CategoryUX

May 29, 2020 — User research helps companies make higher quality software faster and more cost-effectively. However, there can sometimes be resistance to the up-front costs of running UX studies. In this article, Steve Bromley will equip you with some of the tools you will need to run the right kind of research study. This helps a research team run high quality, reliable studies that have a real impact on design and product decisions. Read more…

May 27, 2020 — Our industry tends to place a lot of focus on how, often at the expense of why. An equivalent experience is one that has been deliberately conceived of and built to be able to be used by the widest possible range of people. To create an equivalent experience, you must understand all the different ways people interact with technology, as well as common barriers they experience. Once you have a common understanding established, Eric Bailey will then discuss how to go about implementing equivalent experiences for common accessibility-related issues. Read more…

May 19, 2020 — Since more and more web traffic comes from mobile users, our websites need to be in the best position to serve them. The easiest thing to do would be to remove unnecessary content from the site. However, it may not always be the best solution. In this article, Suzanne Scacca proposes some ways to turn essential content into graphics to conserve space, create a more engaging UI and preserve the overall integrity of your content on mobile. Read more…

May 15, 2020 — Creating accessible images seems like a simple topic at first glance — you just need to add alt text to an image, right? But the topic is much more nuanced than some people think. In this article, Carie Fisher will review the different types of images, dive into some real-world examples of inaccessible public service announcements (PSAs), and discuss which elements matter most when critical messages need to reach everyone. Read more…

May 13, 2020 — Arguing that dark patterns are unethical is not enough on its own. We will also need to make the case to clients and colleagues that they are damaging to business. That’s what Paul Boag has also written in his new Smashing book, “Click”. In this post, he will put together a compelling argument you can present to stakeholders to help them understand why dark patterns are a bad idea. However, before we do that, let’s agree on a definition of dark patterns. Read more…

May 12, 2020 — For hundreds of years, we have been using white space in typography. Today, in 2020, how do we add spacing to punctuation marks and other symbols, and how do we adjust the space on the left and right side in an easy and consistent way? It is actually not as easy and quick as it should be. Read more…

May 7, 2020 — The pressure to rush market and usability research carries risk. In this article, Eric Olive will offer four practical techniques to mitigate this risk and create designs that better serve customers and the company: context over convenience, compromise, better design decisions, design reduction. Read more…

April 21, 2020 — A landing page is a standalone webpage created to support a specific marketing campaign or targeting a particular search term. They are where users “land” when they click a link in search results, email or an ad. In this article, Paul Boag will show you how to create a compelling landing page, which involves a combination of clear focus, persuasive copy, considered design and relentless testing. Without all four your page will fail. Read more…

April 9, 2020 — All search engines share the same purpose: to organize the web’s content and deliver the most relevant, useful results possible to search queries. How they achieve this has changed enormously since the days of Lycos and Ask Jeeves. Google alone uses more than 200 ranking factors, and those are just the ones we know about. Retrofitting search engine optimization only gets you so far. As metadata gets smarter, it’s more important than ever to build it into the design process from the start. Read more…

March 31, 2020 — By now, you’re probably used to seeing design trends come and go. But have you ever given any thought to what passing trends do to a website when left there for too long? As a web designer, you have a few choices. You can ignore popular design trends altogether; you can adopt them, but pull them out of rotation the second they go stale, or you can put your own unique spin on them. This guide will help you figure out which approach makes the most sense for your site. Read more…