All posts from
June 2010

Designing with Behavioral Economics

Added on 7 June 2010 Peter Bogaards
“Much of economics theory is based on the premise that people are rational decision-makers. In recent years, behavioral economics—also known as behavioral finance—has emerged as a discipline, bringing together economics and psychology to understand how social, cognitive, and emotional factors influence how people make decisions, both as individuals and at the market level. Many of the findings of behavioral economics have a direct influence on how users interact with a product. In a worst‑case scenario, a product’s design may encourage user behaviors that are detrimental to users’ best interests.” (Peter Hornsby ~ UXmatters)

Personas as User Assistance and Navigation Aids

Added on 7 June 2010 Peter Bogaards
“A lot of work goes into creating personas, and I was delighted to discover this innovative way in which the team carried forward the benefits of that work into the final product, where users could benefit from it as well. The personas also provide a rich form of user experience by portraying typical practices for effectively using the portal. I recommend that other UX designers consider applying personas in this way—initially using these user research artifacts during design, then incorporating them into products as user assistance and navigation aids.” (Mike Hughes ~ UXmatters)

Jakob Nielsen critiques the iPad’s usability failings

Added on 3 June 2010 Peter Bogaards
“There were really a lot of usability problems in this first-generation of iPad applications. It’s often quite difficult for people to discover what they have to do because the options are not very visible. I have to say of both the device itself and the content, it’s very attractive, which is good. But at the same time, overemphasising the attractiveness and hiding the functionality, that does cause problems.” (The Guardian) – courtesy of oliverreichenstein

The How, What, and Why framework for Experience Design

Added on 2 June 2010 Peter Bogaards
“Many companies have used the phrase “content is king” in recent years to talk about the importance of the material their sites ship. I heard this phrase first at Adobe Max a few years ago and have since noticed it in a number of places online. I think this is near to the mark but not quite there. In our framework here I’ve rephrased it as “The ‘why’ is king” because it puts the user at the center. Your content is pretty important to your site, but without users it’s kind of worthless. The reason your users are coming to your site is of preeminent importance – that should drive your content. Then your content can drive your presentation, etc. etc.” (R.J. Owen ~ Inside RIA)