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How To Start Your UX Portfolio

by Sara Hamidi
When you are trying to look for an opportunity as a UX designer, whether it be an internship or a job, it is important to provide the employer with a portfolio full of your previous work so that they are able to gain insight into your style, strengths and weaknesses, and overall skill set. Having...
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Design Processes Go Beyond “User-Centered Design”

by Sara Hamidi
In the field of UX, the most popular and commonly used design approach is “User-Centered Design.” However, there are a variety of different design approaches that have risen in recent years, such as “Value-Sensitive Design” and “More-than-Human Design.” Each of these approaches are beneficial for a variety of different purposes, but in order to be...
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Spotify Vs. Apple Music: Whose UI is Best?

by Sara Hamidi
The rivalry between Apple Music and Spotify is a battle that music-lovers fight about everyday, but what exactly makes these two music streaming platforms so powerful, yet so different?  One of the key differences between these two platforms is the music player interface itself. While Spotify utilizes a dark background, Apple music goes with an...
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Why Psychology is a Vital Tool for UX Designers

by Sara Hamidi
One of the most important aspects of the design thinking process is the designers’ ability to empathize with users of their products. Without the keen ability to understand the user’s emotions, desires, and concerns, it’s difficult for designers to be successful. As a result, psychology is a highly relevant, yet overlooked field that can be...
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5 Top UI/UX Trends for 2021

by Sandhya Iyer
The field of UX is constantly changing, and we should expect nothing less in 2021. Here are five of the top design trends you should keep an eye out for (and look to implement) this year: 1) Motion Graphics — Animated elements on both mobile and desktop apps engage the user so much more than...
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Skills Every Budding UX Designer Should Have

by Sandhya Iyer
UX design is a field that’s always changing — the tools and softwares used, the guidelines for effective design, needs of consumers and clients — so in order for designers to build the best user experience, their “skill Rolodex” constantly needs to be up-to-date. Here are the current top skills all designers should know or...
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Improving UX Design with AI

by Sandhya Iyer
Artificial intelligence has been the biggest tech buzzword of the last few years. The idea of AI sometimes is daunting and reminiscent of science fiction, but it’s rapidly becoming integrated into different products and into the daily lives of many people. The more obvious examples of AI include Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google Home and...
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Increasing Diversity in Design

by Sandhya Iyer
Design, specifically UX and UI, lies at the intersection of understanding people, technology and branding. You can’t build effective, easy-to-use products and platforms without connecting with the end-user and understanding their needs, desires and pain points. So, technically, the more diverse a design team is — with regards to gender, race, thought, experiences, abilities and...
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Designing for Accessibility

by Sandhya Iyer
The Interaction Design Foundation succinctly summarizes the importance of accessible design: “A design is only useful if it’s accessible to the user: any user, anywhere, anytime.” People often think the need for accessibility is only targeted at people with disabilities, but really, it’s just about making sure that anyone can understand, interact with and contribute...
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Article.com Streamlines Login/Registration Experience

by Sandhya Iyer
The best changes to UX are those that satisfy needs you don’t even realize you have. Nearly every site you visit to purchase a product or read a few articles requires you to login to or create an account. But most login and registration experiences are over-complicated, with multiple options and the sign in versus...
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Designing Against Misinformation

by Sandhya Iyer
With our current 24/7 news cycle, we’re subject to new information from publications and across social media platforms nearly every second of the day. It’s overwhelming to begin with, but it becomes even worse when you have to sort through fake news as well, something most people didn’t realize was so prominent until the 2016...
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5 Tips to Stand Out in the Competitive Online Shopping Sphere

by Sandhya Iyer
Due to lockdown restrictions, many people have shopped online more in the last few months than they have their whole lives. But even during non-pandemic times, the ease and convenience of online shopping is often just too good to give up — does anyone really like to scavenge through clothing racks or wait in line...
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Gamification in Design

by Rachel Anderson
Today, the gaming industry in the United States and across the world is a multi-billion dollar industry. There are conferences, competitions, and communities everywhere you look. From Mario Kart to Fortnite, the global interest in games is obvious and intriguing. Given the stunning success of this hobby, how can other industries model the same? How...
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Visual Regression Testing: Automate UI QA

by Khaiersta English

If you are a designer for the web, you may, or may not work directly with engineers who implement your designs. If you do, you know that things can change. CSS classes can be disrupted and shift alignment. Font sizes, colors, and positioning can change as new elements are added. In the past, the only...
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A UX Lesson From Coffee

by Rachel Anderson
“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like.” Steve Jobs once quipped, “People think it’s this veneer – that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how...
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What Does Simple Really Mean?

by Rachel Anderson
Simple is a popular word in the design world. But, what does it actually mean? What do clients mean when they request simple interfaces? What do users mean when they say they like how simple an app is? With a word used as commonly as this one, it’s important to have some standard definition and...