July 2011
16 posts
1 tag
Managing Complex UX Deliverables
Sometimes, people forget that the various UX deliverables on a given project are strongly interrelated. By this, I mean that a deliverable influences and informs downstream deliverables, while the downstream deliverables should support and expand on those that were created upstream. This also means that when something new is discovered, all of these fabulous deliverables should be updated as...
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Advice for Small UX Teams
Out of necessity, people on small user experience teams need to be generalists, especially when they are a team of one or two. UX Matters has some great pointers for small UX teams, from selling yourself to getting things done with little budget to finding a support network. All good advice that can help make you and your tiny team more productive.
Original Article
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Metaphors for Explaining Pair Design
It can be difficult to explain the ways by which things get created. The people at Cooper generally have two roles on their pair design teams: Generators and Synthesizers. But,this nomenclature may not go over so well “with parents or at a cocktail party”, to use their words. So, they’ve gone on to explain their pair design roles, metaphorically. I especially like the the use of...
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HOWTO: Tracking Social Engagement in Google...
The social engagement tracking in Google Analytics is great. Google +1 works by default if you use the +1 Button Creator. However, one needs to do a bit of configuration to get tracking working for other things like Twitter tweets and Facebook likes. The popular Wordpress plugins for Addthis and Sharethis use Google Analytics Events for tracking social engagement rather than the newer _trackSocial...
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Wireframe Primer
Wireframes are old hat to anyone who has been working on web sites and applications for more than, say, 5 minutes. However, for those that aren’t involved in web design, wireframes can be a bit of a mystery. If you’re growing tired of explaining the role of the wireframe and why nobody should worry about how boxy and devoid of color they are, perhaps you can point people to UX 101: The...
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iPhone Fireflies 3
The video above shows the movement of over 800 iPhones in Europe during April 2011. There are a few other versions of iPhone Fireflies 3 at crowdflow.net. By the way, Crowdflow is collecting iPhone location log files in order to visualize wifi and cellular data networks around the world. If you are interested, you can in contribute the location data from your iPhone on crowdflow.net.
via...
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How to Win a User Experience Debate
Stakeholders generally provide plenty of design feedback. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s not. Sometimes the feedback is so counter to a good user experience that you, as the UX designer, are compelled to take a stand. If you’ve been around for more than one project, you’ve probably done this already. Before your next encounter, you may want to read Winning a User...
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Three Tactics for Better Wireframe Presentations
Wireframes can be misconstrued by stakeholders if they are not presented in the right way. Everyone has their own way of presenting wireframes, and most are always on the lookout for ways to improve. These three tactics for making more understandable wireframe presentations are worth checking out. I especially like the use of storytelling to frame individual wireframes in the context of user...
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In.gredients, the Zero-Packaging Supermarket
View the full length video on YouTube.
Food packaging is pretty wasteful. Even if one recycles everything they can, a fair amount of packaging is going in the trash. In.gredients, a supermarket slated to open this year in Austin is going reduce packaging needs by letting customers bring their own containers. If you don’t have a container, no problem, In.gredients will provide a...
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Quote of the Week
There was a point in the late ’90s where all the graduating M.B.A.’s wanted to start companies in Silicon Valley, and for the most part they were not actually qualified to do it. They brought the whole sideshow of the hype and parties and all that crap. M.B.A. graduating classes are actually a reliable contrary indicator: if they all want to go into investment banking, there’s going to be a...
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Tracking Social Plugins with Google Analytics
Google Analytics has a few handy reports for tracking social plugin activity on your site. If you’re using the standard Google +1 implementation, +1 activity should get tracked automatically without further coding. However, for other plugins like Twitter and Facebook, you’ll probably need to add some code to your site. The Google Analytics Blog to has a quick rundown on Social Plugin...
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Orienteering vs. Teleportation: Designing for Both...
One of the challenges faced by user interface designers is how to make the interface work for novices, experts and everyone in between. These groups come to a site or application bringing different types of knowledge, therefore they require different interactions. Tyler Tate has an interesting take on this in Novices Orienteer, Experts Teleport. In this article he gives some solid examples of...
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Experience Modeling
How can one go about effectively communicating user experience design to their team? Marc Sasinski puts forth one method in his article, Experience Design Models. He walks through the example of an online service that pays household bills to demonstrate how to create an experience model.
This is an excellent example of how to turn user research into something actionable and easily understood by...
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Happy Independence Day
For your enjoyment: A fireworks display, NYPD style.
via Cityroom
Original Article
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Prototypes Application Creates Quick iPhone...
Sometimes it’s hard to understand how a particular design is going to work from a user experience standpoint, especially on a mobile device. With the Prototypes application you can quickly turn design comps (or even wireframes and sketches) into a tappable/clickable prototype on the iPhone, iPod touch or Mac. Basically, you’ll be turning the images into image maps that will load the...
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Email Charter
It seems like very few people really love email. After all, if you use email in your professional life, you probably spend a good portion of your working day dealing with it. It’s been a few years since I was getting inundated with so many emails that I had to make changes to the way I dealt with them. The changes I made to my email management were a success. If you are having trouble with...