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...
The Iams kitten food page contained a clear link to Feeding Tips for Growing Kittens , which was highly attractive: all of our test users clicked it. The article was also very interesting and informative: all users scrolled through four screens of text. At the bottom of this fairly large page
Our users are complex humans. It is natural (and extremely beneficial) to see juxtaposition between quadrants. You will also encounter inconsistencies — for example, seemingly positive actions but negative quotes or emotions coming from the same user. This is when empathy maps become treasure
Yet, Tesla’s map app is always displayed in the background of all apps. As a result, the status bar at the very top of the screen can be hard to read, as it blends in with the map text. Moreover, it can be quite irrelevant (and potentially distracting) to a see a brightly colored street
Cross-Platform Scaling: The Way Forward for Businesses on Blockchain
Over the past 18 months, we have witnessed a significant shift in the state of the financial markets. Cryptocurrencies, once a niche fascination, have exploded in value. At the start of 2017, digital currencies held collective market cap of less than a $20 billion. They entered 2018 with a
5G and Blockchain: What to Expect
However, since all devices must have individual addresses and on-chain transactions, scalability needs to improve on both layers. Blockchains can benefit from the massive increases in bandwidth and range as well as the reductions in latency that 5G networks provide. These network improvements could
A 60-Second Trailer of the 60-Day Report on Cybersecurity
She explained that the original design of the Internet was driven more by considerations of interoperability rather than security, and as a result we are now faced with almost insurmountable issues. Some examples include online criminals who steal our information, mass bandits who have the ability
When and How to Create Customer Journey Maps
The map should align touchpoints (times when the actor in the map actually interacts with the company) and channels (methods of communication or service delivery, such as the website or physical store) with user goals and actions. These elements deserve a special emphasis because they are often
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Unmoderated User Tests: How and Why to Do Them
Some unmoderated testing tools can automate the process of excluding outlier data points and many have built-in data visualizations charts. But, since cookie-cutter charts don’t always show the most important results, if you plan to do quantitative analysis, make sure your tool includes the
Five User Requirements for Online Ads
When you are courting a potential customer, you are essentially building a new customer relationship and establishing trust. Unconventional and unpredictable behavior (in a person or in a product) diminishes trust over time. In the effort to be creative, designers sometimes create interactions that
Instructional Overlays and Coach Marks for Mobile Apps
The Makr iPad app uses a series of tips each time the user reaches a new section of the app. Unfortunately, these tips are overly wordy, and present a multi-step workflow before the user has been able to do anything. Rather than learning-by-doing, users must memorize all of the steps before being
Indicators, Validations, and Notifications: Pick the Correct Communication Option
Although, as we’ll see later, indicators are used quite frequently to signal validation errors or notifications, they can also be used on their own. Indicators are visual cues intended to attract users’ attention to a particular piece of content or UI element that is dynamic in nature. (If
Wireflows: A UX Deliverable for Workflows and Apps
Wireframes are a great way of showing layout, but they don't describe interaction well, and they are especially poor at documenting the layout of digital products that have a lot of dynamic content, such as mobile apps or webapps. Wireframes are most useful when documenting websites (or other
WP Engine Named A Best Place to Work in Technology for 2019 .
When it comes to facilitating a truly enjoyable and productive workplace, it takes more than just the promise of perks and ping pong. Employees want their workplaces to reflect what they value and expect out of the company they work for: trustworthiness, morality, and the opportunity to grow both in
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WP Engine Named A Best Place to Work in Technology for 2019 .
When it comes to facilitating a truly enjoyable and productive workplace, it takes more than just the promise of perks and ping pong. Employees want their workplaces to reflect what they value and expect out of the company they work for: trustworthiness, morality, and the opportunity to grow both in
10 Must-Have Features for a WordPress Website in 2018 .
Kristina Romero is a digital business consultant working with small businesses and entrepreneurs to grow their presence online. She began as a website developer with her company KR Media & Designs creating websites for companies that included Coca-Cola Company, Food Network, and Hollywood
Narrative Biases: When Storytelling HURTS User Experience
It’s easy to overlook sample size and instead look for a story that provides some reasonable explanation for why events happened. But a few instances should not be presumed to represent meaningful behavior patterns, unless there is specific contextual information to the contrary. (For example
Which UX Deliverables Are Most Commonly Created and Shared?
Since UX work takes place in such widely differing environments, the types of deliverables vary hugely, from formal reports and presentations, all the way to whiteboard sketches that only get documented when someone takes pictures with a smartphones and emails them to the team. We communicate so
Parallel & Iterative Design + Competitive Testing = High Usability
My study was in the domain of traditional application development. In a recent study, Steven P. Dow and his colleagues from Stanford University took this approach to the domain of Internet advertising. For the Stanford study, a group of designers created banner advertisements for a social media
How are the Top MNCs Using Big Data Analytics to their Advantage?
National bookkeeping and review firm BDO puts enormous information examination to use in recognizing danger and extortion during reviews. Where, previously, finding the wellspring of inconsistency would include various meetings and long periods of labor, counseling with personal information
Data Legislation Is Coming. Can You Get Compliant?
Additionally, Apple came out in favor of federal data regulations. The company supports giving users the right to control what information is stored, who it is shared with, and why. Considering that consumers, Congress, and now big tech are all in favor of stricter protections, companies need to
In an Experiential-Obsessed Marketplace, Surkus Uses Tech to Stand Out
Similarly, EventTrack found that American consumers gravitated toward the brands that gave them experiences to savor, with 74 percent reporting they were more likely to purchase from brands engaging them with experiences. In fact, 98 percent admitted they created social content when they
Images of Fitbit next smartwatch reveal heart-rate improvements
Fitbit is on schedule, as its boss James Park keeps reminding us, to launch its next smartwatch by the end of the year. We don’t know what the smartwatch will be called, though Blaze 2 seems likely, but thanks to leaks we know its design and some of the hardware improvements. Images obtained by
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The 4 Sales Tools Every Company Will Use in 2019
For sales processes, machine learning is a dream come true. More than 40 percent of salespeople find prospecting leads to be the hardest part of the job, with 22 percent feeling that qualifying those leads is even harder. Now, AI can sift through prospects using advanced analytics to discover which
How Technology and Training Fueled One Ad-Based Company’s Growth
Gain it he did: “Because we believe in teaching from example, I was running ad campaigns and analytics for the Golden State Warriors, MGM, Ashley Furniture, Social Media Examiner, and other big companies — then documenting the process step by step,” Young explains. “I remember one
Design Thinking 101 | Ensure High Contrast for Text Over Images
Ensure High Contrast for Text Over Images
Left: In this edited version, a blur has been added to bottom of photos containing text, and the font color has been changed to the default dark colors instead of white. Additionally, the text has been moved down to have consistent placement with other grid items, allowing the blur to be contained
University Websites: Top 10 Design Guidelines
When visitors to your site can’t find what they’re looking for, they quickly grow impatient and look to external sites for help. Teenagers, whose research skills aren’t yet fully developed, are especially quick to turn to an external search to find what they’re looking for. For example
Site Map Usability, 1st study
I have often predicted that Internet Explorer version 8 will be the first decent Web browser. One feature request for version 8 is better navigation support by offering a visualization feature that would pull the site map out of the website and make it a standardized browser element. Unfortunately
