Yearly Archives: 2012

Why social media forces companies to focus on User Experience Design

In the past, many companies relied heavily on their brand name and reputation to sell their products to their customer base. Any issues with usability or user experience were generally voiced directly to the company, doing little damage to the brand overall. However, in recent years, consumers more frequently take to the internet to discuss…

Client resistance in User Research and Usability Testing

Have you ever made a recommendation to a client based on user research or usability testing that was met with resistance? Sometimes client stakeholders can be so fixated on the end goal that they fail to give recommendations for redesign proper consideration, which can be another hurdle for User Interface and User Experience designers. One…

Usability Testing and UI Design: How do your competitors measure up?

How easy is it for your target consumer to use the competitors’ product? How long does it take them to complete a task? How often do they need help to complete a task? These are important questions to ask, and the answers come from conducting usability tests on the competition’s products. Evaluating the competition is…

Gamification and User Interface design

Gamification is defined as “The use of game play mechanics for non-game applications.” The integration of Gamification into your UI can be achieved on several different levels, from adding game-like graphical elements all the way to making the entire User Interface a “game”. When properly merged with a detailed task analysis, gamification can transform the…

Designing User Interfaces for users’ decision making

In theory, having lots of choices sounds ideal. However, when users are given too many options in a user interface it often increases the complexity of the decision, creates conflict and can often paralyze users when it’s time to decide. As UI and UX designers, we should always emphasize the importance of knowing our audience…

Flow and User Interface design

User Interface design flow keeps the user interested and the user experience fulfilling even after the novelty of an interface’s surface attributes wears off.  The understanding is that the effects of an interface’s “wow” factor will only last so long, and more permanent qualities are needed in delivering a compelling and successful user experience. The…

Can you “cheat” in User Interface design?

Are there ways in which you “cheat” when designing a quality user interface system? When the user changes apps on Apple’s iOS platform, the device captures a screenshot of that app and shows it when the system returns to the same application. This allows the app to appear instantly to the user instead of having…

Tips for great UI design and web applications

Going along with the earlier post concerning tips for effective icon design, what tips you find helpful for guaranteeing a successful user interface design and navigation? Detailed task analysis can give UI and UX designers a more thorough understanding of the feature sets and their hirearchy of importance, but what rules assist you towards enhancing…

Outsourcing User Research and Usability Testing

There is much to be said about the importance of design firms and their clients obsessing over doing user research themselves instead of outsourcing the responsibility. A few too many clients place a lesser importance on the feedback and results from user research, much to the product—and even the company’s—detriment.  The argument is made that…

Understanding user comments in user testing

When conducting user research and user testing, one pitfall to avoid is taking user suggestions and solutions at face value. It’s one thing for users to say they want a certain feature on your product. It’s quite another, though, to understand why they want that feature added. It is often the understanding of what resides…

Principles of User Interface Design

What would be the essentials to developing a successful user interface? An early study sheds light on some of the principles of UI design: Know your users and the systems currently used by your users; make sure there is consistency in behaviour throughout the UI; utilize visual feedback in the user interface to reflect changes;…

Rules to make your icons clear and intuitive and improve your UI design

Areteworks provides a list of rules that GUI designers should follow to ensure that users can identify and understand the meaning behind icons being used in your user interface design. Some of the rules listed for icon generation include always labeling your icons when space permits, making sure your icons have a consistent visual motif,…