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Design thinking is a methodology that provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. It’s extremely useful when used to tackle complex problems that are ill-defined or unknown—because it serves to understand the human needs involved, reframe the problem in human-centric ways, create numerou
Design Thinking is not an exclusive property of designers—all great innovators in literature, art, music, science, engineering, and business have practiced it. So, why call it Design Thinking? What’s special about Design Thinking is that designers’ work processes can help us systematically extract,
Personas are fictional characters, which you create based upon your research to represent the different user types that might use your service, product, site, or brand in a similar way. Creating personas will help you understand your users’ needs, experiences, behaviors and goals. Creating personas
Looking at examples of bad design alongside counter-examples of good design is not only fun but also draws important lessons for designers. They highlight pitfalls for designers to avoid and let us understand how to translate design theories into solutions that work in the real world. Jared Spool, t
Interaction design is an important component within the giant umbrella of user experience (UX) design. In this article, we’ll explain what interaction design is, some useful models of interaction design, as well as briefly describe what an interaction designer usually does.A simple and useful unders
Apple’s Product Development Process may be one of the most successful design processes ever implemented. With a valuation that exceeds $2 trillion, there’s a lot that designers can learn from Apple and introduce into their own design environments.Apple is a notoriously secretive business. In Steve J
An integral part of the Design Thinking process is the definition of a meaningful and actionable problem statement, which the design thinker will focus on solving. This is perhaps the most challenging part of the Design Thinking process, as the definition of a problem (also called a design challenge
Combine AI skills with timeless skills in User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) design. Skills like empathy, user-centered design, and creative problem-solving are deeply human, and no technology can replace them.
Ever wondered why some interfaces feel effortless: like they already know what you’re trying to do, while others leave you guessing? The difference often lies in how well a product’s design matches the way users think. When your interface reflects their mental model, every action feels intuitive, an
Got constraints? Perfect. That’s where great design begins. Just as electrical standards define how a toaster safely works without shaping what it does, your software also lives within boundaries that quietly guide its behavior. Functional requirements describe what your system does: the stories of
User stories caught on because they were quick and simple, but speed often came at the cost of real understanding. A “user” in a story is rarely more than a guess, shaped by the assumptions of whoever wrote it. When you shift to persona stories, you ground your work in real research and real people.
Imagine trying to describe everything your product needs to do, without getting lost in technical detail or endless feature lists. That’s the problem Ivar Jacobson set out to solve in the 1980s when he introduced use cases. Instead of worrying about how a system worked internally, he described it fr
Design matters. It enables us to understand, communicate and improve the world around us. When done right, design has the power to improve the everyday lives of users. When done wrong, design can disrupt and frustrate users. As a designer, you have the power to improve the everyday lives of your use
Grids systems can help you add structure to your design, organize information and create a consistent user experience. When designing with grids, the best thing you can do is to choose the right grid for the right project. However, with so many grids to choose from, it can be hard to know where to s
Type is everywhere. In the books you read, the products you use, and even in this very website you're on right now. But what is type? In the context of design, type is the style or appearance of text. It can also refer to the process of working with text. Typography can often be an intimidating topi
Free textbooks written by more than 100 leading designers, bestselling authors, and Ivy League professors. We have assembled our textbooks in a gigantic encyclopedia, whose 4,000+ pages cover the design of interactive products and services such as websites, household objects, smartphones, computer software, aircraft cockpits, and what have you. Name an item of design interest, and you'll probably find it discussed inside.
Highly recommend the Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction […] the breadth and the depth of the invited contributions are quite impressive […] all with highly qualified authorities as authors.
– Don Norman
Highly recommend the Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction […] the breadth and the depth of the invited contributions are quite impressive […] all with highly qualified authorities as authors.
– Don Norman
Dive into all of IxDF open-source textbooks. Feeling a little lost in books and articles? Then try our engaging video-based courses.
If you're a researcher in academia, we've compiled a comprehensive bibliography on human-centered technology for you, comprising 138,678 authors in more than 127,278 publications.
