7 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about Accessibility [Salesforce UX – Apr 15, 2015] – On the surface it may seem that placing these limits on your use of components, hover states, and visual design limit your creativity. If anything, these guidelines will push the limits of your... Read more
13 impressive statistics on user experience [InVision – Nov 24, 2015] – Having trouble getting your organization to realize just how important a great user experience is? Jozef Toth, Senior UX/UI Consultant at Pfizer, rounded up some of the most powerful stats on UX. You Don’t Need a Unicorn:... Read more
Mobile First Design: Why It’s Great and Why It Sucks [Code My Views] – There’s a growing trend in the industry though to flip this workflow on its head and actually begin with mobile considerations and then work up to a larger desktop version. Why would you ever approach... Read more
Google’s Usability Hygiene: How to Avoid Usability Problems [GobySavvy – May 25, 2015] – Google recently put together an extensive guide to mobile UX principles derived from best practices, UX reviews of numerous apps, HCI principles, and both Android and iOS guidelines. The guide can be used to help... Read more
The Accessibility Cheatsheet [bitsofco.de – Jun 02, 2015] – We all know that accessibility is important. The problem is, it is not always clear what exactly we can do to make our sites more accessible. The Web Accessibility Initiative created some Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) targeted at us,... Read more
Meet Elaine: A Persona- Driven Approach to Exploring Architecturally Significant Requirements [InfoQ – Dec 15, 2013] – More often than not, requirements elicited from stakeholders describe a system’s intended functionality but fail to address qualities such as performance, reliability, portability, and availability. Documenting these requirements is often overlooked because... Read more
The Value of Customer Journey Maps: A UX Designer’s Personal Journey [UXmatters – Sep 7, 2011] – Customer journey maps are documents that visually illustrate an individual customer’s needs, the series of interactions that are necessary to fulfill those needs, and the resulting emotional states a customer experiences throughout... Read more
1600 Fresh and New Sketch Freebies [WebDesignDev] – Sketch is a great software for designers which gives you the power, flexibility and speed you’ve always wanted in a lightweight and easy-to-use package. Sketch is relatively new but it is getting more and more popular each day, among designers and... Read more
In Search of a Living Design System [Mar 28, 2015] – This led to my “zomg!” moment. I realized that Sass + Style Guides = Awesome. I no longer needed to update color swatches when colors changed because it used the same variables – so swatches would already change... Read more
Touch Target Sizes [LukeW – May 03, 2010] @lukew – People interact with touch-based user interfaces with their fingers. So user interface controls have to be big enough to capture fingertip actions without frustrating users with erroneous actions and tiny targets. Ok, so how big? Touch Gesture Reference Guide... Read more
I enjoy reading provocative articles. Political media pundits make a good living by being provocative. When you’re provocative, you are remembered. It’s much better to be polarizing than to be lukewarm about a subject. Get people to either wholeheartedly agree with you or rustle people’s feathers. Well, my feathers... Read more
10 Golden Rules You Should Live By When Combining Fonts: Tips From a Designer [Design School – Mar 05, 2015] – That’s the (simultaneously frustrating and freeing) thing about art and design – there may be some rules; there may be some best practices; but there are very few... Read more
Automating Style Guide-Driven Development [Smashing Magazine – Mar 05, 2015] – Style guides – especially living ones – are useful in many aspects of development and maintenance, so it’s little wonder that developing them has become a highly recommended and a popular practice. But even with the clear benefits,... Read more
Google Material Design Guidelines [2014] – We challenged ourselves to create a visual language for our users that synthesizes the classic principles of good design with the innovation and possibility of technology and science. This is material design. This spec is a living document that will be updated as... Read more
The web has been around for a fairly long time now, as technology goes, so I think it’s safe to say that there are some examples of good designs. Some of the common tricks of the trade include the ability to help a user understand context (“You are here”,... Read more
GOV.UK User Research Methods Wiki [Hackpad] How UX Can Benefit From Copywriting: 7 Helpful Tips [UsabilityTools – Feb 27, 2015] – Copywriting and designing user experience may seem like two different professions, but there is something they have in common. Both copywriters and UX designers create elements that interact... Read more
Striking Letterhead Design: 20 Case Studies to Inspire You [Design School – Feb 25, 2015] – There’s something timeless and elegant about using a custom-designed letterhead for your business (or personal) correspondence. Your Brand Needs a Visual Style Guide: Here’s How to Create One [Design School – Feb 26,... Read more
3 Rules Of App Design, According To Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer [Co.Design – Jan 27, 2015] – Here are three rules that informs all of Mayer’s decisions when it comes to app design. What Every Young Designer Should Know, From Legendary Apple Designer Susan Kare [Co.Design – Dec 02, 2014]... Read more
I’ve seen a trend over the last few years in the user experience field. UXers have been making the transition into coaching. It’s not that they necessarily give up the important work of making products and services that make a difference in people’s lives. But they see something bigger.... Read more
11 websites that perfect UX by focusing on details [Webdesigner Depot – Jul 17, 2014] – Here are a variety of details – some related to the interface, others to interaction – to consider during your next web-based project. Brand Style Guide Examples, Hand-picked by Saijo George – Hand-picked... Read more