So you’ve got piles of data gathered from the inspiring empathy research activities you’ve undertaken, and you’re blankly staring at the data thinking, “Where to from here …?” and “What do I do with all this information?” It’s time to bring all the research you’ve collected together and make sense o
Research can be compared to interacting with the ocean. On the surface, we may see calm beauty or turbulence; however, we can only fully understand the bigger picture once we submerge ourselves and go much deeper. In order to gain a holistic, empathic understanding of our users and the problem we ar
We’re now going to look at a subject that’s especially relevant to web design. Specifically, we’ll see how the user’s eye makes sense of web pages according to where it expects to find elements comfortably. Understanding Fitts’ Law (sometimes called Fitts’s Law) will give you a key to unlock another
There’s an easy way to start your marketing for your freelance business or your business-to-business start-up – using freelance brokerage sites such Upwork, Guru and Freelancer. Unfortunately, this isn’t as clear cut as it might appear at first glance, and there are potential downsides to this form
If you run a business—you need a website. There’s simply no excuse in the information age for a freelancer or entrepreneur not to have a website. It’s important to know what your options are when it comes to developing a website for a start-up business and, as importantly, how to keep your costs und
Learn about the limits of your user’s short-term memory by understanding how the serial position effect works and how you can manipulate it in the context of user experience design. Many of the most successful designs out there, produced by highly successful companies like Apple, Electronic Arts, an
Facilitating ideation sessions involves an understanding of human thinking and mental modes as well as a whole range of factors like creating the right environment and goals, which we’ll introduce you to here.“Ideation is the mode of the design process in which you concentrate on idea generation. Me
We think that whoever, decided that UX designers should need a portfolio, should have their head read. UX design is not graphic design and the creation of a UX portfolio does not mean that would-be clients or employers are going to be wowed by the visual aspect of the content. However, despite this
It’s important to remember that while we may use the same methods for mobile usability research as we use for other types of usability research; the mobile environment is different to the environment at the desktop. This means being aware of the context and adapting research to take advantage of tha
Changing careers isn’t as hard as it’s often made out to be, especially if you’ve got the right resources to help you make the change. For many web designers, now is the perfect time to make the switch into UX design. To start with, there’s the monetary boost that comes with the change in career. Ac
In your role as a designer, coming up with creative and innovative designs and ideas that should have a positive impact on both users and business is part of the job description, whether you are employed, a student or an entrepreneur. Sometimes, though, devising the next great idea can be a challeng
At the base of Maslow's hierarchy of human needs we find the physiological level, which encompasses the basic, yet self-preserving needs, such as sleep, water, and shelter. The ability to work our way further up the hierarchy, to satisfy our more complex needs, is based on fulfilling the physiologic
Learn to design products and systems that make your user’s lives easier by relieving them of their cognitive load, the amount of effort being used in their working memory. As you design your user flows, minimizing the need for people to remember things as they navigate through your product or system
Searching for a particular piece of content online can be just as challenging as going to a supermarket and looking for a specific type of food coloring for a rainbow cake you’re planning to bake for your nephew’s birthday. Imagine the time it would save when you could narrow the search actions down
Now, our guess is that you’re quite an experienced computer user. Perhaps Linux is a bridge too far, but using Windows or Mac OS X will not have many secrets anymore. We can imagine you’re multitasking right now, reading this article, and keeping an eye on your incoming email at the same time. From
The dark side is quite resourceful in sneaking things past your attention, thereby ensuring your engagement in their commercial activities. To do this, they rely on our inherent laziness, which prevents us from reading every single piece of text on our way towards completing a task. Phrased carefull
Two information-processing systems determine the human emotional response: the affective and cognitive processing systems. The affective system operates outside of conscious thought and is reactive, in that a series of psychophysiological events are initiated automatically following the receipt of s
Language is much less neutral than what you often realize. The truth is that your choice for words does affect and/or is a reflection of how you see the world. This is why, as a user experience practitioner, you need to place special awareness on the connotations of the terms you pick.We do have tec
Online shops have the advantage of giving you access to all types of products or services, without the restrictions of your location or local shop’s assortment. The downside of online shopping can be that you drown in the vastness of available choices. What you need so as to make confident decisions
The times when telephone numbers were made up of five digits are long gone, and remembering your best friend’s number if she changes it has become almost impossible. And would you know your mom’s address by heart if she moved out of your childhood home a couple of years ago? Our world is super-conne
