Involving other people early on — especially people from other disciplines — can feel scary. By taking inspiration from code reviews, we can improve collaboration both within our own fields as well as across disciplines, be it design, UX, content or development. No one is really promoting waterfall processes anymore. So how can you involve people early on so that you’re avoiding the waterfall, but also making sure that you’re not setting yourself up for design by committee? Ida Aalen found her answer when learning about code reviews.
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Creating a team who can work well together across different disciplines can be hard. Given the wide range of skills held by the line-up at the upcoming SmashingConf Toronto, Rachel Andrew solicits some suggestions from the speakers. She’s wrapped those up with her own experience of 20 years working alongside designers and other developers.
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What do data-driven personas look like, and how do you make one? Creating personas based on actual user data is a great way to build internal consensus, improve your product’s UX, and make your design team more effective. But it is a challenging project that takes time and dedication. In this article, Tim Noetzel will show you how to create and use data-driven personas to improve your design process.
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Designers tend to get lost in the details until they have everything mapped out. This is not recommended, as the design process is an iterative one. By establishing a high-level process to kick off the design phase of your projects you can work more efficiently to get a clear framework in place. Focus on establishing a clear design direction, and some clear user goals, before getting into the details. In this guide, Christopher Murphy will help you stay on track.
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Generally speaking, writing a requirements document is mostly about conveying your vision to the rest of the team. In this article, Eduard Khorkov will outline the most common approaches to writing requirements documents. You will learn the basic steps of writing mobile application requirements and what a good requirements document looks like. Eduard will create two documents: a PDF with user stories and wireframes, and a screen map that complements the PDF. Together, they describe in detail what features the application should have.
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As a designer, you will be facing more demands and opportunities to work with digital systems that embody machine learning. To have your say about how best to use it, you need a good understanding about its applications and related design patterns. In this article, Lassi Liikkanen illustrates the power of machine learning through the applications of detection, prediction and generation. To help you get started, he has included two non-technical questions that will help with assessing whether your task is ready to be learned by a machine.
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How exactly does one make a “good” app icon? A beautiful, identifiable and memorable app icon can have a huge impact on the popularity and success of the app. In this article, Michael Flarup has put together some tips and advice to guide you on your way to designing great app icons. He’s been designing, making resources and giving talks about icon design for the past couple of years. In this article, and in the video at the end, he’ll sum up what he’s learned about this amazing craft.
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Digital products are getting more and more complex. In this article, Yury Vetrov explains why we need to support more platforms, tweak usage scenarios for more user segments, and hypothesize more. Our industry has both high- and low-skilled designers, and it will be easy for algorithms to replace the latter. However, those who can follow and break rules when necessary will find magical new tools and possibilities.
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In this article, Kyle Cassidy shares his thoughts and experiences on how lean thinking helped to instill efficiencies within his UX design process. For clients undertaking multiple projects, the lack of consistent wireframe deliverables was confusing and disorientating, with the client having to remember multiple URLs and logins while also learning how to navigate the various outputs. Many routine tasks were unnecessarily repeated across multiple projects. It was clear that they needed to establish some rules and guidelines to create a more cohesive approach. They needed to set a new direction, and now was the time to start.
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How do you go about designing an app? Michael Flarup brings you an article about just that. A top level, somewhat simplified, and very honest overview of the steps involved in designing an app. This is an account of how most of the apps I work on are born, complete with shameless links to the tools he uses. Now when people think of ‘designing’ something, their thoughts often circle around the visual aspects of a product. Pixel pushing in Photoshop or laying grids in Sketch, but that’s a common misconception. Design, in the context of this article, covers the entire process. It is every deliberate action meant to produce something. The truth is that from the moment you get an idea, you are designing.
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