articles
When the exceptional becomes commonplace, Apple is in deep trouble
I, like many other tech fanboys, was glued to my computer screen early this month during Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference keynote. What new products or software would be revealed? Would the rumored iWatch be shown? Was Apple going to…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Navigation design and best practices
Whether you are designing a website or a desktop or mobile application, you’ll need to provide a way for users to get to what they want or need. Hence, you will need to provide some form of navigation. How should…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Different User Research Methods
User research is the one thing that you should never skip in a user experience process. It provides insights and understanding into the motivations and drivers of existing (and potential) customers and it is a key input into any design.…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Creating and using personas
When I discuss the word persona with people, I get a lot of blank stares and tilted heads. The film buffs I know respond with, “The Bergman film?” and the rest of them just shake their head when I ask…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: On Information Architecture
When you read about user experience and the UX design process, you will inevitably see a lot of discussion about Information Architecture. What is Information Architecture? Simply put, Information Architecture is the art and science or organizing and labeling data…