Writings
Random Musings on UX & Life
Are we shortchanging users with simplistic designs?
I initially thought it was an April Fool’s Day joke. The Nielsen Norman Group recently published an article titled Difficult Designs Are Better (for Humanity) by Kara Pernice. I read it. Then I read it again. I reflected on it for a few days and thought they might be...
UX Style Guides & Pattern Libraries the Easy Way
Style guides and pattern libraries are about as fun to put together as specifications and annotated wireframes. I don’t know too many of my colleagues who enjoy either of these UX documentation activities. But, they are often a necessary component of our work as well...
The Case for Improving the Design & Experience of Existing Products vs. Building New Products
I had a conversation with a colleague of mine a few months ago concerning aggressive release timelines within a certain organization. We talked about some of the giants in the technology industry such as Apple, Samsung and Microsoft. Each of these organizations finds...
Reflecting on 2015: UX Successes & Failures
The new year is upon us leaving many of us the opportunity to reflect on the past 12 months. What have we done? What are we going to do? What was good and what was bad or needs work? In terms of being a user experience and interface designer, I am ending this year on...
The Folly of Online Reviews: A Crime Against Logic
I recently wrote about reviews and how they often ruin my experience in terms of dining out, selecting a product or even finding a hotel. The gist of the post was: I am finding reviews drive my choices entirely too much. In addition, I use them to objectify a product...
UX Retro: Trending & “Untrending” in User Experience
A few months back, I had a friend of mine (Jeff Segal) contact me about user experiences and how they become obsolete. I was somewhat resistant to this idea because I reasoned an "experience" doesn't become obsolete - a technology, concept or idea becomes obsolete. So...
User Experience & Customer Reviews
I have realized something lately. My user experience is being ruined by reviews – for everything. This is exacerbated by the fact virtually nothing is exempt from being reviewed online today. The local Steak-N-Shake has a 3-star rating near my office. Who bothers to...
Would you like to save before exit? The UX of Save Dialogues
I recently went through a long and complicated discussion of our exit dialog here at my company (GN ReSound). In the process, I realized how complicated Save and Exit Dialogs can be for a user (and designer!). There has been some...
Do We Over-Think UX Design…And Underestimate the User?
One of the irritations of being a user experience designer is everyone believes they are a user on some level...even me. This means you are constantly bombarded with suggestions in meetings and in passing. This doesn't happen to developers, for example. I've never sat...
eBook Design, the Future & a Better Mousetrap
My wife has always had this curious habit when reading a book. She enjoys listening to the audio version of a book, but will rarely purchase the audio version opting instead to borrow it from the library and listen to it during her daily commute. Some weeks she...
Creepy Robots, Return Envelopes & The Little Things in User Experience
As a designer, I find I have an uncontrollable urge to deconstruct things - to reverse engineer both things that work poorly and those that work extremely well. The stuff that falls in the middle usually escapes my scrutiny. This could be due, in part, to genetics...
An Open Letter to Recruiters
I recently happened upon an article published via LinkedIn that, while not entirely representative of job recruiters as a profession, did indirectly epitomize the underbelly of the recruiting process. The article is entitled “The Recruiter Never Called Me Back”...
Walking with Jasmine: The Value of Life Experiences
I lost the best friend of my life this past week. And as a U.S. Marine, I’ve had some pretty damn good friends in my lifetime – friends who would have risked life and limb for me. But this friend was different having unprecedented honor and loyalty worthy of the...
What’s Wrong with the Interview?
I have become increasingly dissatisfied with the interview process over the past few years and I don’t think this is because the people who interview me or are interviewed by me are getting worse. I think, for one, it is a natural result of a maturing career and some...
More Press on ReSound LiNX Made for iPhone Hearing Aid
I keep wondering and daydreaming at how we might be able to integrate devices into our lives - specifically as they relate to our healthcare. With fitness monitors now connecting to our smartphones and hearing aids connecting to our smartphones, will the phone...
Don’t Make Me Wait! Presentation & Resources
This is by no means meant to be an exhaustive list of resources on this topic. However, they do represent resources I found helpful in compiling the following presentation. In addition, many of the resources are rife with citations and sources of their own if you care...
Communicating Design with UX Demo Videos
I have become somewhat fascinated over the past year or two in how we communicate design (as this is where I usually have the most trouble with clients/stakeholders). It is, indeed, a critical component of the UX and development process. And, as I have noted in a...
A Practical Guide to UX Specifications
So you figured out your design, met all the requirements and managed to create an interface that not only solves the end-users’ problems, but is also aesthetically appealing. You might even have developed a prototype and conducted a little usability testing on the...