I looked back over some of my older writing and realized that I had written about form design in three separate posts. These posts, while similar, contained different ideas and recommendations. Thus, I have decided to combine them here. Keep…
Category: UX Articles
My Quora answers, UX Articles
What are the latest trends in mobile design that a UX team should follow to build a good app?
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…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: A (brief) history of user experience
What we now call “user experience design” began a lot longer ago than many people realize. In fact, you can trace UX design WAY, WAY back… all the way to when humans created the first tools. A tool in its…
UX Articles
Recommendations and Best Practices in Mobile Usability Testing
NOTE: Much of this content is based on two earlier blog entries I wrote here a while back in 2009, so I added some additional and more recent details to come up with this revised version… Prescreening users First, prescreen your…
UX 101, UX Articles
#UX101: What is UX, anyway?
I am writing my new book UX 101 the same way that two of my literary idols, Arthur Conan Doyle and Charles Dickens, did: in serial, one chapter at a time. I hope to post a new segment every week…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
What would be good interview questions for a user experience design lead?
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…
UX Articles
Some UX 101 articles to tide you over…
I’m currently working on my next book on user experience design, an introductory tome titled UX101. Even though I’m making good progress, it’ll be a while before I can complete to my satisfaction. So, to tide you over, I’ve highlighted…
My Quora answers, UX 101, UX Articles
When creating web and mobile application UIs, what is better: "Flat Design" or "Skeuomorphic Design"?
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")…
My Quora answers, UX 101, UX Articles
Should companies with in-house UX teams evaluate their own work or engage external UX consultants to do so?
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…
My Quora answers, UX 101, UX Articles
What are best practices for participatory design sessions?
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…
Family, UX Articles
Process or talent? Companies can’t focus on both…
“The Most Important Document to ever come out of Silicon Valley” was released last week… at least, that’s what Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg called it. This Most Important Document wasn’t a cutting-edge business plan, or a product roadmap… Far from…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
What is the next frontier in mobile UX/UI design?
Three things that are going to be a big focus for mobile UX/UI designers in the years to come: Voice Interaction: Accessing information from your mobile device or the cloud through speech is here now, but we "turn it on"…
My Quora answers, UX 101, UX Articles
What user experience means to me, and how I approach the design process
I may sound like Pollyanna, but to me user experience design is a way to make the world a better place. OK, so it's not like we UX folk are curing cancer, or finding new sources of energy, or stopping…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
What are the big topics in mobile user interface design discussions in 2013?
Web vs. native apps. Still. While the majority of companies are pretty firmly in the "native app" space, there are still debates and discussions taking place around HTML 5 and it's capabilities. The problem is, HTML 5 can't do everything…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
What are the different design approaches/UX considerations between designing an iPad app and an iPhone app?
First, and most obviously, you need to consider the constraints of both platforms. The primary constraint when you are designing an iPhone app is screen size. You have a smaller "canvas" to work with, and that constraint means that you…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
Why has the general interface of operating systems evolved but the cursor has remained relatively unchanged?
Joseph Dickerson Because the cursor just works. When a user is typing, he or she needs an indication as to where the next letter or character will display. The cursor does a fantastic job of providing that "system status" with…