What Is User Experience Design? Overview, Tools And Resources - Smashing Magazine

Advertisement Websites and Web applications have become progressively more complex as our industry’s technologies and methodologies advance. What used to be a one-way static medium has evolved into a very rich and interactive experience. But regardless of how much has changed in the production process, a website’s success still hinges on just one thing: how users perceive it. “Does this website give me value? Is it easy to use? User experience design is all about striving to make them answer “Yes” to all of those questions. What Is User Experience? User experience (abbreviated as UX) is how a person feels when interfacing with a system. Those who work on UX (called UX designers) study and evaluate how users feel about a system, looking at such things as ease of use, perception of the value of the system, utility, efficiency in performing tasks and so forth. UX designers also look at sub-systems and processes within a system. Why Is UX Important? There was no science behind what we did.

The Design Sprint — Google Ventures The sprint gives teams a shortcut to learning without building and launching. The sprint is a five-day process for answering critical business questions through design, prototyping, and testing ideas with customers. Developed at GV, it’s a “greatest hits” of business strategy, innovation, behavior science, design thinking, and more—packaged into a battle-tested process that any team can use. Working together in a sprint, you can shortcut the endless-debate cycle and compress months of time into a single week. This page is a DIY guide for running your own sprint. Underrated books: Overlooked fiction, nonfiction, and comics of 2014. Illustration by Jen Wang Slate’s Best Books of 2014 coverage: Monday: Slate staff picks. Jancar’s elegiac novel traces the modern history of Slovenia, from fascist and communist atrocities to the 1991 independence from Yugoslavia. Torie Bosch recommends The Sun Is God, by Adrian McKinty: This winter, if you’re tired of murder mysteries set in freezing Scandinavia, how about one set on a Pacific island? Presented as prose poems (which might be why you haven’t heard of it), this fizzy, sparkly, sometimes sarcastic collection is also a set of very funny, Twitter-worthy jokes about the way we live now, disguised as page after page of bizarre instructions for all-too-common situations: “How to Reset Your Password,” for example. Alexander Chee recommends Starting Over, by Elizabeth Spencer: The Seasons of Trouble, Indian journalist Rohini Mohan’s account of the end of the Sri Lankan civil war, is a remarkable feat of empathy. A.N. Jen Doll recommends Like No Other, by Una LaMarche:

The Elements of Typographic Style: Robert Bringhurst: 9780881791327: Amazon.com: Books Unit Editions — Manuals 2 Manuals 2Design and Identity Guidelines After the success of Manuals 1 [Unit 15] there was never any doubt that Manuals 2 [Unit 18] would follow. In this book, Unit Editions presents another thorough compendium of graphic standards and corporate identity manuals. Manuals 2 features a mix of 20 outstanding American and European design manuals. Each is photographed in exquisite detail and accompanied by meticulous descriptions of their physical make-up. Featured manuals include IBM, Westinghouse, Canadian Rail, Bell, Knoll, PTT, Montreal Olympics and Dutch Police. The book comes with a substantial essay by design historian Roger Remington (Vignelli Distinguished Professor of Design) and an insightful text by Martha Fleming, daughter of Allan Fleming, designer of the Canadian Railways logo. Also included are in-depth interviews with Michael Burke (UK/Germany), Sean Wolcott (USA), Liza Enebeis (NL) and John Bateson (UK) – all experts in the field of identity design.