CATALOGING THE ART AND SCIENCE OF USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN
Title: “This Is How We Built It” Case Studies Context: If you do great work and don’t write a case study about it does your great work make a sound? Synopsis: We make stuff all the time. Then we move … Continued
Title: Don’t Be Afraid of a Pencil. Context: Sketching isn’t something to be afraid of…Unless someone stabs you in the brain with a pencil. But that almost never happens. Synopsis: Yes you can sketch. Yes you. Stop looking behind you … Continued
Title: Applying Agile Principles to Design Context: Put down the Photoshop and iterate. Synopsis: The jury is no longer out on Agile and UX design. The verdict: perfect together! Great news for those who have been doing Agile based design … Continued
Title: The UX Professionals’ Guide to Working with Agile Scrum Teams Context: Agile is the new waterfall. Which was really just the new “just design me something”. Synopsis: Who doesn’t love Agile? UX designers that’s who. Or rather, they don’t … Continued
Title: From Design To iOS7 Prototype Context: Hack your way to iOS7 mastery in a single day! Synopsis: How would you go about learning how to design for a new operating system? Read spec documentation? Style sheets? GUI guidelines? How … Continued
Title: The Pastry Box Project Context: Design does not happen in a vacuum. Unless you are designing with a bunch of other people in outer space, then it does. Synopsis: Designers are invariably part of a team, collaborating with other … Continued
Title: Design Process is a Myth Context: My way or the highway does not a design process make. Synopsis: Prescriptive design processes are like prescription shoes, sure they may fit a lot similarly sized people but they are going to … Continued
Title: Akin’s Laws of Spacecraft Design Context: You may not be designing a spaceship, but it probably often feels like you are designing something just as complex. Synopsis: Imagine the hardest thing in the world to design. OK. Got it? … Continued
Title: Five Big UX Topics in 2012 Context: Wait! It’s still January right? We can still talk about 2012 then?!?! Synopsis: So, now they come crawling back. Begging on hands and knees, employing us user experience practitioners to save their … Continued
Title: Does Brainstorming Work? Context: No. No it does not. Synopsis: Ah the fragile creative psyche. Gentle and soft. We must strive to protect our artistic originality at all costs lest the cruel slings and arrows of criticism damage our … Continued
Title: Fixing A Broken User Experience Context: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But if it is broken, get up off your lazy ass and get to fixin! Synopsis: Fractured user experience. Mis-aligned product portfolio. Multiple visual languages and … Continued
Title: Why Boredom Is Good for Your Creativity Context: If you ain’t bored, you ain’t being creative. Synopsis: I have kids so I know all about dealing with bored people. God forbid 5 minutes goes past without something horribly stimulating … Continued
Title: Made By Hand Context: Nothing is more important than craft. Synopsis: Invariably user experience design is associated with mass produced goods. I’m not really sure why. Maybe it’s because it is hard to fathom that something that takes as … Continued
Title: Why most UX is shite Context: “Shite” means “shit” for my American readers… Synopsis: We all love the clearly delineated lists of UX best practices (and I have certainly shared in excess of my fair share of them). They … Continued
Title: 5 Signs of a Great User Experience Context: If it only took 5 steps to build a great user experience, everyone would have one. Synopsis: 5 steps that’s it. That’s all that stands between your product and a phenomenal … Continued