Any user experience designer worth their salt takes the needs of the company they’re serving into account and adapts their approach accordingly — identifying the appropriate process, methods and tools to get the job done. This has been the case for as long as information architecture and interaction design have been in practice. Rigid methodology [Keep Reading…]
Literally Desperate
There’s something I have to metaphorically get off my chest. You literally don’t have a clue what “literally” actually means. Literal is defined as: actual; absolute. Literally is defined as: in the explicit meaning of the word; without embellishment or exaggeration; not as an idiom or metaphor. I’m not the first person to plead this [Keep Reading…]
If the product doesn’t work, its “user experience” doesn’t matter
I recently edited an article for UX Magazine (When You Startup with UX) in which I interviewed four startups on what User Experience means to them. Of all the things that people said, the quote that stood out to me the most was from Mike Singleton, a developer at Foursquare: “…when you only have three [Keep Reading…]
Inspiration and Aspiration
The words inspiration and aspiration are often used interchangeably, and I think it’s important that we draw a clearer distinction. Inspiration is defined as, “the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something.” Aspiration is, “a hope or ambition of achieving something.” Stimulation versus ambition. Excitement versus action. And most significantly, external versus [Keep Reading…]
Questions show passion, not doubt
I was recently contacted by someone to contribute to a project they’re working on. It was a well-connected and well-respected person whose work I’ve followed for years, so naturally I was quite excited by the inquiry. The initial email was a bit sparse — describing the project in just a couple sentences — and while [Keep Reading…]
