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 cases where the use of a slider may be appropriate, ensure that the visual design of the element does not hinder its usability. For touchscreens, consider where the user’s finger will be placed on the screen—and what areas of the screen will thus be covered—while manipulating the slider
American Century Investments used a conditional indicator to provide information regarding a specific stock’s performance. When the daily change was negative, the indicator was a red arrow pointing down. When the daily change was positive, it showed a green arrow pointing up. The condition of the
When deciding where to start or what to focus on first, use some of these top UX methods. Some methods may be more appropriate than others, depending on time constraints, system maturity, type of product or service, and the current top concerns. It’s a good idea to use different or alternating
What B2B Companies Need to Implement Blockchain Solutions
Blockchain can also improve user experiences, particularly in the retail space. Establishing trusted relationships on a blockchain enables frictionless peer-to-peer and peer-to-merchant transactions and data-driven customer loyalty programs, and it can help to ensure supply chain integrity. At a
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
IoT solution to supply chain management
Smart supply chain is seen to be the ultimate solution for the existing problems. It makes the asset traceable, identifiable and interactive. In addition, it reduces costs and brings visibility to the processes in SCM. Internet of Things (IoT) is the underlying technology that enables this
Store Finders: Why People Still Need Locator Links
While a lot of shopping does happen completely online, many shoppers begin the research process online but complete the purchase in person. (The online–offline combo is a key element in omnichannel customer journeys.) Thus, a tool that allows users to see only products available in a specific
imposed why personas fail the
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
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
Users' Pagination Preferences and "View All"
Pagination is a necessary evil when you have too many items to easily show them all on one screen. Linear content flows — such as articles like this — should almost never be broken up into multiple screens. It’s better to show the full article on one long screen than to inflict the pain of
Adding an Item to a Shopping Cart: Provide Clear, Persistent Feedback
On ecommerce sites, the first step of purchasing a product is adding it to the shopping cart. Clear feedback that this step was completed successfully gives users a sense of control and allows them to confidently continue shopping or proceed with their checkout. (It also complies with two of the 10
UX Responsibilities in Scrum Ceremonies
For example, if daily standup on one team happens in the morning, but you have sprint planning at the same time for another team who is in the middle of delivering an important release, favor the sprint planning meeting, but check with your product owner or Scrum master after to understand any
Genesis Framework and StudioPress Themes Now Available for WP Engine Customers .
Countless publications such as Wired and the New York Times live on WordPress. The News Pro Theme gives you the look and feel of a full-featured publication. Display featured stories, article snippets and different categories. The theme even includes built-in ad space so you don’t have to account
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Bringing Array Themes into the WP Engine Family
Sifting through the thousands of themes in existence today is a daunting task, and finding the right one for your website is just part of the challenge. No one wants to trust their portfolio, online magazine, or e-commerce site to just any formulaic theme. Making sure it’s well designed, well
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
iOS Design Rules to Break
The iOS home screen uses dots (page control) to indicate the current view and the number of additional views (that is, additional pages of apps pages) available. Although this is one of the most recognized and common examples of the dots, it’s also one of the few cases where they work tolerably
The Impact of Interaction Design on Brand Perception
Tolstrup and Heyer found many relationships between interactivity attributes and the brand and emotional attributes. For the full discussion on the relationships they found, see their paper, referenced at the end of this article. The findings related to labels, expected behavior, and consistency in
The exact functionality of each exit popup differs. Sometimes the popup will appear as soon as the user starts moving towards the top of the page; in other cases, it will show up after a specific amount of time (5 seconds, 10 seconds, etc.). Sometimes the popup is combined with animation — for
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
3 High-Tech Ways Companies Are Fighting Cybercrime Right Now
This is particularly worrisome given the massive recent increase in ransomware, in which cybercriminals demand payment or will lock users or companies out of their data or systems. In fact, according to the Cisco’s “2017 Annual Cybersecurity Report,” ransomware is growing 350 percent each
The Open Data Initiative’s Benefits Go Far Beyond Improved Customer Intelligence
This past September, Microsoft, SAP, and Adobe announced they’re taking on that unglamorous challenge with their Open Data Initiative. In what’s widely seen as a challenge to Salesforce’s dominance of the customer relationship management market, the three tech giants are partnering on a
Blockchain Success Stories Show Valuable Opportunities
One of the most successful applications of blockchain technology to date has managed to fly almost entirely under the radar, owing to its nuts-and-bolts purpose and decidedly un-sexy industry: logistics. The platform, known as TradeLens, is a joint venture between tech giant IBM and global shipping
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The Freelance Entrepreneur’s Guide to Surviving In The World of IoT
Instead of discounting your services, request something of equal value from the client in return. If they have products or services you would benefit from, come to an agreement for a fair trade. You could trade time for time, so for every ten hours you work, you receive ten hours of their services
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
Why Personas Fail | Website Logo Placement for Maximum Brand Recall
Website Logo Placement for Maximum Brand Recall
There is no formula that can tell you exactly what your website should look like. But it’s clear from this research that you can’t rely on shortcuts like disregarding standard web conventions to make your site look special. People are attracted to novelty, but we’re also creatures of habit
Login Walls Stop Users in Their Tracks
Login walls require a significant interaction cost: users must remember their credentials (if they have an account) or take the time to create a new account. Therefore, sites should use them only if users will benefit significantly from the presence of these walls. Applications that are highly
Back-to-Top Button Design Guidelines
The popularity of responsive web design has led to a proliferation of single-column, long-page designs both on mobile and desktop. A consequence of these designs has been the Back to Top button, which is a shortcut that allows users to quickly navigate to the top of the page. When users get at the
