User Experience.UX Design

SEO and UX Design

User experience, and our abilities as designers to guide and influence it positively, "starts from when you first hear about a product," says Don Norman. And we should listen. After all, he coined "user experience design" over a decade ago. So what does search engine optimization (SEO) have to with user experience design? If we accept Norman's definition of user experience; everything. Often the first impre... Read Full SEO and UX: Common Goals Article »

Design Bliss, Even In A Down Economy

In the world of software interaction design we talk a lot about empathic design. That's good, because designing well means understanding well the people we're designing for. But can we have empathy without compassion? Empathy and compassion can not only make us and others feel good, they are practical, useful tools we can apply to our design craft. Of course, we don't only design for "u... Read Full Design Bliss Article »

User Interface Pre-cog's Predict End of the Mouse

We've likely all seen it: John Anderton, played by Tom Cruise, snaps on his information man-handling gloves and proceeds to literally manipulate the recorded premonitions (future memories?) served up by the pre-cog (not to be confused with a Happy Cog) trinity, deftly Read Full Minority Report Mouse’s Deminse Article »

The Peril and Promise of Web "3.0"

As you probably know the etymology of "democratic" is Greek; prefix demo- "people" + kratia "rule". People rule in a democracy. If people rule in your design process, then it is essentially a democratic project. But ask yourself, do they rule... really? Being a human-centered designer, and applying empathic design practices, are not just a matter of making web... Read Full How Sociable Is Your Media? Article »

How To Win Users and Influence Their Behavior

Most of us who have practiced, and sometimes merely preached, user-centered design understand that at its core it means giving people what they want, not what we think they do, and especially to strive never, ever, to assume that they want what we do. This requires methodical testing and reliance on empirical data. Sure, with exposure to enough of it, continually, over time we can find common patters of how people do things via human-computer interactions. And something of How To Win Users Article »

Physics, The Internet, and Culture, Oh My!

The Web (yes, it is a place) has expanded network consciousness. As life itself is now widely considered to be a network of networks, inter-connected by information feedback loops allowing co-evolution, will human society's impact on nature become more, well, natural? The internet-based hypertext web, so far, has proven a great journey for much of ... Read Full Can The Web Save Us? Article »

Of Bugs and Humbugs

We all have blind spots. Literally and figuratively. Blind spots are areas of reality we are not normally aware of. We have blind spots of vision (physiological), blind spots of perception (experiential and cultural), even of blind spots of themselves (psychological). Not to worry, though; it's only natural. It's because, dear reader, mother nature loves you... she doesn't want you to see everything at at once. Imagine how overwhelming it would be to take in all of the information surrounding you, ... Read Full Stumbling on Usability Article »