I’m wrapping up a long-term design project, and, after two years working on the same thing, I’ve learned a lot. A lot about myself, a lot about design, and a lot about people. One of the things that I notice…
Category: UX Articles
Apple, UX Articles
Lessons in UX: The “tender trap” of the iPhone
If you’ve been paying attention to the stock market lately, you may have noticed that Apple is doing quite well. At the time of this writing the stock is over $500 a share, the company has just had another quarter…
Apple, My Quora answers, UX Articles
Which mobile apps offer a perfect user experience?
Perfect is the enemy of good, and perfect is also a very high bar to achieve. I don't know if I'd say that the following are perfect, but they ae very good indeed: Simplenote let's you take notes and write.…
My Quora answers, UX 101, UX Articles
What are best 10 books about user experience design?
Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services by Kim Goodwin is a favorite of mine, in the fact that it is just so comprehensive. It's THE book to me. A Project Guide to UX Design:…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
How can you make FAQ pages/sections better?
Have a "smart" FAQ. Make the primary section be the most frequently "asked" questions, based on analytics. Show only the top 10, with an options o view more. Have an obvious link to view all and an obvious text field…
UX Articles
Please check out my book on User Experience, Experience Matters
My book on user experience design. Experience Matters, is
My Quora answers, UX Articles
What are the best ways to teach interaction design to non-designers?
Walk them through a previous design project. Pull out all the design artifacts, from concept design to detailed specifications. Show them video from any usability tests that took place. Demonstrate the process that was followed to go from a high-level…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
Is confidence good for UX research and design?
Confidence is good. Arrogance is not. The key is to be confident but also open to other people's ideas and to the possibility that you may be mistaken and/or your design could be improved. Let's use Sherlock Holmes as an…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
How do UX designers track their productivity?
When it comes to tracking productivity in UX design, the focus should always be on the outcomes, quality and hitting key milestones, and not on day-to-day activity. Because there is no one "perfect" UX design process (just as there is…
My Quora answers, UX 101, UX Articles
What are the foundations that need to be laid out before designing an interface?
I have used multiple techniques to do this, depending upon the amount of time available on the design project. At the very least, you need to have focus as to what you are designing, and know the target audience for…
UX Articles
Lessons in Service Design: How to Avoid “Showrooming”
Retailers have noticed a disturbing trend of the past few months. Many of the people visiting their stores are browsing but not spending any money… At least, not at your store. They’re still spending their money… just online. These customers…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
Why do creators of some online booking systems think it is a good idea to check the availability of seats only at the very end of the booking process?
Two reasons I can think of: First, the focus of the reservation process is booking the trip, and so the location of your seat is secondary to that. It may be important to you and many others, but it is…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
What are the best ways to provide instant gratification to users in a webapp?
A good question, and I've written about this quite a bit. First, provide points or virtual currency that actually let you DO something with them – a good example is XBOX points that users can use to get content or…
UX Articles
Some thoughts on “Gamification” and UX design
There’s been a lot of discussion and articles in the user experience space over the past few months on Gamification – that is, using techniques and attributes from video games and applying them to other domains, such as web or…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
How do you or others get informed about the UX activities being performed at your company today?
My company has a “UX community” that has regular meetings to share and communicate progress. It’s useful, but a little “echo chamber-y” for my tastes. The key way to keep in touch is to be involved and engaged with the…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
UX for Mobile: What are the best methods for doing contextual user research for mobile?
Here’s what I did when I did a contextual research project around mobile usage and habits two years ago: First, I interviewed people. A lot of people. 30 people in three different states. I asked them about how they used…