insanezine

4 forgotten principles of usability testing

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 23:38:29 +0200

4 forgotten principles of usability testing:

Over the last few months I’ve sat through dozens of usability tests run by design agencies. Clients have asked me to oversee the tests to make sure that the agency really puts their design through its paces. This is a good thing as it shows that usability testing is now becoming a mainstream activity in the design community. But many of the usability tests I’ve sat through have been so poorly designed that it’s difficult to draw any meaningful conclusions from them. No wonder that Fast Company mistakenly believe that user centred design doesn’t work.

How to Get Clients to Approve Your Wireframes Every Time

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 23:37:22 +0200

How to Get Clients to Approve Your Wireframes Every Time:

You have finally finished your wireframes. You present them to your client and your client loves them. Your job’s done, right? Not quite. Chances are the client will come back to you and present you with some ideas of their own. Some of these ideas could make sense, but some could completely change your design for the worse.

Not everything your client suggests will be harmful to your design. But what should you do if your client suggests something that you absolutely know will hurt users?

Work Less

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 18:55:29 +0100

Work Less:

Have you ever noticed that right before you go on holiday you get double the amount done that you would on a normal week? Why? Because you have a time constraint. You have to get all of your work done before you leave for holiday otherwise those cocktails by the pool just won’t taste as sweet will they? You’re sacrificing your time now so that you can enjoy it later.

Using lies in research

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 18:54:13 +0100

Using lies in research:

Lies. We consider them an occupational hazard. In the course of our research at Bolt | Peters, organizations both large and small will inadvertently ask us to participate in their lies and, intentional or not, the implications are often dire. When we lie to ourselves, our users, or our team about issues at the core of a user experience project, we unwittingly accelerate the interface’s demise. It can be an uncomfortable topic, but uncovering the lies behind a product or interface can be one of the most effective ways to turn ailing projects around.

Considerations for Mobile Design (Part 1): Speed

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:07:29 +0100

Considerations for Mobile Design (Part 1): Speed:

This series—Considerations for Mobile Design—aims to help experience designers understand how the transition to mobile affects their audience and, in turn, their designs. In the beginning, we’ll take a look at the rules governing today’s mobile sites. In part two, we’ll discuss how expectations might change as the underlying technology continues to improve. Along the way, we’ll cover mobile-specific interaction design, mobile device constraints, and building websites that are responsive, working well on both handheld devices and traditional screen displays. Ready? Let’s get started.

10 Reasons Why You Need a Mobile Office

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 11:38:15 +0100

10 Reasons Why You Need a Mobile Office:

Did you know that a small, purposeful workflow change can make your life significantly better? Yep, that change is having a mobile office, and there are 10 reasons why a mobile office can improve your design work and life. So what’s a mobile office? It’s what it sounds like – your design-work office on the go. All of your essential tools in a bag, ready to take with you.

The unfortunate math behind consulting companies

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 12:33:54 +0100

The unfortunate math behind consulting companies:

Consulting can be a great way to fund a startup or make a bunch of cash. It’s easy to start; Just pick an hourly rate and jump in.

But someday soon you’ll notice there’s only so many billable hours in the day, and you’ll be tempted to expand. Maybe hire an employee for $30 per hour and re-bill them at $60. Easy money, right?

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Unfortunately the math doesn’t work that way.

Business Objectives vs. User Experience

Sun, 06 Feb 2011 22:42:13 +0100

Business Objectives vs. User Experience:

Here’s a question for you: would you agree that creating a great user experience should be the primary aim of any Web designer? I know what your answer is… and youʼre wrong!

Okay, I admit that not all of you would have answered yes, but most probably did. Somehow, the majority of Web designers have come to believe that creating a great user experience is an end in itself. I think we are deceiving ourselves and doing a disservice to our clients at the same time.

The truth is that business objectives should trump users’ needs every time. Generating a return on investment is more important for a website than keeping users happy. Sounds horrendous, doesn’t it? Before you flame me in the comments, hear me out.

It’s Time To Kill Multi-Tasking

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 09:55:46 +0100

It’s Time To Kill Multi-Tasking:

What’s the outlook for productive creativity in the coming year? In two phrases: Multi-tasking is dead! Long live single-minded focus!

We recently pinged the 99% twitter audience for feedback on how they’re adapting their productivity regimes to be better, faster, smarter, and just generally more awesome in 2011. When the results came in, every single productivity resolution voiced seemed to relate to the rejection of multi-tasking.

Schedules Suck: Win with the Rolling Five Day Approach Instead

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 09:45:00 +0100

Schedules Suck: Win with the Rolling Five Day Approach Instead:

After a decade of working on projects with highly motivated founders and product teams that want to get stuff done, we’ve come to a simple conclusion: schedules can be death to team morale and great product unless you balance them by staying nimble and opportunistic. Great things only happen when a highly motivated team gets to play a little to discover new ways to do things better.

We’ve all experienced those crushing little blows of scheduling that bring exciting sparks to their knees. “That’s a good idea, let’s bring that up again at the next meeting,” or, “That’s sounds great, but that’s a P2” are signs of schedule-driven thinking. Momentum halts. The excitement that aids creative thinking passes. You have to have some of that thinking to timebox your efforts—design can’t go on forever or it won’t matter. Too much, though, and you will squash innovation on your team.

The New Bulletproof @Font-Face Syntax

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 09:39:11 +0100

The New Bulletproof @Font-Face Syntax:

Since the beginning of the ‘webfont revolution’ we’ve relied on somewhat hacky @font-face declarations to get webfonts loading cross-browser. Could there be a better way? One that’s clear and compatible with future browsers?

URL Design

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 16:45:36 +0100

URL Design:

You should take time to design your URL structure. If there’s one thing I hope you remember after reading this article it’s to take time to design your URL structure. Don’t leave it up to your framework. Don’t leave it up to chance. Think about it and craft an experience.

The Problem With Home

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 12:51:56 +0100

The Problem With Home:

If you sit and watch people use an iPhone there’s a mistake made often and reliably: They hit the home button when they mean to just go back to the app’s main screen. Going home has heavy consequences—to recover you’ve got to find that app again, sit through its splash screen, and fiddle the app to where it was before. The home button is the grunt-and-touch control of physical affordances. While iconically simple, the one bit of information it lets you indicate is too little.

Little Things Matter

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 11:55:59 +0100

Little Things Matter:

When it comes to building a web experience, most of the effort is typically put towards the tactical objectives that aim to satisfy business and user requirements: Users should be able to easily browse products and buy them; The business should have the capability to manage marketing campaigns; Users should be able to easily move laterally between similar products. Every agency, no matter how big or small has to solve these same problems, and that will never change.

The game just completely changed

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 11:51:08 +0100

The game just completely changed:

Something insane is happening in the creative industry and all of you need to know about it. Two recent events have completely changed the career prospects for Web Designers and Developers: 1) Frank Chimero’s Kickstarter project and 2) Natasha Wescoat’s live painting sessions.

Immersive mobile e-commerce search using drop down menus

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 10:57:00 +0100

Immersive mobile e-commerce search using drop down menus:

In this article, I will explore the topic of using a specialized drop-down menu as one of the ways of creating immersive experience in mobile e-commercesearch UIs, and I’ll introduce a novel design pattern, the status bar drop-down menu. In contrast to existing mobile search interfaces that devote 24-33% of the screen to navigation, the status bar drop-down menu allows 100% of the screen real estate to be dedicated to search results, while also providing convenient and intuitive access to navigation and filter functions.