If you work on the web, your superpower is side projects. Unlike your regular job, a side project lets you take on an alternate identity, one of which you are in charge and no one can stop you. And the best part: If your impact is big enough, the whole world will soon know your name. Side projects are underused by the vast majority of designers and developers out there. In this article, Sacha Greif will give you a play-by-play account of the process of building and launching one such side project.
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Back in spring 2013, Smashing Magazine sported a <select> menu as its mobile navigation. It wasn’t considered an anti-pattern back then and Marco Hengstenberg still thinks it’s a viable solution to the complex problem of how to build accessible and functional cross-device navigation. Brad Frost wrote a few words about the pros and cons of this pattern on his blog and Marco couldn’t agree more. In this article, Marco will explain how he helped rebuild the mobile navigation in order to enhance the experience for the readers of Smashing Magazine.
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There are three different scenarios for UI multiplatform adaptation: retaining brand consistency; aligning with the conventions specific to the platform; and seeking a balance between the two. We decided to analyze these three approaches by looking at the most popular apps out there so that you get some insight into what method might work best for you. When we design apps, we should always remember that we do it for real people to use on real devices in the real world. In fact, it’s not a brand, or a platform, or even your creativity that’s important. The only thing that matters is users.
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Before the launch of the Apple Watch, Nikolay Morev’s iOS team at myMail (one of the popular alternative email apps for iOS) worked tirelessly with a simulator to create a new Apple Watch app. They wanted the first buyers of the Apple Watch to have the opportunity to use myMail from day one. What they learned through using the simulator and creating the app is described in this article and will help iOS developers get to results, faster, and avoid a few headaches down the road. Happy designing for the Watch!
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All too often we forget that applications are built by real people with opinions, ideals and fears. When a whole company is formed around a single product that’s about to get relaunched, there’s a lot of tension — after all, these people rely on that product’s success for their own financial security. This is the story of redesigning the UX for a popular calendar tool on Android: Business Calendar. Günther Beyer & Nino Rapin are sharing this story because everyone’s standing on the shoulders of giants and this is their small contribution to better information design thinking. They hope they’ve learned enough in this project to make you a little smarter, so that you can make us smarter in turn. Thank you.
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In this second part, Yury Vetrov will show you how he made his “Bootstrap on steroids” more powerful. A framework like this has many benefits, but the main result is a transition from large redesigns every couple of years to constantly updated designs. We can spend more time evolving a product rather than doing endless design maintenance. Moreover, product designers stop thinking in screens and become less like “Photoshop/Sketch people”.
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In Pieces is an interactive exhibition of 30 of the world’s most endangered species. The experience is an informational reminder of the beauty we are in danger of losing every day, but it’s also a showcase of evolutionary distinction. Users are told the stories and struggles of these unique lifeforms, as well as invited to dive into numerical data, download wallpapers and even obtain a poster featuring the entire collection. In this article, Bryan James explores the inspiration for the project and aspects of how different parts were built, and he’ll dive into how you can use this greatly underrated line of CSS for your own projects.
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Claire Carlson had the opportunity to conduct in-home user interviews in São Paulo on behalf of a Brazilian real estate company called Zap Imóveis. This project provided her with invaluable insider knowledge on how to best conduct in-home user interviews in Brazil and, more broadly, how to conduct field research in foreign countries using the same underlying principles. This article presents her tips for foreigners planning to conduct in-home user interviews in Brazil, including parallels with research in India, China, and Spain.
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It’s very easy to get bogged down by accessible output and to forget that, ultimately, accessibility is about people. Whether you are working in product, UX, development or quality assurance, remember to always give users control, over the page integrate accessibility into annotated UX and style guides and design with choice in mind. In this article, Henny Swan will explain these, and more key principles which will ensure that products are inclusive and usable for disabled people. Listening to users and actively including their feedback, along with adhering to organizational standards and guidelines, are essential.
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We view our design approaches as intuitive and emotional, so we have a hard time developing documented, human-focused design processes. Designers can create in-depth, documented case studies of their work. The best ones clarify the complex choices designers have to make and explain their thinking behind UX and visual decisions. In this article, Senongo Akpem analyzes some key features of case studies and provides tips on how to use them to humanize your process of design.
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