Usability - Smashing Magazine Boston User Interface and User Experience Design Studio | Involution Studios The Information Architecture Institute The Difference Between Usability and User Experience As long as there’s been an Internet, the discussion between user experience and usability has been explored. Although they are conceptually linked, taken separately, they highlight different elements of the human-computer interaction. Yet in these days of advanced user interfaces, from mobile devices to e-readers to tablets, has the line between user experience and usability blurred? The Road Throughout the early days of the Internet, the analogy of a road was widely used to describe usability and user experience. However, a road with a high level of user-experience is completely different. As the Internet has grown, so have the roads built by designers and developers. The road analogy is no longer sufficient to define user experience and usability. What Comes First? The Nielsen Norman Group says that: "User experience" encompasses all aspects of the end-user's interaction with the company, its services, and its products. Jakob Nielsen defines usability as: Continue reading this article:
10 Must-Follow Usability Experts on Twitter Nick Gould is CEO of usability and user experience design firm, Catalyst Group. He is @nickgould on Twitter. The popularity of the “#fail” meme on Twitter is proof positive that the tool is great for pointing out when things are wrong. “Usability” practitioners and those in the related fields of “user experience” or “user interface design” tend to be obsessed with fixing designs that aren't intuitive to use and helping their clients avoid those mistakes. You might be surprised by the range of things that are open to usability critiques: web site designs, ATM interfaces, beta software releases, confusing elevator buttons (all real examples from the Twitter feeds of usability pros). This is a list of must-follows for anyone interested in usability. 1. Who: Jared Spool deserves a seat in the usability pantheon right alongside Jakob Nielsen. Why: Jared Spool is unequivocally the most prolific and visible usability “guru” in the Twitter universe. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Who: W. 10.
Brain Sparks New Dates for UX Advantage: August 18-19 By Jared Spool April 30th, 2015 We’re changing the dates of UX Advantage to August 18 & 19. We love Baltimore. In light of what’s happening in Baltimore, we don’t think it’s right promoting this event at this time. Baltimore is a great city and we want to do an event there. Jared and Karen UIEtips: Extraordinarily Radical Redesign Strategies April 29th, 2015 In today’s UIEtips, we reprint an article on radical redesign strategies. Here’s an excerpt from the article: The day they flipped the switch and launched the new site, sales dropped by 20%. Read the article Extraordinarily Radical Redesign Strategies. What strategy have you put in place when planning a redesign? Rachel Nabors – Using Animation to Enhance Your UX By Sean Carmichael April 22nd, 2015 Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:23 — 9.6MB) [ Transcript Available ] Animation in interfaces has traditionally been seen as purely decorative and unnecessary. Read the rest of this entry »
IDEO | A Design and Innovation Consulting Firm Must have OS X apps for UX/UI developers and designers Yep, it’s the post every Mac user has to publish at least once in their lifetime. But hear me out now; If you’re a designer or developer, you might this list useful. Efficiency is the root of all evil I like efficiency. It takes time to learn how to be efficient. Interface On my MacBook Air 13”, I’ve hid my dock, to gain some vertical space for apps (yes, I know I can run apps in fullscreen). I run a few apps in fullscreen: SublimeText, Spotify, and Mail. I find it faster to run apps using the spotlight shortcut [Cmd + Space], and type in the first few letters of the app. Categorisation I have all my apps divided into four categories/folders: “Apple” (Dictionary, FaceTime, Photobooth, etc.). Apps (In order of usage) Dropbox for storage/backup. Google Chrome for browsing. SublimeText for coding. Adobe CS suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects) for design, photography, and videos. Mail for reading emails. Spotify for listening to music. Skype for chatting/video calls. Byword for writing.
UPA - The Usability Professionals' Association Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design The Five Competencies of User Experience Design By Steve Psomas Published: November 5, 2007 Throughout my career as a user experience designer, I have continually asked myself three questions: What should my deliverables be? “This framework comprises the competencies a UX professional or team requires.” I have found that, if I do not answer these questions prior to creating a deliverable, my churn rate increases and deadlines slip. When attempting to answer the third question, I use a framework I discovered early in my career: The Five Competencies of User Experience Design. This framework comprises the competencies a UX professional or team requires. Information Architecture When wearing the information architect hat, your job is designing a user interface (UI) structure that satisfies the corporate business strategy, product strategy, and user experience strategy and accommodates all use cases and product requirements. What are users’ primary goals, and how can they achieve them using the application? Interaction Design Visual Design