Application design is the biggest field of endeavour in technology at the moment. It seems that ever since Apple launched the iPhone that clever people are coming together to try and make our lives ever more interesting via the various app stores. Yet, there are some simple things that these wonderf
Welcome back to this week’s series of awesome UX practices. If you haven’t caught the first 4 instalments; don’t worry – they can be found under the UX Daily tab on our website. Today we’re looking at UI design:Don’t Reinvent the WheelWhen it comes to UI design one of the simplest and most effective
Bringing a successful product to market is a team effort. While designers are responsible for usability, utility and the rest of the user experience there are many factors which contribute to the success or failure of new product development and many of these are outside of the designer’s direct con
Let’s examine a topic we often take for granted to understand what it’s really about. Doing so, you’ll be able to proceed with a broader appreciation of how users engage your designs.The Overlooked, Misunderstood Nature of Accessibility© WhisperToMe, Public DomainA design is only useful if it’s acce
When thinking about visualization of research results, many people will automatically have an image of a graph in mind. Do you have that image, too? You would be right in thinking that many research results benefit from a graph-like visualization, showing trends and anomalies. But this is mainly tru
A bestiary is a collection of animals, and we don’t want to imply that anyone involved in the UX design profession is an actual animal (well, except for human animals), but there are three animals terms that have become common usage in the UX profession: unicorns, foxes and hedgehogs. It’s useful t
Search functions are the foremost tool to navigate applications and the internet. The mobile user experience relies just as much on effective search patterns as the desktop. Here we explore eight mobile search patterns to help you design easily navigable experiences.With the efficiency of modern sea
Cognitive walkthroughs are used to examine the usability of a product. They are designed to see whether or not a new user can easily carry out tasks within a given system. It is a task-specific approach to usability (in contrast to heuristic evaluation which is a more holistic usability inspection).
Observing users interacting with a product can be a great way to understand the usability of a product and to some extent the overall user experience. Conducting observations is relatively easy as it doesn’t require a huge amount of training and it can be relatively fast – depending on the sample si
Hillary Rettig, the author of The Seven Secrets of the Prolific: The Definitive Guide to Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism and Writer’s Block says; “High Value Activities (HVAs) are within your mission, leverage, your strengths and create impact or change.”She also says; “They also create cl
Like a naughty kid who wants the Oreo cookies you just told him he couldn’t have, dark pattern designers are masters at slipping things into your shopping basket without your knowledge. Here, we will show you how they do that, and get away with it. We will give you some examples that behave in ways
The exact history of the contextual interview in user research is a little murky. It was first alluded to in a paper by Whiteside, Bennet and Holtzblatt in 1988 which examined the use of qualitative research in design projects. However, the first complete description of the method was almost certain
![User Stories: As a [UX Designer] I want to [embrace Agile] so that [I can make my projects user-centered] - Article hero image](https://public-images.interaction-design.org/literature/articles/heros/57c6a58aad6c4.jpg?tr=w-232,h-188,fo-auto)
Let’s examine a tool so simple yet so powerful that once you’ve learned about it, you will apply it in all your projects. It is a great design method that enhances collaboration among all stakeholders.Users’ needs are a core part of Agile—and they're brought to life using User Stories.There are many
As designers, we have a powerful ally in color. It can let us work towards a number of different goals. You can use it to reinforce or highlight an idea, to provoke an emotional response from the user or to draw attention to a specific part of your website. This is, of course, in addition to making
It’s tough to write beginnings, isn’t it? It can be especially difficult to write the introduction of your UX case study, since it will determine the success of your job application. What should you include? How do you make a good first impression? Fret not! We’ve got you covered here. Your introduc
Learn to design with consistency and standards in mind and understand the reasons why they’re important to incorporate them into your work. Derived from Jakob Nielsen and Rolf Molich’s Ten User Interface (UI) Guidelines, ‘Consistency and Standards’ are evident in many of the widely-used produc
One of the most challenging realms to conduct user research with is when you have to conduct research with children. There are, obviously, stringent ethical and legal protocols to be kept to if you work with children but it’s not just the moral aspect of this world. Children are not miniature adults
Businesses are still stuck in the idea that UX is about the products and services they offer their customers. They are yet to grasp the idea that UX can be applied to all services within a business. A UX focused of review of recruitment or accounting (or whatever) can quickly improve the way that a
Learn to design for the future, while balancing your design with your users’ present stage of skills and mindset. This is called the MAYA Principle and it’s the secret behind the industrial design of the Coca-Cola bottle, Shell Oil logo, and the Greyhound logo.Why not learn from the best design expe
Neuroscience has offered many important insights into both the structure and function of the human brain. One of the most well-known models of brain structure, and how it relates to function, was provided by neuroscientist Paul MacLean, whose 'Triune Brain' model is based on three dominant structure
AI is replacing jobs everywhere, yet design jobs are booming with a projected 45% job growth. With design skills, you can create products and services people love. More love means more impact and greater salary potential.
At IxDF, we help you from your first course to your next job, all in one place.