As the ways we collect data and the tools we use to analyze it evolve, our world is becoming incredibly data-rich. One of the most exciting challenges designers face in an increasingly quantitative world is how to translate data into a medium that is easily understood by a wide audience. Information graphics (better known as infographics ) are a powerful storytelling tool that allows users to comprehend, analyze, and explore data. The hope of social-media sharing has made infographics popular on websites that emphasize content marketing.
The distinction between data visualizations and information graphics is subtle, but important. Infographics often contain data visualizations, but a data visualization on its own...
In the UX field, wireframes are a common deliverable to show page-level layout ideas, whereas flowcharts are useful for documenting complex workflows and user tasks. However, despite the fact that both of these deliverables remain in common use among UX professionals, there are situations in which
Wizards are a powerful design pattern that can be used to simplify complex processes performed infrequently or by novice users. By showing less information at a time, they allow users to focus better on the content pertinent to each step and decrease the chance of errors. When they include
Artifacts create a lasting impression after the story has been told. Storyboards, personas, journey maps, and research reports give the audience members something tangible to refer to when the story is brought up at a later time and help them recall specific details. For example, pairing your story
Developers Set to Use Bear Market as an Opportunity to Accelerate Ethereum Upgrades
The overriding feeling that permeated the various meetings at the Prague conference was that this is not a time for inactivity, and Ethereum essentially needs to accelerate out of this tailspin. According to many developers, the best way to do that is to build on its early success in the field of
Emerging Technologies are Banding Together to Accelerate Big Data’s Growth
Thanks to the growth of the internet, the rate at which new information is being released is growing exponentially. Accelerating big data between machines. We are in an age when communication is not just between human beings. Machines are now the go-to for connections between the people to people
3 Reasons Decentralization is the Future of Currency
Perhaps the most outstanding reason that decentralized currencies are the future of money is that they’re truly global. Sure, there might be lots of Bitcoin miners in China. Just as decentralized currencies have no central authority that sets their value, so they also have no central location
Visual Design Terms Cheat Sheet
If there are too few components on a page (which may not even warrant a dedicated page), users may not have enough information scent to confidently navigate that page. Conversely, too many components on a page can cause sensory overload and increase the task time or the chance that people will
designing effective infographics
Beyond Usability: 3 User Experiences Reshaping Their Industries
At first, you might think that such an innovation in the field of reverse logistics should not be discussed in a UX article, but many pieces of the user experience are improved by optimizing this backend operation. A traditional UI-only solution to the problem of high demand would be to clearly
Popups: 10 Problematic Trends and Alternatives
From conducting decades of user research, we know that people dislike popups and modals. I was reminded of this fact during a recent usability study. While attempting to complete a task, a participant tossed his phone across the table after encountering multiple popups, consecutively. Frustrated
The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think
For sure, anybody who works on a design project will have a more accurate and detailed mental model of the user interface than an outsider. If you target a broad consumer audience, you will also have a higher IQ than your average user, higher literacy levels, and, most likely, you’ll be younger
Teenager’s UX: Designing for Teens
To gain further insight into their experiences and attitudes, we asked participants to offer stories and examples detailing how and when they used the web, and which sites they considered interesting and useful. We also solicited advice from teens on how to make websites appealing. Interviews were
Cancel vs Close: Design to Distinguish the Difference
Glow Baby: (Left) Tapping the X icon in a running-timer view dismissed the view without canceling the timer, and thus, allowed the user to continue using the app to log other types of events, participate in the community discussions, read articles, and so on. (Middle) The status for the running
WP Engine Supports the Domain Connect Project .
If you’ve launched a site on WP Engine recently you may have noticed a new feature that allows you to easily connect to your domain name to your site. This integration is powered by an open source technology called Domain Connect, which enables WP Engine to find your DNS provider and be
designing effective infographics
Hackathon 2019 Goes Boldly Where No Engineers Have Gone Before
While some of that spark comes from our roots as an eight-year-old startup, it’s also part of a pioneering spirit we actively foster through various activities during the year. Arguably some of the most impactful—and most fun—are our bi-annual hackathons, where teams of developers and
WP Engine Supports the Domain Connect Project .
If you’ve launched a site on WP Engine recently you may have noticed a new feature that allows you to easily connect to your domain name to your site. This integration is powered by an open source technology called Domain Connect, which enables WP Engine to find your DNS provider and be
Iterative Design of User Interfaces
Admittedly, the choice of functions for these transformations is somewhat arbitrary. For example, an exponential function with another basis than e would have achieved the same effect while resulting in different numbers. Remember, however, that the purpose of the present analysis is to compare
Iterative Design of User Interfaces
A hypertext system for technical reference texts will obviously have to compete with text presented in traditional printed books. The developers of the hypertext system therefore conducted a comparative test where a group of test users were asked to perform the same tasks with the printed version
Design Thinking 101
You can also repeat phases. It’s often necessary to do an exercise within a phase multiple times in order to arrive at the outcome needed to move forward. For example, in the define phase, different team members will have different backgrounds and expertise, and thus different approaches to
Internet of Warnings: How Smart Technology Can Threaten Your Business’s Security
Most of the security concerns with IoT technology have to do with the engineering of the devices themselves. For this reason, knowledge and discretion are the most important safeguards to take when considering the switch to an interconnected network of smart devices. Though it may be fun to imagine
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
Security Teams Need to Be Prepared With an Incident Response Plan
CISOs oversee the entire security operation, so when a crisis does hit, it’s incumbent upon them to lay out a clear direction for each stakeholder on the incident response team. This includes security, legal, and forensic employees (often outside consultants); law enforcement (often the
Despite What You Hear, You Don’t Need VC Funding
It can be hard to say no to a sale, but your company will be better off if you stick to selling to the customers for whom your product was originally designed. They’ll pay the most because the product perfectly fits their needs, and keeping these ideal customers satisfied will cost you the least
designing effective infographics
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 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
Designing Effective Infographics | No More Pogo Sticking: Protect Users from Wasted Clicks
No More Pogo Sticking: Protect Users from Wasted Clicks
The exact same click behavior can be indicative of a positive user experience instead of pogo sticking if users repeatedly follow links from a routing page because they find all the destinations interesting. Consider, for example, a newspaper homepage with many news stories. If a user clicks, say
Sympathy vs. Empathy in UX
kudryavtsev
In UX, empathy enables us to understand not only our users’ immediate frustrations, but also their hopes, fears, abilities, limitations, reasoning, and goals. It allows us to dig deep into our understanding of the user and create solutions that will not only solve a need, but effectively improve
Can Hated Design Elements Be Made to Work?
That said, PDF has its uses — they're just not in the realm of interactive information access. When people want to download a report for later reference, PDF shines. Indeed, I use it myself for this purpose. (As an example, see our report on social media usability, which is available for free
