Personas are my jam. I teach a full-day training course on them: what they are, why they work, how to create them, and how to use them to do great work. I love teaching this course because personas are one of the most abstract components in the very analytical discipline that is UX. I love demystifying this abstract topic, making it concrete, and addressing common pitfalls that practitioners encounter.
Personas are fictional representations and generalizations of a cluster of your target users who exhibit similar attitudes, goals, and behaviors in relation to your product. They’re human-like snapshots of relevant and meaningful commonalities in your customer groups and are based on...
In this step, the team moves through the stickies on the board collaboratively and clusters similar notes that belong to the same quadrant. Name your clusters with themes that represent each group (for example, “validation from others” or “research”). Repeat themes in each quadrant if
Think of service blueprints as a part two to customer journey maps. Similar to customer journey maps, blueprints are instrumental in complex scenarios spanning many service-related offerings. Blueprinting is an ideal approach to experiences that are omnichannel, involve multiple touchpoints, or
You might be wondering, "if proximity is such a problem, then why not place the labels inside the text fields?". Don't be tempted. When you place the labels inside the text field as filler text, the label disappears when users input their text and they must remember it as they fill in the field
What B2B Companies Need to Implement Blockchain Solutions
Fortunately, options are emerging across industries that lower the barrier to integrating blockchain into your enterprise systems. An example of this is network providers: In order for enterprises to successfully leverage a private blockchain platform, they’ll require a distributed network of
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
A marketplace solution for IoT development through decentralized smart contract ledger
Hurify is building out a platform for companies and developers to connect and to work on IoT projects. Hurify enables this by implementing a smart contract system whereby clients and developers enter into contracts for projects. The payment method relies on Hurify’s HUR token system based on
Why WSJ Mobile App Gets ** Customer Reviews
Testing typically uncovers additional opportunities for improvement and thus produces an even better design. In this case, fielding a redesign of these few initial screens should allow the Journal to improve its App Store rating from 2 to 4 stars in short order. It would thus quickly pay for itself
for why personas fail refer
When and How to Create Customer Journey Maps
Don’t expect to get “buy-in” and foster interest in your journey map by simply sending a lovely graphic as an email attachment. Make it a living interactive document that people can be a part of. Bring up your story in meetings and conversations to promote a narrative that others believe in
Brand Is Experience in the Digital Age
As his pillaging continued and Blackbeard grew in craftiness, he realized it would be prudent to extend the essence of his menacing nature from afar. He devised a tool to extend his message — an early version of the skull-and-crossbones pirate flag we all know well today. The flag served as
Ecommerce UX Trends: User Research Update
The Children's Place allowed users to click a button to Add Coupon Code in the shopping-cart preview that appeared in the upper right corner of the page. This button led to the shopping cart, where users could enter and apply the discount while shopping, rather than having to wait until the payment
Text Scanning Patterns: Eyetracking Evidence
The commitment pattern usually leads to the best comprehension, even though it is the most time consuming. People spend more time and effort reading than they do when just scanning but reading everything gives them the opportunity to glean more information. Note though, that, even for the
Better Link Labels: 4Ss for Encouraging Clicks
For example, one link from Emory University’s homepage reads, Restoring vision and hope. What does that mean? Hope for what? Vision for the future? The meaning only becomes clear when the text below the link is read. That descriptive text is necessary for the reader to understand that the link
StudioPress Theme Spotlight: Altitude Pro .
What is a child theme? A child theme works in combination with the parent theme. With regards to Genesis, child themes serve as a sort of skin that can change the way a theme looks, while relying on the functionality of its parent theme (in this case, Genesis). Child themes offer users the added
involvement why personas fail situations
WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner Named DivInc Executive of the Year
Heather’s leadership at WP Engine has been instrumental in helping the company build an enduring, predictable business, particularly after a key investment from Silver Lake last January, as well as the recent acquisition of StudioPress. Heather also heads a diverse leadership team and has
10 Must-Have Features for a WordPress Website in 2018 .
I’m always surprised with how many websites I see come across WP Care Market that aren’t utilizing Google Analytics. I never blame the website owner as the website owner seems to also discover they don’t have GA when we run our website reviews! Don’t let that happen to you and secure
When to Use Which User-Experience Research Methods
While it's not realistic to use the full set of methods on a given project, nearly all projects would benefit from multiple research methods and from combining insights. Unfortunately many design teams only use one or two methods that they are familiar with. The key question is what to do when
Personas vs. Jobs-to-Be-Done
While the same job-to-be-done may have different requirements for different user groups, the reverse is also true: one user group (or persona) may “hire” the product for different jobs in different contexts. For example, I use the same flight-booking website for both work travel and vacation
Design Thinking 101
Each phase is meant to be iterative and cyclical as opposed to a strictly linear process, as depicted below. It is common to return to the two understanding phases, empathize and define, after an initial prototype is built and tested. This is because it is not until wireframes are prototyped and
In an Experiential-Obsessed Marketplace, Surkus Uses Tech to Stand Out
But good information is there for the taking. George points to concerts as an example: If a concert producer spent the majority of his budget on the closing act and the grand finale fireworks, but 40 percent of concertgoers left two hours before the encore, Surkus can provide that data to the
Dear Senior Citizens – You Folks are the Easy Target of Hackers
The victim receives a call from a stranger posing as his or her grandkid, using a frantic-sounding voice, that he or she is in trouble. Arrest, accident, or a robbery. Want to up the drama? The caller sometimes claims to be stuck in a foreign country — and to impersonate more intensity, throw
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
Production Quality Over Cost: What Really Generates Engaging Video Advertising
After producing hundreds of videos for clients, Wistia began to see a pattern in the results. Often, it wasn’t the expensive, glossy videos that were the most well-received by audiences. This led them to theorize that video cost didn’t always equate to video success. Instead, a company could
to why personas fail will
A 60-Second Trailer of the 60-Day Report on Cybersecurity
Melissa Hathaway came across our radar recently when President Obama tasked the former Bush administration aide with leading a 60-day review of Bush’s Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative; a largely classified, purported $30 billion, multi phase plan to address cybersecurity issues
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
Why Personas Fail | Flat Design: Its Origins, Its Problems, and Why Flat 2.0 Is Better for Users
Flat Design: Its Origins, Its Problems, and Why Flat 2.0 Is Better for Users
In earlier models of Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet, the Android-based operating system used a skeuomorphic bookshelf design, complete with 3D shelves and wood textures. The bookshelf metaphor was intended to help users transfer previous knowledge about bookshelves (as a place to store and organize
Usability Insights From Sun Microsystem's 1997 Web Design
Sun's web site went live in January 1994 when there were only 700 other sites on the Web. Our first site ran on a "liberated" workstation and was pretty small. Now, only four years later, the Web has about 2,500 times as many sites, Sun's own site has grown to 22,000 pages, and we are on our third
Maximize Content-to-Chrome Ratio, Not the Amount of Content on Screen
Eliminating the search box and replacing it with a magnifying-glass icon has become almost standard on mobile. It doesn’t work as well on the desktop: the space is simply too large and users don’t have the patience to hunt for a small search icon. If you consider using it on the desktop, keep
