As we head into the holiday shopping season, this month’s news roundup post looks at the user experience of online payments and ecommerce platforms. How easy is it to shop online? What are the pros and cons of digital currencies, “mobile wallets,” along with the security implications that come with these disruptive modes of payment? The following stories highlight the transformation taking place with electronic commerce transactions. Forbes: Could Digital ... Read More >
Oct 30
UX in the News: Encouraging Web Accessibility Design
Importance of Web Accessibility Collected here are the highlights from TecEd’s monthly post of can’t-miss UX news from the business press. This month our articles showcase the importance of web accessibility design. In the work we do, the goal of designing a website or software for web accessibility is to enable all users, regardless of impairment or disability, to access and use it. Web accessibility and usability complement each other, however most ... Read More >
Oct 16
UX Self-Service Design Basics
Self-Service Design Matters “You may not have heard of service design yet, but I’d argue that it’s the most important design sub-specialty in the business world today. Service designers create intangible experiences: the series of interactions that you have as you book a flight, pay a bill, get a driver’s license, or go to the doctor…service design is critical to customer experience.” Forrester Research’s Kerry Bodine in her Customer Experience Day ... Read More >
Aug 20
Part 2: The Marriage of UCD and Agile Development – Tips for Success
Picking up where we left off last week, we continue our exploration of how to successfully marry UCD and Agile processes within the same development environment. The previous post covered the first 3 of 7 Tips for Success which focused on the important role collaboration plays, from building the right team through every phase of a project. Today we’ll talk about how experimentation, rhythm, focus and quality come into play. Tip 4: Encourage ... Read More >
Aug 13
Is the marriage of UCD with an Agile development process possible?
UCD with Agile Development Process is Possible! The Agile methodology has taken the software development world by storm over the last two decades, and with good reason. The focus on iterative and incremental development, cross-functional teams, and working software over laborious documentation fits well with our need to respond rapidly to an ever-changing technological landscape. However, the move to Agile has left many product owners, development teams, and ... Read More >
Jul 1
June UX News Roundup: The Importance of Customer Experience
Highlight Customer Experience An optimized customer experience can be the difference between a product or application’s success or failure in the marketplace. These news articles from the business press reinforce what we know to be true: listening to the “voice of the customer” is a powerful effort. It helps customers accomplish their goals quickly and easily and helps increase customer satisfaction, in turn generating positive business outcomes for the ... Read More >
Jun 23
Margaret Atwood talks robots!
This is the first in a series of blog entries about CHI 2014 that recently took place in Toronto. The ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems is the premier international conference of Human-Computer Interaction. On science fiction, comic books, fantasy, and their ability to drive innovation “Margaret Atwood is a giant of modern literature who refuses to rest on her laurels (CHI 2014 website)” Her “speculative fiction” books, such as The ... Read More >
Jun 4
When to prototype, when to wireframe?
Prototype vs. Wireframe There is a lingering meme that design projects should skip the wireframe step and go right to prototyping. A good example of this position is Wireframing is out, prototyping is in: here’s why, by Joseph Lawrence. From my experience... I have come to the realization that interactive prototyping is not always the correct deliverable for a design project, and so the question becomes when to prototype, when to wireframe? Consider an ... Read More >
Apr 17
Institutionalizing User Centered Design at Your Organization
Embrace User-Centered Design Do you remember the first time you looked at your website through the eyes of a customer? It can be haunting to watch someone struggle to accomplish a critical task, and finally declare they’d give up in frustration. This is the defining moment when some organizations decide it’s time to embrace user-centered design (UCD) and build a culture that will nourish and sustain it. How to get started: But what’s the best way to go ... Read More >
Apr 8
USGS.GOV Seeks User Feedback: Our One Hour Expert Evaluation
USGS.GOV Seeks Feedback A story about a launch of a federal website recently caught our eye. Published by FCW: The Business of Federal Technology, the article is entitled “USGS Unveils New Web Presence, Seeks Feedback.” The post highlights how the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently launched a beta version of its new website. USGS is actively soliciting user feedback to help them ensure a positive user experience, including consistent navigation, an ... Read More >
