Which is a better method of analyzing user research and usability testing data, typing up your notes in a spreadsheet or creating an affinity diagram? In part 1 of this series, I discussed the advantages and disadvantages of using a spreadsheet. Here, in part two, I’ll discuss the advantages and disadvantages of affinity diagrams.

Analysis Spreadsheet

To review, in an analysis spreadsheet, each participant is listed…

In my 15 years in the field of user experience, I’ve analyzed a lot of user research and usability testing data. For most of that time, I’ve typed up and organized my notes in spreadsheets. I find a spreadsheet to be an ideal format for research notes, because it allows me to list participants in each column and tasks, problems, and themes across rows.

On larger projects, when analyzing data with a group of people, I…

As a visual designer at Infragistics I am always keeping my eyes open for effective dashboard designs to lend inspiration to projects. By browsing design-rich websites like Pinterest, Behance, or Dribbble I easily find collections that stimulate me. Many of the dashboards I come across are beautiful or at the very least aesthetically pleasing, but are they effective dashboards? Well, that would really depend on who the…