Great collection, now what.
“Resource, showing 150 different types of datavis/charts, each with examples and type of data represented.”
On becoming a UX manager: New skills, requirements, and rewards
UX settles in the tactical (managerial) area.
“One of the most exciting career transitions one can go through, regardless of the discipline, is from individual contributor to manager. Becoming manager of a user experience team adds to that already-momentous transition its own unique set of issues, considerations, and requirements. While the learning curve can be steep, the rewards of UX management are many. Watching teammates grow professionally is immensely gratifying, as is seeing a high-functioning team address complex business challenges with ease. Furthermore, it is an exciting time to be a leader in the UX discipline as strategically minded managers have the opportunity to make design and research a vital part of their organization’s strategy.”
Jerrod Larson a.k.a. /jerrod-larson ~ The Magazine of the User Experience Professionals Association 17.4 ★
A unified theory for designing just about anything
A claim and position statement.
“All designing should start with understanding the context in which the thing will be created and eventually exist.”
Christina Wodtke a.k.a. /christinawodtke | @cwodtke ★
Computational design
Thinking, designing and doing with, by and for computers.
“Computational thinking refers to a deliberative process that finds a computational solution for a concern. Computational doing refers to use of computation and computational tools to address concerns. Computational design refers to creating new computational tools and methods that are adopted by the members of a community to address their concerns. Unfortunately, the definitions of both “thinking” and “doing” are fuzzy and have allowed misconceptions about the nature of algorithms. Fortunately, it is possible to eliminate the fuzziness in the definitions by focusing on computational design, which is at the intersection between thinking and doing. Computational design is what we are really after and would be a good substitute for computational thinking and doing. (…) Computational design is where the power of the computing revolution is showing up. Computational design is what we are really after and would be a good substitute for computational thinking and doing.”
Peter J. Denning a.k.a. /peter-denning ~ Ubiquity (August 2017) ★
Capturing the value of design thinking in different innovation practices
Happy twins? Design thinking and innovation.
“Design thinking has become a popular notion in the field of innovation. What is design thinking really and—even more important—what could be its value in applying it in innovation practices? This paper presents four studies that together capture the value of design thinking in different early-stage innovation practices. Study 1 comprised a literature review on design thinking to form the basis of an agreed domain of discourse for design thinking in innovation. In Study 2, this shared domain of discourse was validated. This shared domain of discourse provided the input for Study 3, which investigated how innovators apply design thinking in early-stage innovation practices. It shows that the application of design thinking is dependent on the innovator’s aim for the project, his or her vision on innovation, and the main challenge s/he is facing. This combination of characteristics is termed an image of design thinking. The images frame the application design activities in the context of the specific innovation project. Study 4 successfully validated the four images and shows that the combination of the images and the agreed domain of discourse can serve as a common language and a tool that allow capturing the value of design thinking in early-stage innovation.”
M. Kleinsmann, R. Valkenburg, and J. Sluijs ~ International Journal of Design (11.2) ★
Improving UX with the concept of Artificial Intelligence
UX designers have to become computational thinkers as well.
“UX designers have years of experience in creating the best design elements, and most of the time the results of which carries a UX designer to be largely positive in terms of increased interaction and achieving the bottom line. However, there is a gap between the positive change brought by UX designers and what should be the utopian final script interaction. The results may be better, but the UX design in this world cannot guarantee that every user will like everything on the website or application. There will always be some people who adore in other parts of the conversion path with a focus on UX. The main reason for this is not enough customization in the UX design to optimize the interests of each user separately. Each user is different and needs a different treatment. UX design works on a global level but there is still a gap and potential that can be achieved and brands help to invest more in significant UX design.”
Melissa Crooks a.k.a. /msmelissacrooks ~ home toys ★
Information in the ecosystem: Against the information ecosystem
Deep thinking on the meaning, impact and context of information a.k.a. info.
“The “information ecosystem” metaphor is widely used in academic libraries and has become nearly ubiquitous when speaking of the information systems that support scholarly communication and varied forms of data sharing and publication. The trending use of this language arises from non-academic applications — for example in big data (the Hadoop ecosystem) or software development (the node.js ecosystem) — and there remains little critical examination of the use of this metaphor. Indeed, the definition of ecosystem as the set of relations between living organisms and their surrounding non-living environment is apparently not directly a part of the metaphor. This paper first describes the emergence of ecological thinking and how it was influenced by early information science and then explores how different ‘ecologies’ are used within the academy, including in the emergent field of information ecology. A short critique of the metaphor is then posed and the paper concludes that the information ecosystem metaphor is useful, yet at the same time there are dangerous elements that render aspects of human societies and natural ecosystems invisible.”
Timothy B. Norris and Todd Suomela ~ First Monday (22.9) ★
Does HCI scale? Scale hacking and the relevance of HCI
If you can scale, you can deliver at any level of abstraction.
“HCI has had a massive impact on the world through streamlining and enabling millions of interfaces on billions of devices. As we face the potential of a tenfold increase in the number of devices and their complexity, it is worth asking about the relationship between HCI and scale. Do the tools and research methods we currently deploy scale to the millions of future interfaces and systems, used by billions of people, across multiple contexts? In this article we outline how we see the challenge of scale. By scale we mean how technology is used in large networks of interconnected systems, with billions of users, across diverse contexts. How can we understand and design for this complex of interconnected uses? Put simply, does HCI scale?”
Barry Brown, Susanne Bødker, and Kristina Höök ~ Interactions XXIV.5 ★
What about ethics in design?
The best talent spending their energy on conversion buttons. Think!
“Ethics and design should be looked at in context. Despite many claims to do so, this actually happens rarely.”
Dieter Petereit a.k.a. @dpetereit ~ noupe ★
Usability testing of spoken conversational systems
Good old usability testing for brand new technologies.
“The philosophy behind usability testing for speech-enabled systems is shared with general usability practices, but many usability practitioners have little or no experience testing speech interfaces, and the specific techniques required for collecting valid and reliable data are not widely understood. Spoken language and conversation have a number of properties that should influence the methods used to test speech user interfaces.”
Susan L. Hura a.k.a. /susan-hura | @SpeechUsability ~ Journal of Usability Studies 12.4 ★
Integrating animation into a design system
Perceived behavior of the machine triggers human behavior.
“Keeping animation choreography cohesive from the outset of a project can be challenging, especially for small companies. Without a dedicated motion specialist on the team, it can be difficult to prioritize guidelines and patterns early in the design process. What’s more likely to happen is that animations will be added as the product develops.”
Alla Kholmatova a.k.a. /allakholmatova | @craftui ~ A List Apart ★
To be a design-led company
Design as the primary organizational competence. I see John Maeda’s hand in this.
“What got us here won’t get us there. I want to have design leading the way. A lot more user research. A lot more mockups.(…) Design as tactical driver: where design alters a discrete product, service, or communication effort. Design for system innovation: where design alters an existing system or creates a new one to deliver a better solution. Design as a catalyst for transformation: where design changes attitudes and behaviors of a community or organization.”
Ashleigh Axios a.k.a. /ashleighaxios | @AshleighAxios ~ A8C DESIGN ★
Accessibility for visual design
Creating color, typography and lay-out to fit humans, all of them.
“They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As designers, we need to remember that the same is true of color and all visual abilities. It’s estimated that 4.5% of the global population experience color blindness (that’s 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women), 4% suffer from low vision (1 in 30 people), and 0.6% are blind (1 in 188 people). It’s easy to forget that we’re designing for this group of users since most designers don’t experience such problems.”
Nick Babich a.k.a. /nbabich | @101babich ~ UX Booth ★ courtesy of @MikeClickr
Human-centered machine learning: 7 steps to stay focused on the user when designing with ML
New technology waves are ahead of us.
“Machine learning is the science of helping computers discover patterns and relationships in data instead of being manually programmed. It’s a powerful tool for creating personalized and dynamic experiences, and it’s already driving everything from Netflix recommendations to autonomous cars. But as more and more experiences are built with ML, it’s clear that UXers still have a lot to learn about how to make users feel in control of the technology, and not the other way round.”
Jess Holbrook a.k.a. /jessholbrook courtesy of O’Reilly Design ★
Personas vs. Jobs-to-Be-Done
Great for your empathy.
“Jobs-to-be-done focus on user problems and needs, while well-executed personas include the same information and also add behavioral and attitudinal details.”
Page Laubheimer a.k.a. /page-laubheimer | @page_level ~ Nielsen Norman Group ★
The profession of UX won’t disappear, but adapt
Adaption is the strategy of survival.
“After 17 years in the profession of User Experience—the past 10 in consulting with enterprise customers over a wide range of industries—amidst all these swirling pontifications about the demise of User Experience, I can confidently add my resounding support for the continuation of the profession of User Experience. Organizations will always need people who focus on how other people interact with technology and products. Of course, there is no doubt that we will have to adapt, but to what do we need to adapt?”
Baruch Sachs a.k.a. /baruchsachsuserexperience | @basachs ~ UX matters ★
The revolution will not be handheld
Moving beyond pushing pixels and designing under sea level with our iceberg.
“For those working in UX through the past several years, the shift from desktop to mobile has seemed a major event. No longer are our devices clearly situated. Instead they travel with us. Technology is now an appendage—always available in every moment of time, anywhere. (according to Holtzblatt & Beyer, 2017). The shift has forced changes to the way we design. We must cater for shallower engagement, support tasks across multiple devices, pare down UIs for smaller screens, and support touch-based manipulation.”
Gerry Gaffney a.k.a. /gerrygaffney | @gerrygaffney ~ Journal of Usability Studies 12.3 ★
Monitoring user experience through product usage metrics
Sailing towards the ultimate goal, the cybernetics of compelling experiences. Metrics as the foundation of its feedback loop.
“User experience teams have many types of data at their disposal to ascertain the quality of a digital product’s user experience. Traditionally, these sources have focused on direct customer feedback through methods such as interviews and usability studies, as well as surveys[1] and in-product feedback mechanisms. Beyond survey methodologies, however, it can be time-consuming to create a recurring channel of in-depth UX insights through these traditional UX research methods because they require time to conduct, analyze, and create reports of findings.”
Jerrod Larson a.k.a. /jerrod-larson ~ Boxes and Arrows ★
UX design for big data applications
Re-inventing UX design for new technology waves.
“Through machine learning and artificial intelligence, organizations can use big data to predict our next actions – sometimes even better than we can predict them ourselves. The implications of big data are enormous—enabling us to view suggested products while on a retailer’s Web site, receive recommendations to connect with people who we might know on social-media sites, and benefit from smart IoT devices that gather data from us and those who are similar to us, then act accordingly. Organizations in the healthcare and financial arenas use big-data systems to spot potential adverse events, while also pinpointing scenarios that can bring increased profits and positive outcomes.”
Janet M. Six a.k.a. /janetmsix ~ UXmatters ★
Intelligence on tap: AI as a new design material
AI is eating the HCI world.
“There has been a revolution, but it snuck up on us so gradually that you’d be forgiven if you missed it. It’s called artificial intelligence, and it will have a profound impact on how we design digital products in the near future.”
Lars Holmquist ~ Interactions XXIV.4 ★
