Sometimes it’s good to think outside the box. The Mozilla Developer Roadshow gave Markus Seyfferth the opportunity to get up close with developers in Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Hong Kong. How do they work? How do they learn? And what are their local communities like? Let’s find out!
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UX designers use a lot of different research techniques, such as interviews and workshops. They summarize research findings into user stories and user flows and communicate their thinking and solutions to the teams. But somewhere in all of this, there are real people for whom the products are being designed for.
In order to create better products, designers must understand what’s going on in the user’s world. And that’s where storyboards come in. In this article, Nick Babich will focus on storyboards as a means to explore solutions to UX issues, as well as to communicate these issues and solutions to others.
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Designers need to create the most usable and attractive websites possible, and well applied minimalist principles can help designers make attractive and effective websites with fewer elements. Minimalist websites simplify interfaces by removing unnecessary elements and paring down content that does not support user tasks. In this article, Nick Babich will discuss some examples of minimalism in web design, things to consider when designing minimalist interfaces, and explain why sometimes “less is more”.
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UX professionals need to communicate design ideas and research findings to a range of audiences. They use deliverables for that purpose. Don’t be surprised by the number of deliverables Nick Babich mentions in this article. Rest assured, each project is different and a UX designer wouldn’t need to produce all of them for each project. Remember that there is no one-size-fits-all deliverable that will be equally effective for all projects. Each deliverable becomes an effective communication tool in the right context and with the right audience.
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Few design elements are more fun to play with than color. Color effects can be dramatic, impressive and even serene. It can draw attention, set a mood, and influence the user’s emotion, perception and actions. When it comes to the web and mobile app design, this is definitely a time of vibrant colors. You the designer really get to experiment when using color effects. Whether you are a fan of bright, bold hues or prefer a more minimalist black and white, the one thing to remember is that there are no wrong colors. What matters most is how you use them. In this article, Nick Babich will summarize a few popular techniques of using vibrant colors in web and mobile design.
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Scrolling opens a lot of new doors to designers. The technique of long scrolling allows users to traverse chunks of content without any interruption or additional interaction — information simply appear as the user scrolls down the page. Long scrolling has benefits such as translating well to mobile devices, or having more potential to engage users. In this article, Nick Babich will discuss some of the benefits, things to consider and quick tips for long scrolling.
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A 2014 study found that people with easier-to-pronounce names are deemed “more trustworthy”. Atif Azam built Vocalizer (a simple, lightweight JavaScript plugin that facilitates the accessibility of difficult to pronounce names) to solve a problem that has persisted all his life. Now, he hopes this will prove useful to others, helping them solve the same problem.
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Skilled UX design is aerodynamic. Any bumps on the way will drag the whole plane down. Designers need to cater to their users any chance they get, so don’t make them think any more than they have to. In this article, Danny Halarewich will share some tips to reduce cognitive overload, such as using a range of content types and structured page composition to avoid visual clutter, or to remove redundancies wherever you can. Also, keep an eye out for ways to minimize the number of steps users must take or the amount of effort they must expend.
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Experience and the memory of experience are related but systematically different. Everyone has two selves, the experiencing self and the remembering self, but the remembering self does the learning, judging and deciding. Memory is a collection of snapshots that gives extra weight to the most intense moment and the final moment of an experience. In this article, Curt Arledge is going to provide some tips for designing for experiences that leave a lasting positive impression.
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Parents are less willing to let their children play outdoors without direct supervision. As a result, children spend most of their free time in organized sports, music and arts activities. This results in less time for unstructured play than in previous generations. Digital technology is often blamed for children not going outside. Yet studies have shown little difference in the outdoor time of children who follow the American Academy of Pediatrics media guidelines and those who do not. When done right, digital technology can help solve the unique challenge of motivating children to go from indoors to outdoors and then to connect with nature.
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