It is a common misconception that design thinking is new. Design has been practiced for ages: monuments, bridges, automobiles, subway systems are all end-products of design processes. Throughout history, good designers have applied a human-centric creative process to build meaningful and effective solutions.
In the early 1900’s husband and wife designers Charles and Ray Eames practiced “learning by doing,” exploring a range of needs and constraints before designing their Eames chairs, which continue to be in production even now, seventy years later. 1960’s dressmaker Jean Muir was well known for her “common sense” approach to clothing design, placing as much emphasis on how her clothes felt...
Not everybody knows why they’re useful and how to reference them. It is up to you to educate your stakeholders, illustrate their effectiveness, and solidify their use on projects. Lead by example: don’t let the personas fizzle out, continue to bring them into meetings to set the stage for
It used to be that you would buy two or three nice outfits to have in your wardrobe and would rotate them for special events. But in today’s era, with social media like Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, all your friends will see what you wear, whether they go to the same event or not. And even
Synchronous communication refers to meetings where all attendees gather at a shared time, either in person or remotely (using some remote-meeting tool or simply the phone as a communication channel). In this illustration, four teammates meet remotely to share ideas. One of the teammates shares her
2 Billion Downloads Later, Apple’s App Store is Still Going Strong
The App Store is obviously one of Apple’s most important assets in the mobile market. While Microsoft’s Zune HD, for example, is getting a lot of favorable reviews, the absence of an application ecosystem makes it a far less compelling product than Apple’s more expensive iPod
When Will You Be Able to Use Cryptocurrency to Buy a Pack of Gum?
Any cryptocurrency token you can think of has its own niche and its own fans. What one coin solves, others ignore. Take transaction times as an example. Cryptocurrencies’ transactions are slow because they don’t have networks supporting large-scale use. Bitcoin can process seven
A 60-Second Trailer of the 60-Day Report on Cybersecurity
Finally, Hathaway sees this as a unique opportunity for the United States to work with countries around the world, and with organizations on an extremely local level. “We cannot succeed if our government works in isolation,” she added. It requires “leading from the top” from
A Checklist for Designing Mobile Input Fields
Whether you're designing web pages, web-based applications (e.g., SaaS), or native mobile apps, one of the basic building blocks is the humble text-input field: a box where the user can enter some text. Uses of this widget are plenty and not the topic of this article. We should point out that there
design thinking 101
7 Tips for Successful Customization
Such a “forced” customization in the beginning is more acceptable on an intranet, where site designers and developers know that the user will return over time. For most systems, return visitors are not guaranteed. Therefore, it is best not to interrupt their early interactions by asking
10 Best Application UIs
But Xero might be a more interesting example, simply because it targets the traditionally dry domain of accounting. One of its main features lets users automatically reconcile bookkeeping entries with bank account transactions. As a match is made, the 2 matching entries are removed from the list of
When to Use Which User-Experience Research Methods
While most usability studies should rely more on behavior, methods that use self-reported information can still be quite useful to designers. For example, card sorting provides insights about users' mental model of an information space, and can help determine the best information architecture
Accot-Zhai Steering Law: Implications for UI Design
The Accot-Zhai Steering Law (discovered by HCI researchers Johnny Accot and Shumin Zhai, but also known simply as the Steering Law) is a corollary of Fitts’s Law. The Steering Law is an equation that predicts the efficiency of very common interactions; it describes the particular case of
The Mobile Checkout Experience
What distinguishes the best mobile checkout experiences from standard ones is the extra attention to detail. Mobile-focused, user-centered UI elements can help move your users through the experience with speed and ease. Though often overlooked and easily forgotten, these seemingly small design
Introducing Revolution Pro, the First Block-Based Genesis Theme
Atomic Blocks is one of the most popular and most downloaded libraries of beautiful, responsive, and customizable blocks for WordPress 5.0. In addition to giving users the ability to quickly add great-looking elements to their web pages without touching a line of code, Atomic Blocks also offers
design thinking 101
StudioPress Theme Spotlight: New Breakthrough Pro
As we continue to showcase a sample of the amazing StudioPress themes now available to WP Engine customers, we’re extra excited to bring you this new StudioPress Theme: Breakthrough Pro, which is the first new theme to be launched since our acquisition of StudioPress in June. Breakthrough Pro
At SXSW, WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner Underscores Importance of Altruism in a Growing City
For Adair, that means working to grow the network of resources available to up and coming filmmakers in Austin—something she said was not widely available in years past but that was necessary if the film community was going to successfully grow. For Franklin, he said that welcoming spirit stays
UX Expert Reviews
Saying that an expert review should be done by a UX expert then begs the question of who is a UX expert. There are no shortcuts: The only way to become a UX expert is by doing UX research and getting substantial exposure to real user behavior. If you design in a vacuum and never see how the target
Better Link Labels: 4Ss for Encouraging Clicks
Learn more is the new Click here. Some of its popularity is likely due to a misunderstanding about how people read online. Mailchimp might justify using a vague link (Learn more) because it follows a very specific and well-written tagline (Make your life easier with automation). However
UX Guidelines for Recommended Content
The higher these individualized recommendation areas appeared on the site’s homepage, the more likely it was that users noticed and used them. For example, Amazon included several clearly personalized content areas near the top of the homepage, as well as throughout the long-scrolling page, and
Internet of Warnings: How Smart Technology Can Threaten Your Business’s Security
Any device with a microphone or camera can potentially be activated by a remote user with the right knowledge. That’s why sites that seek out the IP addresses of webcams with unprotected open ports stream millions of private video feeds to viewers willing to pay. Familiarize yourself with the
Smart data exchange will bring value to smart city innovation
However, the two systems of data that collect the blockage on the highway and determine the speed shown on the highway live in two different environments. So if somebody comes along and asks a question ‘Do variable speed limits work?’ The next thing they find it will not be easy to answer not
The Evolution of Healthcare Data: 5 Little Known Facts
Today, everyone has heard of HIPAA, but it has only existed for about 20 years. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was designed to protect patient data as more computer systems entered healthcare organizations. Since its implementation, healthcare organizations across the
How to Get into Tech Without a Tech Background
If you look at the greatest recent tech companies there are plenty of newcomers that aren’t even considered tech, let alone, high tech. Uber and Airbnb, are less about tech and more about their concept. You can run a tech company without a tech background but find the best tech you can when
design thinking 101
How Start-Up Chile Helps Entrepreneurs and Chile Alike
Since participating in the accelerator, The Intern Group has grown from a yearly revenue of less than US$10K to almost US$15M in just six years. While their first program had only ten students, The Intern Group now hosts over 2,000 students per year. Lloyd emphasizes that the money, while helpful
Your Swag is an Extension of Your Brand, So Don’t Neglect It
Here’s the bottom line. When your swag is premium, your brand is premium. Conversely, poor quality swag sends a bad message to not only the public but also your team. Unless you’re a household name like Nike or Apple, there’s a slim chance someone is going to stick your company logo on the
Design Thinking 101 | Low-Contrast Text Is Not the Answer
Low-Contrast Text Is Not the Answer
Which would you rather use: a website that makes you feel like everything is working as you expected, or a website that makes you feel like something is wrong with you for not being able to find what you are looking for? In testing, I have observed many users blame themselves when they are unable
Aspects of Design Quality
Because voting laws differ between states, the sites are not literally identical. However, they are similar enough that it's fair to compare them. For example, states have different deadlines for requesting absentee ballots, but all states must inform their residents about absentee ballot rules —
Change vs. Stability in Web Usability Guidelines
Newer Web usability guidelines are likely to prove even more stable than the findings from the 1990s. So far, we have not revised a single guideline that we've discovered in research since 2000. Each time we study something again, the guidelines are reconfirmed. We continue to discover new
