McMansion Problems - Don’t Design for the Extras Darian O'Reilly / Mon, Oct 24, 2016 There is a blog that I love called McMansion Hell – you know those crazy monster houses built in bulk starting in the 1980’s? They are usually found in great clusters and sometimes on very small pieces...
The Stroop Effect and its Implications in UX Design Darian O'Reilly / Mon, Feb 8, 2016 What happens when your brain is trying to process conflicting streams of information? Let’s find out. Read this list of colors to yourself: Red Green Blue Purple Black Brown Yellow Red...
The Power of Pumpkin Spice Darian O'Reilly / Thu, Sep 3, 2015 There are almost three weeks of summer left, all of the leaves are still on the trees and I’m already craving pumpkin. How has this traditionally Thanksgiving flavor taken over the third of the year between...
The Magic is in the Details: The Beauty of Well Designed Micro-interactions and the Horror of Badly Designed Ones Diane Spengel / Fri, Jul 31, 2015 What are microinteractions? Microinteractions are the tiny details of a process that create the flow from beginning to completion. Dan Saffler defines Microinteractions as single moments within a use...
Why Early Usability Testing? Tobias Komischke / Mon, Jan 13, 2014 Usability testing is observing how users interact with a technical system, a product or a service in order to learn how this system can be optimized for a better user experience. While usability tests...
Stop asking people what they think! (and start watching what they do) Marshal Datkowitz / Tue, Oct 8, 2013 I listen to developers of software and websites all day, they have great ideas and observations but I try to balance what I hear with what I see. Many product managers tell me what their customers...
Sticky Navigation Pattern Solves Usability and Design Issues Marshal Datkowitz / Thu, Jun 13, 2013 Good website navigation is about good wayfinding. Wayfinding describes how we best orient ourselves by the use of signs and landmarks. So good navigation should clearly inform us as to where we are and...
UX of Responsive Web Design Marshal Datkowitz / Wed, Jan 23, 2013 What is Responsive Web Design? Ethan Marcotte first used the term Responsive Web Design in his article in A List Apart in May of 2010. Marcotte explains that designing for every screen size and device...
Are You Design-Driven? Probably Not. Kevin Richardson, Ph.D. / Fri, Jan 18, 2013 The phrase “design-driven” seems to be used a lot these days. From design blogs to books on building corporate culture to marketing campaigns, everyone either thinks they are “design-driven” or need to...
AVG’s new Windows 8 style UI (formerly known as Metro). Tobias Komischke / Wed, Sep 19, 2012 AVG is an anti-virus software. In anticipation of the upcoming Windows 8, they’ve just modernized their UI to look like Windows 8 style UI – what was formerly known as Metro. It used to look like...