Life’s busy isn’t it? Many of us spend so much time racing on to the next challenge that we fail to reflect properly on the things that we’ve learned reaching the last objective. One of the best ways to address is this is to develop a personal development log.What is a Personal Development Log?Autho
Now, we’re going to look at a subject that comes directly from mathematics and that we can also find all around us – the golden ratio. Don’t worry; we’re not going back into the classroom for long. We will examine what this concept is and exactly how much it is a fundamental part of making designs p
Your cover letter helps sell you as a good fit for the company and serves to introduce your resume and portfolio. The cover letter plays a major role because this is your first chance to help the recruiter know that you’re the perfect fit for the company and job role. You need your UX design portfol
With the move away from websites to applications on mobile devices; there’s a need for many apps to create, maintain and manage user profiles so that users can effectively interact with the app and so that the app’s creators can collect and analyse data useful to their businesses. There is no “one s
With the dawn of personal computing skeuomorphic design became important to introduce users, unfamiliar with technology, to new concepts. Skeuomorphism takes a simple approach – it creates lifelike affordances in user interfaces (UI) that the user can relate to from their real lives. Thus when you d
Augmented reality has come a long way from a science-fiction concept to a science-based reality. Until recently the costs of augmented reality were so substantial that designers could only dream of working on design projects that involved it – today things have changed and augmented reality is even
Customer experience is the key to running a successful business just as user experience is key to developing a successful product. Customer experience encompasses a larger range of interaction than user experience in that it not only takes into account UX but also the needs of those paying for the p
This is a question that, in slightly different forms, gets asked a lot by those considering a UX design career. The question is a simple one but the answer..? Well, that’s a bit more complicated. A lot depends on you and your approach to life and your career. So let’s take a look at the benefits of
Material Design (originally referred to as and codenamed “Quantum Paper”) was developed by Google and is a design language used for Android devices. The idea, according to Matias Duarte Vice President of Design for Google, is to provide a design language which mimics the feel of pen and paper. Mater
Have you ever felt overwhelmed with information while you were searching for something specific? Have you ever been lost in the haystack, looking for that one tiny needle? If your users are anything like you, they will sometimes feel overwhelmed or lost, too, unless you minimize their efforts by pro
Today, we’re going to take a look at three contexts of the concept of use: useful, usable and used. The first two terms, useful and usable, are bandied around a lot in terms of user experience and design while the third term, used, barely gets a mention. Yet, as we’ll come to see it may be the most
Empathy is the ability to understand and identify with another person’s context, emotions, goals and motivations. In order to design great experiences, successful design firms actively search for empathic insights into their target group. In a design context, empathy serves a distinct purpose: to in
The idea of shadowing someone to see what they are doing is not new. It is a technique that is widely implemented in user research. The idea is simple; the researcher accompanies the user and observes how they use the product or service within their natural environment.Shadowing also takes place in
The concept of critical mass originates in physics; it refers to the volume of a nuclear product required to sustain a chain reaction in a nuclear explosion. However, critical mass in marketing requires a very different product – users – to ensure a “chain reaction” of sales. The idea of critical m
A CV is a great way of explaining your expertise to a would-be client. Not all freelancers use a CV/resume to market their services or to convey their experience to their clients. Those who do use one will tell you that it’s a great way of explaining complex information to potential clients and part
Most people put a lot of effort into their work. Unfortunately, they often neglect themselves in the process. Time served is no longer enough to progress your career (if it ever was). You need to consciously develop your personal and professional skills to succeed and you need a plan to get from whe
Ease of use is something that designers strive for but how can you design for ease-of-use? It’s a common question at the start of projects; “If we’re going to do this well, it will need to satisfy ease-of-use for our customers. What kind of universal metrics can we apply to ensure that the product d
In the 1980s and ‘90s, our technology-loving civilization rode the wave of Personal Computing – one computer per person. As computers became smaller and less expensive to produce, every worker—or indeed, every person—could have one at his/her disposal. With the rapid rise of Ubiquitous and Mobile co
We’re now going to take a look at some more Gestalt principles, building on what we’ve learned in the first two articles. This third piece is particularly useful because having a good grasp of Figure/Ground, Prägnanz, Closure, and Common Fate will enhance your ability to design with more thoughtfuln
The howls of frustration that we hear on many UX projects are often to do with how badly misunderstood the UX role is in business. Here are 5 things that everyone should know about UX work: 1. UX Research is EssentialThe first barrier to many a UX project is people in the company who think they alr
