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...
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
Because Makr’s tips are text-based rather than visual, if users tap through them quickly they will likely not absorb any of the information presented, and will reach the workspace without an idea of how best to proceed with their task. At least the tooltips do have arrows pointing to tools in the
That mainstream corporate websites make blatant usability mistakes is understandable because most members of their teams aren't grounded in graduate degrees in human-computer interaction. (That's why I have recently added foundational courses, such as The Human Mind, to my usability conference
Shaping Healthcare Ecosystem with Blockchain
In this distributed network of computers, a group of members or users can share health data, information, or scans etc. The sharing is basically classified as peer-to-peer transactions that are structured into a block that contains cryptographic hash. This digital information is shared onto a
Sharing Economy 2.0: Technology is Removing the Need for Single Asset Ownership
For just a few cents other available small purchases are suddenly widening the possibilities of what peers can share with one-another. Despite the issues some blockchain’s are facing due to congested networks and increasing costs, many companies are still working to improving networks. These
The Future of Blockchain: Technology Partnerships with AI, Bots, and IoT
With more companies looking to undertake digital transformations, cities have also started considering what this same process might mean for key issues related to infrastructure, crime and security, energy consumption, and social issues. As The Hill explained, “Smart cities can reduce
‘Our Users Are Everyone’: Designing Mass-Market Products for Large User Audiences
Imagine you’re designing the website for a city-transportation system used by both local commuters and tourists. If you plan a usability study with 10 people and let anyone participate, you could easily end up with 9 commuters and 1 tourist. (Or even worse: 10 commuters, if you recruit a
value why personas fail ux
Social Impact and Sustainability on Corporate Websites
To ensure that your organization appears credible, authentic, and trustworthy, avoid generic or broad claims about your corporate social responsibility, especially when it comes to sustainability, volunteerism, and diversity and inclusion. To say that you are committed to people, giving back, or
Why WSJ Mobile App Gets ** Customer Reviews
The 2-step workflow's obvious penalty is that users must pass through the 2nd screen each time they log in. However, because this is a low-security app, it should be possible to store the login credentials on the phone and log in users automatically upon subsequent uses. (A high-security app such
Wishlists, Gift Certificates, and Gift Giving in E-Commerce
We went to various physical stores to observe couples as they added items to their wedding registries. Although websites shouldn't be mirror images of the real-world shopping experience, it's still a good starting point to see how people behave without the technological limitations and
In-Store & Online: Designing For the Changing Behaviors of Today’s Shoppers
In this case, the benefit that the user received from going online after the in-store visit was better visualizations of the options for the item she was interested in. The physical store’s strengths included the ability to feel and try out the products, but it lacked a comprehensive view of
4 Noteworthy Intranet Design Trends in 2019
Your organization’s industry is unlikely to play a huge role in whether your organization has a great intranet. (Of course, a trend like “core-task support” will play out differently in different industries, since each has different core tasks. But the idea of core tasks remains identical
Wireflows: A UX Deliverable for Workflows and Apps
However, many modern webapps and mobile apps have few overall pages, but change the content and layout dynamically through AJAX (or other technologies), based on interactions the user has with the product. They can range from ecommerce products in which selecting facets or filters changes the
the why personas fail other
How Channels, Devices, and Touchpoints Impact the Customer Journey
Every organization will have its own set of relevant channels that make up its unique omnichannel ecosystem. Some organizations like banks and retail stores will rely heavily on physical locations, while internet-based companies may not have these physical channels at all, but support a multitude
The Impact of Interaction Design on Brand Perception
Of these three, visual design often receives the most attention from digital-product teams interested in conveying the right brand attributes. That’s not necessarily due to a lack of appreciation for the other two facets. It’s just often easier to speculate how a specific color scheme or logo
At SXSW, WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner Underscores Importance of Altruism in a Growing City
Keeping that energy alive, they all agreed, was a challenge the city will have to contend with, especially as more people arrive and the economy continues to grow. There was also wide agreement that the best way to preserve Austin’s special qualities was to continue fostering the welcoming spirit
Join WP Engine at SXSW 2019
In this panel, Brunner will be joined by popular Austin figures as they discuss who and what has been the major change agent in Austin. Brunner will represent technology while other panelists will represent food and film. Joe Nick Patoski, author of Austin to ATX: The Hippies, Pickers, Slackers
A Look Back at the WP Engine London Summit .
At the end of September, we held our 2018 WP Engine Summit in Austin, Texas. Last week, agencies, brands, and digital innovators from EMEA came together in London for the WP Engine EU Summit. Attendees discussed the future of digital experiences, Gen Z’s perception of the Internet, and the
Data Privacy Attitudes and Connected Cars: A Deeper Look
Not surprisingly, the consumers who participated in our recent consumer study on connected car data sharing expressed concerns. about sharing their data with various types of businesses and government entities. A full 66 percent of connected car owners and 64 percent of new car buyers say that at
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
Discovering the threats below the surface on the Dark Web
All you need to do is dig a little and you’ll find your niche chat group. More importantly, these are places where hackers can discuss how to carry out attacks and share knowledge. This can be as simple as asking who wants to join in a hack against a specific target. In other cases, they can talk
A Tale of Two Bubbles: Why Cryptocurrency Isn’t the Next Dot-Com
Economic bubbles aren’t new. From the tulip bubble of the 1630s, to the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, to the big-tech mania we’re seeing today, overvaluations happen — but not all bubbles pose the same risks or offer the same rewards. Every few years, it seems we’re warned
stakeholders why personas fail builtin
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
Technical Writers are Vital for Technology Startups
A business without a technical writer can set itself up for failure. A startup can have brilliant enterprise architects, web analysts, and IT security staff with no documentation on file. The most game-changing ideas, processes, strategies, policies, guidelines, and contractual agreements need to
Why Personas Fail | Visibility of System Status
Visibility of System Status
For example, what should happen when a user revisits a previously created wish list that now contains items that are out of stock or no longer sold? The worst user experience would be if those items simply disappeared from the list, with no explanation why. How about a notification at the top of
Marginalia of Web Design
It is quite common to use thumbnail versions to represent images that are too large to be downloaded without a specific user request. Thumbnails are smaller, meaning that more can fit on a page and that download times are minimized. Unfortunately, the two most common ways of reducing images
The Characteristics of Minimalism in Web Design
Many websites currently use severely reduced global navigation elements in their desktop presentations, such as the now infamous hamburger menu. This can sometimes be the result of an incomplete mobile-first design strategy that fails to consider the needs and extra screen space available to
