Speed is key. Triage helps sort order in chaos and the time limit creates a scenario where there is lots of pressure. First is Prioritization – look at all the products and features that must be dealt with and rank them. Minor Problems are low impact and can often be taken care of them by [...]
Gamestorming! Use the 6/8/5 sketch method to rapidly get ideas out on paper without huge overhead. Does it pass the sniff test? Use feedback from sketches to influence design – people are more likely to give feedback on low-fi mockups. Iterate, sketch, and play with ideas to work the bad ideas out of your head. [...]
I was having an interesting conversation with Alex Jones the other day, remarking about the usability studies by Peter Steen Høgenhaug around the ‘link’ iconography in CMS software. Alex touched on this in his blog with Usability of the Link Icon and earlier with Replacing the Save Icon. It’s interesting when we encounter patterns in [...]
I’ve been tossing around ideas for personas – currently I have two solid users: those who want to know more about me because they wish to hire me or want to get to know my skills to help establish freelance contracts; and those who already know me, or have met me as part of the [...]
As the wonderful Mr. Fry points out, the secret to being gorgeous is in one’s attitude of mind. By being mindful of good design choices and good interactions, users will tell us that we are wonderful. The secret is really in mindfulness – the more time and effort we put into designing quality interactions with [...]
Sprezzatura is an old Italian word defined as “an easy facility in accomplishing difficult actions which hides the conscious effort that went into them.” In other words, making it look effortless. This is an important trait for user-centered design: the workflow, actions, and methods a user takes through the design should make the experience pleasant [...]
This week has another drawn out metaphor! Hoorah for metaphors! I’ve been thinking about the user experience with everyday objects lately for a personal project of mine and have been thinking carefully on objects I use and admire. A local men’s clothing store near my work recently had a 50% off sale and I went [...]