UX design Archives - Page 2 of 3

Better UX Through Microinteractions aside

When designing a product, there are many ways to improve the user experience, including defining personas, well-structured information architecture, and thoughtfully written content. But after this high-level structure is set, creating delight for a user comes in the smaller interaction design details. These details, known as microinteractions, are individual moments in the product designed to accomplish a single task while enhancing the natural product flow. Swiping up to refresh data, liking content, or changing a setting are all microinteractions. They can also include simple UI animations—for example, the way a menu slides in when tapped, or a card glides off the screen when swiped. Often microinteractions aren’t even consciously noticed by the user, but their subtle details make the product ...

Customer Journey Maps – What They Are and How to Build One aside

When a customer uses a company’s products and services to achieve a goal or need, they are going on a journey from point A to point Z. A customer journey map charts the path a user takes from the beginning of this journey to the satisfaction of that need. “Mapping out the customer journey is an effective way to understand what turns a viewer into a long-term, loyal customer.” – Kofi Senaya, Director of Product at Clearbridge Mobile Understanding a user’s needs is the bedrock of great design. User experience and product designers draw upon a range of tools and methods for uncovering the needs of their users and designing a product that meets those needs. The customer journey map is one such ...

Great Questions Lead to Great Design – A Guide to the Design Thinking Process aside

Great designers help teams and stakeholders make better decisions by using questions to identify opportunities, reveal underlying needs, and understand user context. James Dyson, having been inspired by a centrifuge used to separate paint particles from the air, came up with the world’s first bagless vacuum cleaner in 1983 after famously going through 5,127 prototypes—the epitome of design thinking. He must have asked a lot of questions along the way… Designers face tough problems every day—problems that require them to find design solutions that deal with business and technical constraints while also addressing user needs. At the same time, the urge to find solutions quickly shouldn’t preclude designers from thoroughly understanding the heart of the problem, as well as the user context, from ...

Dashboard Design – Considerations and Best Practices aside

Dashboards are a unique and powerful way to present data-based intelligence using data visualization techniques that display relevant, actionable data as well as track stats and key performance indicators (KPIs). Dashboards should present this data in a quick, easy-to-scan format with the most relevant information understandable at a glance. The term was born from the traditional automobile dashboard, and they have evolved to serve the same function in the digital world. In his book, Stephen Few put it best: “A dashboard is a visual display of the most important information needed to achieve one or more objectives; consolidated and arranged on a single screen so the information can be monitored at a glance.” Mobile dashboard design by Mason Yarnell for Mixpanel In this ...

Think S.M.A.R.T. When Defining Business Goals for Your Next UX Project aside

Clear business goals mean a precise and efficient execution. The S.M.A.R.T. Framework (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time-Based)  can be a key to your design success. Many UX designers think their primary goal is to create a delightful user experience or a sleek design. But that shouldn’t be the main focus. Designers need to think beyond mere pixels. They should adopt a business perspective, think strategically, consider the primary objectives, and design towards both users and business goals. While reading a client’s brief, we often find that the business goals and the requirements are not clearly formulated. Either we get Clients from Hell, suffer a lack of communication, or are faced with unrealistic and unclear expectations. We hear vague requests, like, ...

What is UX Design? Common Misconceptions and UX Myths aside

Even after all these years, it seems like “UX” is still a buzzword at many companies—“We don’t just need a designer,” the VP of Product declares, “We need a UX Designer!” An audible gasp is heard in the room; everyone in the meeting nods in agreement while surreptitiously Googling “What is UX design?” and “What does a UX designer do?” By now, most people know that UX stands for user experience. But knowing what it stands for is not the same as really understanding the details that make it up and make it work. In fact, most people would have a hard time explaining what designing for a user experience means, or what a UX designer actually does. UX—in short—is all aspects of a system (website, app, product, ...

TV UI Design: Working with White Space aside

Designing for TV requires a comprehensive, disciplined understanding of UX principles. One of the elements that is a constant concern when designing for TV is the use of white space in design. There are too many TV apps on the market that don’t know how to (or consciously choose not to) properly harness white space. The result is cluttered eyesores that actively undermine business objectives. Here is an explanation of what white space is and how using it in your TV app is best for business. First and Foremost… What is white space? White space is an unoccupied piece of real estate with zero text or graphics layered on top. This is important to note because a background graphic image can be ...

Button Design Over the Years – The Dribbble Timeline aside

Buttons. With them, we finalize shopping on the internet, we log in to our bank app, and we submit forms filled with our most personal information. Web design is growing at an incredible pace, and styles seem to change from month to month. In just a few years, we have gone from text links to skeuomorphism to flat design. Navigation is one of the most important elements of web design, and the call to action button is its strongest tool. In this article, I will trace eight years of web button design history based on Dribbble. The Dribbble Buttons Timeline In 2009, Dribbble was created: a platform for designers from around the world who shared little pieces of their current projects. ...

The 10 UX Deliverables Top Designers Use aside

The work of a UX designer happens in many different environments—from lean startups and Agile environments where teams work with little documentation, to consulting engagements for third-parties, or large enterprises and government entities with strict documentation requirements. Regardless of the nature of the engagement or environment (and the one thing that ties it all together), is a need for UX professionals to effectively communicate their design ideas, research findings and the context of projects to a range of audiences. During the UX design process designers will produce a wide variety of “artifacts” and project deliverables as part of their UX design methodology. These may take many forms: deliverables help UX designers communicate with various stakeholders and teams, document work, and ...

The Ultimate List of 50 of the Best Sketch Plugins aside

Sketch has taken the design market by storm. They don’t release any official numbers, but it’s pretty obvious that almost any design team you join or talk to knows about or uses Sketch to some extent. One of the most powerful aspects of Sketch is its lively developer community and the fantastic set of plugins they’ve built for it. With Sketch plugins, you can create gorgeous 3D illustrations and unique animations in seconds. I gathered a list of fifty of the best Sketch plugins to save you time on research. I organized them by categories below. Sketch Plugin Managers Collaboration Sketch Plugins Content and Object Generator Plugins Export and Front-End Development Plugins Layer Management Plugins Utilities Sketch Plugin Managers You ...

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