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…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
What are some arguments against user experience testing?
This is an interesting question. "What are arguments against user experience testing?" My initial response is that there are existing patterns that users are accustomed to, that if you make the controls and experience align to those patterns, you will…
My Quora answers, UX 101, UX Articles
What should an ideal User Experience Design lab have?
I’ve set up a couple of usability labs in my time, so I’ll give you some of my advice/lessons learned in that space. First the practical – get lots of wall space. I mean LOTS of wall space. Almost all…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
How would you describe your user experience design philosophy in one sentence?
Help people live better lives, by letting them do what they want to do quickly and easily… And solve problems for them, sometimes problems they never even knew they had. See question on Quora
Apple, My Quora answers, UX Articles
Do Apple do user study or usability testing on its products at all?
No evidence, I'm afraid (I aspire to be a good enough UX designer that someday I MAY be good enough to work for Apple) but I can offer a couple of observations that, as Sherlock Holmes might state, leads one…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
Why is Address Book on iPad so unuseable?
Good question. The address book is using a book paradigm, and I think the reason there is some usability problems with it is two-fold. The first is that the metaphor/paradigm is an obvious one but one that does not work…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
Do you need to be artistic to be a good web designer?
I think that the key to the answer is one word that you have in your question: "artistic." I have worked with a lot of artistic types who could not design a website if their life depended on it –…
My Quora answers, UX 101, UX Articles
What can be included in an aspiring UXer’s portfolio to show off UX skills?
Identify a problem space, evaluate products that try and solve/work in that particular problem space (against some best practices/design principles), and then ideate some solutions/products of your own. Document HOW you approached the problem space – many times the approach…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
How can a mind map be used to navigate user interfaces?
There's not a lot of visible difference between a mind map and a navigation model – they are both "boxes and arrows" that connect objects in a structure. The use of them and the information they contain are very different,…
Featured Articles, My Quora answers, Technology, Trek, UX Articles
What kind of technologies need to be invented to bring us up to speed with Star Trek?
I’m actually quite involved and interested in this question, as my job is to design computer interfaces and support new opportunities in user experiences that I could not have even dreamt of even 5 years ago (I did mobile design…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
Which is a better trait for an interaction designer — perfectionism or the willingness to compromise?
Joseph Dickerson, Been a hands-on interaction designer for many y… I think that it's not a question of should you be a perfectionist but WHEN should you focus on making the details crisp and perfect. If you are exploring ideas…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
How can the user experience community evangelize to a broader audience?
Joseph Dickerson, I'm a practitioner and advocate of User Experie… I think that conferences like SXSW is a good opportunity to spread the UX "gospel" – but you need to make the topic have broad appeal. Also look into conferences…
My Quora answers, UX 101, UX Articles
Does usability really make the world a better place?
Joseph Dickerson, I've been a graphic or software designer for 20… The way I have always looked at it is this: if you make an experience as elegant and as usable as possible then you are making life just a…
My Quora answers, UX Articles
Should a professional UX designer have their own website?
Joseph Dickerson, I'm a UX Design professional. It depends. Do you want the website to be about your passions or a promotional vehicle for your career? If your website is about your love for knitting and you also happen to…
My Quora answers, UX 101, UX Articles
What qualities do the best UX professionals have?
Joseph Dickerson, Not a Top UX Designer though I aspire to be… The same ability that lawyers have – to be very adept at the core discipline of a domain (user experience design) but also the ability to learn the…