We are in the 21st century, and we don’t have a product that makes it easy for everyone to tell time! Clocks and timepieces are all around us — from the microwave in your kitchen to the smartphone in your back pocket — but the digital display still fails to address one basic issue: We have to look at it. Telling time, then, requires sight.
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As more designers and writers look to analytics to inform their decisions, many still struggle to implement their findings in a sustainable, ongoing way. Too often, testing and analysis are one-off activities, providing plenty of important-looking numbers but not lot of context or specific direction.
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User research helps us to understand how other people live their lives, so that we can respond more effectively to their needs with informed and inspired design solutions. It helps us to avoid our own biases, because we frequently have to create design solutions for people who aren’t like us. In this article, David Sherwin will share a process he uses at Frog to plan and conduct user research. It’s called the “research learning spiral.”
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Lately we’ve seen a rapid shift in software and app interface design, from 3-D and skeuomorphic to flat and minimal. Let’s take a moment to consider how we got here and what influence it’s having on interface design as a whole. Minimal design’s widespread resurgence is refreshing to witness. It is by no means the right solution for everything, but when applied thoughtfully and appropriately, it makes for a highly usable and enjoyable digital experience.
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Clearly, a good mobile experience requires good form usability, and implementing touch keyboards is a key part of that. During a recent study of 18 of the largest mobile commerce websites, we observed how certain features and limitations of modern touch keyboards can collide with the user’s expectations of how to fill out a form. When this happens, users quickly grow frustrated, Today, Christian Holst will look deeper into the usability issues surrounding touch keyboards, including five design guidelines that will alleviate some of these pains.
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For those of us who design and build apps, websites and software, a great product means one that delights its users. But digital product development is complex. What can designers do to increase the overall quality and success rate of the products we craft and to elevate our team’s batting average? An answer lies in the way artists and composers have worked for centuries to create paintings and music — by focusing on a singular element: a motif.
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The flat interface style is the manifestation of a desire for greater authenticity in design. The Modern design movement curbed the ornamental excess of the 19th century, making design fit the age of mass production. Today, we’re seeing the same desire for authenticity manifest itself in the “flat” trend, which rejects skeuomorphism and excessive visuals for simpler, cleaner, content-focused design.
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One way to gauge mobile experience is to look at the tools at our disposal. Prototyping tools enable us to build wireframes and click-dummies. We seem to be in a better position than ever to design great experiences in virtually no time. However, these tools come with a hidden cost: they tempt us to skip the key step necessary to creating a well-designed product — which is to take the time to understand the problem we are given.
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Following is a list of 13 beliefs on the value of user experience strategy, design, and designers, one for every year that Robert has been in the web industry at the time he wrote it in 2012.
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Microcopy is the little text that can make or break your user experience. If your microcopy isn’t getting the job done, you’ll lose users — and all the marketing in the world might not get you a second chance. With that in mind, here are five ways to make sure your website’s microcopy doesn’t end up sinking your UX.
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