Archive for the “IA/UX” category
Managing Complex UX Deliverables
by jpreardon on July 21, 2011
Sometimes, people forget that the various UX deliverables on a given project are strongly interrelated. By this, I mean that a deliverable influences and informs downstream deliverables, while the downstream deliverables should support and expand on those that were created (…)
Advice for Small UX Teams
by jpreardon on July 20, 2011
Out of necessity, people on small user experience teams need to be generalists, especially when they are a team of one or two. UX Matters has some great pointers for small UX teams, from selling yourself to getting things done (…)
Metaphors for Explaining Pair Design
by jpreardon on July 19, 2011
It can be difficult to explain the ways by which things get created. The people at Cooper generally have two roles on their pair design teams: Generators and Synthesizers. But,this nomenclature may not go over so well “with parents or (…)
Wireframe Primer
by jpreardon on July 16, 2011
Wireframes are old hat to anyone who has been working on web sites and applications for more than, say, 5 minutes. However, for those that aren’t involved in web design, wireframes can be a bit of a mystery. If you’re (…)
How to Win a User Experience Debate
by jpreardon on July 13, 2011
Stakeholders generally provide plenty of design feedback. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s not. Sometimes the feedback is so counter to a good user experience that you, as the UX designer, are compelled to take a stand. If you’ve been around (…)
Three Tactics for Better Wireframe Presentations
by jpreardon on July 12, 2011
Wireframes can be misconstrued by stakeholders if they are not presented in the right way. Everyone has their own way of presenting wireframes, and most are always on the lookout for ways to improve. These three tactics for making more (…)
Orienteering vs. Teleportation: Designing for Both Novices and Experts
by jpreardon on July 6, 2011
One of the challenges faced by user interface designers is how to make the interface work for novices, experts and everyone in between. These groups come to a site or application bringing different types of knowledge, therefore they require different (…)
Experience Modeling
by jpreardon on July 5, 2011
How can one go about effectively communicating user experience design to their team? Marc Sasinski puts forth one method in his article, Experience Design Models. He walks through the example of an online service that pays household bills to demonstrate (…)
Prototypes Application Creates Quick iPhone Prototypes
by jpreardon on July 2, 2011
Sometimes it’s hard to understand how a particular design is going to work from a user experience standpoint, especially on a mobile device. With the Prototypes application you can quickly turn design comps (or even wireframes and sketches) into a (…)
Requirements and User Experience
by jpreardon on June 27, 2011
Greg Laugero has an excellent writeup on Matching Requirements with User Experience at Johnny Holland Magazine. His examples of enhancing requirements, which are often incomplete, with interaction design tools, such as user stories, during the design phase are great. This (…)