User-experience research methods are great at producing data and insights, while ongoing activities help get the right things done. Alongside R&D, ongoing UX activities can make everyone’s efforts more effective and valuable. At every stage in the design process, different UX methods can keep product-development efforts on the right track, in agreement with true user needs and not imaginary ones.
One of the questions we get the most is, “When should I do user research on my project?” There are three different answers:
Do user research at whatever stage you’re in right now . The earlier the research, the more impact the findings will have on your product, and by...
Figure 5 shows a control for specifying text borders in a word processor with a graphical user interface. This interface has both direct manipulation, WYSIWYG, and transparency aspects. The WYSIWYG property comes from the direct correspondance between the position of the borders on the miniature
Provide a general time estimate. (Don’t try to be exact, as it will inevitably be inaccurate at some point and the site’s credibility will suffer.) A simple, “This might take at least a minute” or “About 3 minutes remaining” can be enough to inform the user and encourage them to wait it
If you must make your own scrollbars, stay as close to user expectations as possible. Unless your scrollbars look like scrollbars, users might not notice them. Unless your scrollbars behave like scrollbars, users might not be able to bring the desired content into view. In either case, your
9 Blockchains Transforming the Way We Pay, Play, and Work
Look past digital currencies’ nosebleed pricing volatility, and you’ll discover a robust, decentralized, secure database. Brands and technologists are quickly figuring out how to put this powerful ledger to good use. Here are several real-world examples that demonstrate cryptos’
Can Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies Alone Save $2 Trillion in Preventing Cybercrime?
It’s through smart contracts that transactions can be made whilst their details can be kept both transparent and secure. Writing about their new smart contracts-based Ethereum trading platform, Confideal stated: “To put it simply, code is not law, but smart contracts created on a platform
SEO DIY: Optimize Your Startup’s Website Yourself
Anyone who pays attention to the world of search engine optimization knows that maximizing your company’s search results on Google and other search engines is not something you can do with a quick pin here and a hasty status update there. It’s a full-time job. But if you’re
User Need Statements
As their name suggests, user need statements articulate the end user’s problem we are going to solve, and why it is worth solving. They are a tool to help us stop thinking about users’ needs as nouns and start thinking about them as verbs. When done collaboratively and correctly, they can serve
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Browser and GUI Chrome
What do we mean when talking about the "chrome" in a user interface design? An attendee asked this question during a recent course on Visual Design for Mobile and Tablet. Whenever someone asks us a basic question, I assume that many more people want the answer as well — and thus, this article on
Remote UX Work: The NN/g Case Study
But developing new UX talent is also a major challenge to remote work. New UX professionals often learn by closely shadowing or working alongside more experienced colleagues. Many people think that new UX employees shouldn’t be remote: they’ll feel disconnected from the organization, may be
Status Trackers and Progress Updates: 16 Design Guidelines
In cases where employees must manually create and edit events in a backend system, a status tracker is less likely to meet user needs. It’s probably better to wait and deliver a status tracker when backend systems are suitably mature and it’s possible to automate events. In the meantime
8 Steps to Prepare for the Holiday Shopping Season
January is the time to initiate in-depth user research to identify the deeper reasons that people leave your site without buying, as well as how to increase shopping cart size for those who do buy. Most likely, you'll find that your site and its content require substantial changes. By getting an
The State of Transactional Email
Even though transactional messages are typically sent after the user has placed an order, these messages have substantial business value in improving customer satisfaction. They can increase the likelihood that the user will place another order in the future. Each email is another touchpoint on the
Customer Updates to WordPress 5.0
The process of disabling the 5.0 editor should not be a hassle. In the coming days, we will be rolling out an admin notice that will display on the Dashboard page* of your site(s). This notice will have information about adopting the new editor and will provide buttons to install/activate the
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StudioPress Theme Spotlight: Daily Dish Pro
As we continue to showcase a sample of the amazing StudioPress themes now available to WP Engine customers, we’re shifting our focus to food with this new StudioPress Theme: Daily Dish Pro, which is designed to make your content just as appetizing as the best meal at your favorite four-star
WP Engine: 2018 in Review
New year, new you, did you say? Well, that was our reality in 2018 as we rolled out some of our favorite new platform additions. We took the lead on the Amazon Polly plugin, the first plugin to bring voice technology to WordPress. The WP Engine Digital Experience Platform continued to evolve and
User Intent Affects Filter Design
Look for user movement via mouse hover or keyboard focus. If users are moving the mouse around the filters (or using the keyboard to tab between them), they may be on their way to make another selection. Conversely, if the mouse leaves the filter area and moves to main results, it’s a good sign
Iterative Design of User Interfaces
Normally, the values of the chosen usability metrics are measured empirically through user testing. There are research projects aiming at analytical methods for estimating certain usability metrics, and they have had some success at dealing with user performance for expert users [Ref. 9] and the
Service Blueprints: Definition
Service blueprints are companions to customer-journey maps: they help organizations see the big picture of how a service is implemented by the company and used by the customers. They pinpoint dependencies between employee-facing and customer-facing processes in the same visualization and are
Smart Hospitals: the Next Step in Healthcare IT
Yet, we already have countless apps and connected devices that collect information about our movements. With the ability to monitor everything from heart rate to the number of steps, blood pressure, and other vital signs, data healthcare providers can make more informed choices about treatment and
Remote Access Solutions: Overcoming the Challenges
A significant investment of time and effort may be needed to deploy and manage the system, monitor and manage users and user access, and provide training so that internal staff can configure and maintain the solution. Moreover, these systems span many office locations and may also involve a hybrid
Robotics and Big Data are Transforming Nursing: 4 Key Insights
Today, big data allows the industry to focus more on preventative care and to monitor the health of entire populations, predicting risk factors and personalizing care. Nurses have access to the patient’s whole health story, allowing them to provide better care, provide better, more personalized
7 Benefits Startups get From HR in the Early Stages
Continuous feedback and reviews from the employee’s side are also valuable. HR works like a link between the managerial level and employees. Reviews and feedbacks help in constant improvement in the work process. Feedbacks also helps to bring in coordination and smoothness in the working of the
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How to File an International Trademark When You’re Ready to Take Your Business Global
There are several different kinds of errors that can occur during the course of a trademark application– errors in the mark, errors in the recitation of goods and services, errors in the specimens or descriptions of the mark, and errors in ownership of the mark. The first four errors are fairly
5 Tech Missteps That Are Killing Your Company’s Potential
If you’re skipping that pesky password update and two-factor authentication, you’ve saved yourself about 90 seconds of your life — while making your business a sitting duck. There’s no excuse for not having a more secure login process. Two-factor authentication requires you to use a
UX Research Cheat Sheet | Homepage Design Changes
Homepage Design Changes
Although both versions have 7 tabs, the newer design's tabs reached all the way across the page and the color scheme indicating the selected tab was changed. More important, the actual navigation categories were also changed. The 2002 IA categories were Front Page, Enterprise, E-Business
Shopping Online for an iPhone Plan Is Painful
Use comparison tables or other designs that facilitate side-by-side comparison. Highlight the differences between the plans, especially the prices. Users appreciate transparency, even if it means showing a higher price. If an exact price cannot be provided, show an estimate or price range
Website Forms Usability: Top 10 Recommendations
The best design solution for any given form depends on many factors: the length of the form, the context of use, and the data being collected. The exact implementation you should use may vary in certain circumstances, but this is no excuse for ignoring guidelines altogether. Instead, use these
