Posted on

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...
Posted on

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...
Posted on

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...
Posted on

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...
Posted on

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...
Posted on

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...
Posted on

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...
Posted on

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...
Posted on

The Complement of Repeat Business

by Khaiersta English
If you’re working as a designer, chances are you’re working for clients. Your clients may be in-house departments or different companies. Either way, the dynamics are largely the same. If you do a good job listening, creating, and delivering solutions for clients, they will pay you back with repeat business, testimonials, and referrals. If your...
Posted on

Young UX: Designing for Children

by Rachel Anderson
Today, more than ever before, young children have access to technology. With this newer trend, designers and developers have an opportunity to create products that are educational and exciting, while also ensuring safety and privacy. How can we design best for this unique user base? Let’s explore a few ways to do this!   Make...
Posted on

The State of UX in 2019 Report Summary

by Rachel Anderson
At the beginning of a new year, it’s important to take time and consider the previous 365 days – for learning, reflection, and growth. Since 2016, the UX Collective has published a summary report on the State of UX – what designers, thinkers, and engineers were designing, doing, and developing. This year’s report was a...
Posted on

5 Things You Need to Know Before Planning Your Next Website System Design

by Khaiersta English
Designers are problem solvers. We make order from chaos. There is a certain reward to be had from battling disordered systems and bringing information together in logical ways. Sometimes, it feels like putting together a puzzle. A large part of what goes into successful problem solving is understanding the framework from which to judge success....
Posted on

Five UX Design Books to Add to Your Reading List

by Khaiersta English
In the world of user experience design, there are many approaches to solving design problems. Depending on how you gained your education and experience in the field, you may prefer one approach or another. I find it is helpful to read about other people’s experiences and approaches to solving design problems. Often, opportunities present themselves...
Posted on

Understanding Emotional Design

by Khaiersta English
Emotions play a crucial role in how we understand and experience the world. For generations scientists, psychologists and designers have worked to capture the essence of human emotion and various ways to appeal to it. Don Norman, author of Emotional Design made some valuable observations, which every designer should be familiar with. Where cognitive science...
Posted on

Designing Better Forms, A Top 10 Guide

by Khaiersta English
In digital product design, forms are a necessary evil. Whether you’re designing a registration flow, checkout experience or settings page, forms allow you to collect data from the end-user. There are fundamental best-practices you can use when putting forms together, which will help users process requests more quickly, increase data entry accuracy and increase your...
Posted on

SVGs: Vectors for the Web

by Khaiersta English
When working on visual design for the web, choosing the correct image format is essential.  The rise of responsive design, mobile devices, and high-pixel-density displays have made this process trickier than ever. When working with photography, and 3D imagery, JPGs and PNGs are still the best formats to use. Saving images up for 2x to...
Posted on

How to Quickly Evaluate Browser Compatibility for New Web Technologies

by Khaiersta English
When designing for the web, designers and developers are often tempted by new technologies. Recent advancements such as embedded fonts, parallax scrolling, JS animation, SVGs etc. have had varying levels of cross-platform support. Depending on the requirements of your website or application, browser support limitations may become a deal-breaker to including modern UI/UX advancements. Can...