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...
If you feel that you need more detail or you have unique needs, adapt the map by including additional quadrants (like Goals the example below) or by increasing specificity to existing quadrants. Depending on the purpose of your empathy map, polish and digitize the output accordingly. Be sure to
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
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
How Blockchain Can Put an End to Conflict Minerals
These children are forced to work in extreme conditions at all points of the supply chain, from mineral excavation and processing up until trading and transportation. Rather than going to school or playing with their friends, these children are being forced to spend days sorting through dirt to
AI and Blockchain Tech Are The Future of Successful Trading
But how can we be assured that the trading algorithms are accurate and will make the right call when subjected to a lot of varying data? The answer can be found in back-testing. The process involves subjecting the algorithm to historical data in order to determine how it would perform in various
How Blockchain Can Solve Major Problems for Gig Economy Freelancers
Blockchain technology maximizes the efficiency of cryptocurrency by routing the power to authenticate transactions through a network of nodes and participants. By bypassing banks, blockchain is able to eliminate time delays and transactional errors. Beyond expediting transactions, cross-border
Why WSJ Mobile App Gets ** Customer Reviews
A second reason to give print subscribers free access? They're the most valuable customers: print advertising is more effective than online advertising because broadsheet layouts have a stronger impact. Thus, a newspaper should encourage readers to maintain their print subscriptions by treating
ux research cheat sheet
Unmoderated User Tests: How and Why to Do Them
It may also control the selection of study participants. Fortunately, there are many different unmoderated testing services available, with varying combinations of functionality at different price points. The plethora of choices means that you can now be more critical in selecting a tool that suits
Beyond Usability: 3 User Experiences Reshaping Their Industries
Airbnb makes it easy to satisfy the needs of these travelers by connecting them with owners who want to make an extra dollar by renting out their property. Before Airbnb, sites such as Home Away and property-management agencies used to connect owners with interested renters, but these were focused
Ecommerce UX Trends: User Research Update
Expanding the product description on Estee Lauder's site simply expanded the box containing the description, forcing users to scroll the description to see product details. For mobile users, it may be necessary to defer additional content to a secondary screen, but don't give desktop users even
Adding an Item to a Shopping Cart: Provide Clear, Persistent Feedback
Saks Fifth Avenue showed a nonmodal overlay that didn’t disappear on its own after the user added a product to the cart. While the overlay obscured some of the page content (which we don’t recommend), it still kept the main product information visible. In addition, the nonmodal nature of the
Show Prices for Common Scenarios
In this case, you have at least two options. You could offer a configurator that lets hospital administrators estimate the exact supplies and their prices. This option might help users who are motivated to engage deeply with the site, but it would also be fairly complicated and time-consuming to
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
ux research cheat sheet
Naughty or Nice: Check Your Ecommerce Site Twice! .
Every year it can feel like the holidays sneak up on us. We assemble, we strategize, and we take the necessary precautions yet we frequently feel like we are scrambling. For ecommerce businesses, this time of year is crucial not only for generating revenue but for generating recurrent relationships
WP Engine All Hands Spring 2019: EMEA
Last week, WP Engine employees from our Limerick and London offices came together for the bi-annual All Hands event in Limerick. All Hands is a 2-day event where employees come to engage with, collaborate, and strategize with employees from other offices. This year’s theme was “Boldly
The Most Hated Online Advertising Techniques
After the participants rated all 23 wireframes, they were presented with an open-ended question to elaborate more about the types of advertisements that they particularly liked or disliked. These responses were coded according to type or characteristic of the advertisement (i.e. if additional
UX Stories Communicate Designs
After you’ve collected stories from research, you can use them to prompt innovation. Take the existing stories and begin to alter them to uncover ways to enhance the user’s experience. The primary purpose of stories in this context is to be generative; thus, deferring judgement and embracing
Tooltip Guidelines
Users shouldn’t need to find a tooltip in order to complete their task. Tooltips are best when they provide additional explanation for a form field unfamiliar to some users or reasoning for what may seem like an unusual request. Remember that tooltips disappear, so instructions or other directly
4 Reasons Behind Slow Adoption of IoT
The best thing about it is that all these interconnected devices and beings are going to be able to communicate with one another. But when is this going to happen? Of course, some changes are already obvious and people are currently working in order to develop more of the IoT technology, but
The Positive Evolution of Your Business Depends on the Tech Revolution
With technology on your side, you’ll also have a better understanding of your financial needs and how to better use resources like time and physical space. Using technology in your warehouse, lets you understand how to manage your storage costs. Today’s busy executives can hold online meetings
What to Consider When Leveraging File Sharing
File sharing delivers convenience, collaboration, and productivity. However, to get the most out of it while maintaining data security, you need a thoughtful approach for file and folder management. That means considering each person’s role, project involvement, security level, and length of time
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
ux research cheat sheet
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
How New Tech Startups Can Differentiate Themselves
From day one, part of your success as a tech startup entrepreneur will depend on your ability to generate attention for yourself. Are investors clamoring to hear what you have to say? Are early adopters eager to see what you have to offer? Can you stand out at tradeshows and attract flocks of
UX Research Cheat Sheet | Effective Use of Style Sheets
Effective Use of Style Sheets
Cascading style sheets (CSS) are an elegantly designed extension to the Web and one of the greatest hopes for recapturing the Web's ideal of separation of presentation and content. The Web is the ultimate cross-platform system, and your content will be presented on such a huge variety of devices
Photos as Web Content
This is a good example of why it's not always good to copy the biggest sites' designs. Because Amazon hawks a monstrously wide product range, they use a standardized gallery layout that sort of works for many different category pages, without being optimized for any individual category. In
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
