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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What does it take to be a great UX leader? Well, not only do you need to provide clear guidance, but also empower different individuals in your team. A UX leader needs to encompass a wide range of skills. In his final article in this series on user experience design, Christopher Murphy will explore the different characteristics of an effective UX leader, and provide some practical advice about growing into a leadership role.
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How do we go about understanding the myriad of users and their needs? One of the most common problems when designing for accessibility is knowing what needs you should design for. The more inclusive you are to the needs of your users, the more accessible your design is. In this article, Steven Lambert will take a closer look at the different lenses of accessibility through which you can refine your designs.
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How can you gain a better understanding of your audience? Well, one way would be to use user-generated content that can be integrated into Machine Learning (ML) technology. In this article, Jamie Munro demonstrates how you can turn social media content into a powerful understanding of how the people creating the content think. Using the results from Watson, your application can use the categories of interest where the percentile exceeds or is less than a predetermined amount to change how you target your audience.
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Finding people to participate in qualitative UX studies can be an elusive task. We tend to hear about studies and their findings, but we don’t hear how researchers recruit study participants. We need to access users and potential users in order to effectively conduct research. You’ll want to become familiar with each of these and adapt your approach based on your product, budget, and timeline. In this article, Victor Yocco will help you resolve this mystery.
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Pop-ups still play a vital role in signing up more email subscribers and converting more customers from mobile devices. But, as with anything else, you need to play by Google’s rules and always think about how your decisions will affect your users’ experience. But, are mobile pop-ups dying, or will they simply undergo another adaptation? In this article, Suzanne Scacca will show you what the research says.
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Have you noticed the alarming lack of touch stimuli in current technologies? Our thoughts and feelings are strongly connected to the gestures, postures, and actions we perform. I aim to push you — as a designer — to think outside of the zone of screens. In this article, Lucia Kolesárová will aim to consider using more touch and motor skills when designing your very next product.
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Designing a good signup form is tricky. UX design does matter. To improve UX, the designer needs to put themselves in the user’s shoes. Make your form clear from the start, with visible labels placed outside of empty form fields. There’s always room for improvement. In this article, Kate Sipkina & Olga Ratinova will show you how to improve your contact forms — those crucial elements before users make a purchase or subscribe to a newsletter.
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Whether you’re building a website or an application, at heart you are designing for users and, as such, it’s important to consider these users at the center of a customer-focused ecosystem. It’s important to consider UX strategy in a holistic manner. Over the last few years, we have seen designers move up the chain of command and, thankfully, we are starting to see designers occupy senior roles within organizations. In this article, Christopher Murphy explains how design impacts beyond the world of screens as part of a wider strategy.
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Developers and designers need to initiate a conversation about the ethics of web design, i.e. how do we define and measure goodness and rightness in the digital realm? It’s important to discuss responsibilities, decisions, and consequences. Even small and seemingly insignificant decisions can have enormous implications, and ethics can help ensure the longevity of our designs and help us carve paths to better futures for everyone. It’s about time that we, the people who build the web, initiate a conversation about where we are and where we want to go. It is time we talk about the ethics of web design.
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