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…
Category: UX Articles
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…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Understanding bias
We are all biased… anyone who says otherwise is fooling themselves or lying. We are all biased because we are all human… We are the sum of all of our experiences, and those “inputs” influences our opinions and interpretation of…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Typical UX jobs and roles
While UX is still a fairly “young” discipline compared to other occupations, there are some fairly consistent standards as to roles and responsibilities. Here are some typical (and not so typical) jobs that you will find out there, with some…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
To learn UX/UI design quickly, what are the three most important skills to focus on?
Human psychology. Understanding users – what they need, want, and desire – is the crucial, seminal skill a user experience professional need. It influences everything – design, content, processes, features, you name it. Knowing WHO you are designing for helps…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Design Foundations
User experience isn’t “a” skill – it’s several of them. UX is a multi-disciplined domain that requires a lot of varied abilities, and the most successful UX professionals are the ones who are good at a lot of things. The…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: “Selling” user research (to management)
User research is a vital part of any design project, because if you don’t know who you are designing for, how can you be sure you’re creating the right solution? They are your real boss, the ones who are the…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Working with legacy designs
I’ve found that most of the educational materials on user experience design gives the impression that UX design projects will always be a “from scratch, develop a new product or application” effort. In my experience, that’s rarely the case. While…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: Stakeholders and you!
In any design project, you are going to have one or more stakeholders. These are the people who sponsored the project, and/or are the product managers responsible for the product being design, and/or are VPs responsible for a particular division……
My Quora answers, UX Articles
How would you structure learning user experience design?
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…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: The software development life-cycle
Why a section on software development process in an introduction to user experience? Because you will need to know and integrate with such processes as part of your job as a UX professional, that’s why. You will need to know…