Experience design: Walk-a-mile immersion
An often underutilised method in experience design is ‘walk-a-mile immersion’: literally putting yourself in the shoes and mind-set of your customers and experiencing things from their perspective, as an insider. (more…)
Mobile prototyping: a new paradigm
Designers and UX professionals use design techniques like sketches, wireframes and mockups to visualise a website during the design process. Can these web design techniques also be used for mobile app design - or is it time for change? (more…)
Effectively Planning UX Design Projects
Planning user experience (UX) projects is a balancing act of getting the right amount of user input within the constraints of your project. The trick is to work out the best use of your time. How can you get the most UX goodness for your client’s budget? This article explains how to choose the right mix of tools for the task at hand. (more…)
Three types of design
People tend to use the word "design" very loosely when talking about product, but it's actually quite important to distinguish between the types of design (and their respective designers) when seeking to understand what someone means by the term in any given context, as well as how they apply to the overall product development process. (more…)
Design Your App on Paper, Animate It With Your iPhone Camera
"Our teammates design apps every day, and we’ve tried most of the prototyping solutions out there, but they all seemed too complicated for us," says Leo Lin, a designer at Woomoo Inc., the Japanese Taiwanese studio that created POP. "With paper you can iterate faster than any other tools. (more…)
Who owns your UX philosophy?
I’ve been in three board meetings in the last month where it was painfully apparent that there wasn’t a person in the company who owned the UX philosophy of the product. (more…)
The product design sprint: validate (day 5)
As day 5 of the product design sprint dawns and the team files into the war room, there’s a certain something in the air. Is it the chemical scent of the whiteboard markers? Maybe. Is it coffee breath? Yeah, almost for sure — in fact, you might want to hand out some gum. (more…)
The product design sprint: prototype (day 4)
On day 2 you drew concept sketches. On day 3, you made a plan and a storyboard for your prototype. Now it’s day 4 and the clock is ticking. You’re going to create a real-looking version of yesterday’s storyboard and show it to users tomorrow. (more…)
The product design sprint: decide (day 3)
At this point in a design sprint, you’ve got a lot of ideas down on paper. You’ve explored the problem, generated a ton of solutions, and looked around at how other companies are solving similar problems. (more…)
The product design sprint: diverge (day 2)
In the first two days of the sprint, we’ve learned about the problem, shared a lot of knowledge, and chosen the challenge we want to tackle in this sprint. It’s time to start cranking out solutions. Expect this step to take between two hours and all day. (more…)
The product design sprint: setting the stage
Now that you know what design sprints are good for, you’ll need a few important ingredients to make yours successful. Start with a big, important problem; pitch it to your team; and schedule a user study before you even start. Get the right people and the right supplies in a room and you’re on your way to a successful design sprint. (more…)
Five Big UX Topics in 2012
For years, UX professionals have vigorously lobbied for a “seat at the table” when it comes to formative decisions about products and product development. Looking back at 2012, trends indicate that this wish is becoming reality. Many leading UX consultants reported that their clients are more open to research and design methods with a UX focus than they have been in the past. (more…)
Evaluating Mobile User Experience
User Experience (UX), a term that first appeared a decade ago, still has no formal definition or standard. So its not surprising that as mobile applications inundate the app stores, mobile user experience is starting to garner serious attention because some app developers are wondering why their app is not getting much uptake while others who may have less features for more money are. (more…)
Responsive Navigation: Optimizing for Touch Across Devices
Designing towards touch really forces us to simplify and decide what's most important- what needs to stay on the screen. If we go through that exercise we ultimately end up with software that's easier to understand and as a result more often used. Both good things. (more…)