Field Notes.
Journal
Working notes: ideas, observations, and half-written pieces. Some will grow into essays, some will stay this size.
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Forms, kids, and a library lady
I was in the library just the other day. My daughter and her class are planning a field trip to the library in a week or so, and I had to make a library card for her. I filled in the form and handed it to the lady behind the counter. She turned to her computer and started entering information in what looked like a fairly well designed application, clean interface, neatly laid out forms.
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Details matter a lot
I burned my hand on the stove top that was not in use, but was still very hot. It has a Hot Stove light indicator, but I did not see it. I say see, not notice, for a reason. This is an important detail.
The thing is, I am tall, probably taller than the average. I cannot see the light hiding behind the knob from up high. My wife, who is shorter, sees it just fine. Not sure how the decision was made to place the indicator there. It would be so much better if it was on top of the knob, or at least in between the two knobs if the circuitry imposes a limitation.
It is surprising how effective this little light is. It is a strong visual cue with an important message: The stove top is still hot. Be careful. It works really well, provided it is seen.
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What can we learn about design from a paper dispenser
The paper dispenser was designed to be used with stacks of paper towels. Those were replaced with a paper roll. It is nearly impossible to pull paper out of it with wet hands.
So what is the problem?
You might say, it is not used as intended. Cannot argue with that. But then if the intention for it is to dispense paper, why does it work with just one type of paper? There might be many reasons:
- To keep the manufacturing costs down
- Customers asked only for this kind
- This is how executives like their paper served, and they are convinced that the whole world does too
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Marketing modals are bad for user experience
I was driving home from work the other day. A guy in front of me decided that he needed to turn, but he either got lost in the moment, or simply thought it was not necessary. He did not signal his turn. He was going pretty slowly, so there was little chance for an accident. I recalled how many times I was in similar but potentially more dangerous situations on the road when drivers were turning, or changing lanes without bothering to signal their intent. The problem is that without a definite signal, behaviour on the road is unexpected and unpredictable. And being caught by surprise on the road is unlikely a desirable thing.
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Don't set goals. Set constraints.
Do you ever set goals just to find that you cannot meet them?
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A simple checklist to kickstart any project
I have a love/hate relationship with new projects. It's all about new. New means fresh, and different, and challenging, but it also means unfamiliar and unknown. "What if I don't have what it takes to come up with a solution? I don't even know what this is all about…" All kinds of things cross my mind. Even now, with dozens of projects behind my back, I still get this creeping fear of the unknown. It is there, but it doesn't scare me much anymore, because I developed a system, a mental checklist that I use to get started.
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What I learned from building a basement
Big projects take time
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Why I rarely wireframe
I have a confession to make. I am a UX designer who doesn't wireframe. What?! Blasphemy! An outrage! Well, trust me, it's not that bad. Let me explain.
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Design is messy
My approach to design is somewhat wild. Like a punk kid trying things out to see what works. Of course I get some basic understanding of the desired outcomes, but I don't know everything, and I don't want to know everything at the start. The last thing I am looking for is reading elaborate documentation, or having detailed conversations about things I probably will not understand, or simply forget, details that don't matter that much at the start.
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Do you need a UX designer?
If you ask me whether you need a UX designer, I’d ask you in return: Do you need a DB administrator? Do you need a project manager? Do you need a QA person? If you say: No, I can do it all. Good for you. You don’t need a UX designer.
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Design is too important to be left to designers
Design culture. The best outcome is when everyone in the company cares about the user, about their needs and wants. That surely implies understanding, and empathy.
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Look beyond the solutions
Ask why… Someone says “I wish there was a handle on this thing”. Ask why do they want that? What is the problem? Is it so they can carry it, pull on it? Ask why.
Better example: I wish there was a way to tag these things… Why tag? What is the mental model?
“What is the problem you are trying to solve?” Not trying to solve any problems. I am not in a math class. One of those cringe-worthy expressions.
Not a problem, but an opportunity. Think that, if it helps. Don’t talk about solutions.
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Guessing users' intent
Guessing users’ intent is part of designing a great user experience. Mural’s add card… Vectr’s combine preview…
Just don’t overdo it… Anti-patterns: autosuggest on the iPhone… Microsoft’s suggested replies in Outlook…
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A problem that cannot be solved
Have you had a feeling at the start of a project that this is going to be too large, too complicated? What if it is a problem that I cannot tackle? This happened to me a number of times. It was scary. Too many unknowns, a domain that is not familiar and seems too technical, etc. But as the project progressed, things fell into place. The domain with all its technical parts is not that difficult. Things play out well.
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Design reveals intent. Art obscures it.
Art obscures the intent, leaving it up to the beholder to figure it out. Design has to reveal it immediately.
The Mona Lisa… no one knows for sure who she is, why Leonardo painted her and not someone else, why she is smiling…
Imagine if you were looking at a web page thinking: what is this? Is this a button? Can I click on it? What will happen if I do? If you are, the next thing you will do is abandon the site… or maybe click that “button” because now you are curious about what the intent of it is.
Good design is invisible.
Visitors to the website are not looking at the screen thinking: great choice of colors, look at the photograph, such a nice font… They come with an intent to do something, and if they cannot see how to do it, they will go somewhere else.
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Look for intent
Good design is often taken for granted. It is transparent and invisible. Bad design, on the contrary, is striking, and frustrating.
Reading and writing. Seeing and designing.
Look for intent. Ask questions like:
- What problem were they trying to solve?
- Why did they do it this way?
- What other options are there?
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Layers in everything
I am deeply impressed by The Elements of User Experience… Jesse James Garrett shows how you can peel off layers of a web site and break the user experience into basic elements that belong to different layers (planes). My work as a designer is deeply influenced by this idea. Even to such an extent that I now tend to see layers in everything around me.
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Learning by copying
If you are playing a musical instrument you will know what I am talking about. When a musician hears a melody, a sweet chord progression, they can figure out what is going on in their head without even touching an instrument. If you can do that, I envy you. I am an amateur, I cannot do it. I have to pick up the guitar or sit at a piano and figure out what is going on note by note, chord by chord.
There is a lot of theory going on behind good music which only trained musicians can appreciate. Same goes for design. There is a lot of theory behind that slick UI you admire.
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Fake it: how to design neat things without being a designer
A light-hearted, yet bulletproof way to design better.
Know what you are doing. Is it a poster, a business card?
Set your limits. Contrary to common sense, set limits fuel creativity.
Have your content ready. Don’t try to write and design at the same time. Doing one of those by itself is hard enough. Get your text ready, at least a draft. Don’t use Lorem Ipsum. It looks silly.
Look for inspiration. What to watch for? Use of colors, fonts, images, textures, alignment.
Put the elements you have on the canvas.
Lastly. Don’t sweat the details. Just check your work to make sure the items above were followed.
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Are you brave enough?
- Put the action button below the fold.
- Don’t use a popup to market your stuff.
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Functional, dry copy is the result of functional, dry thinking
Microcopy is a huge part of design.
Functional, dry copy is the result of functional, dry thinking…
Tell stories. Emotional. Empathy. You are not designing for machines.
If you have to be using Lorem Ipsum, you are doing something wrong. Wrong level of detail?
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It is easier to delight when you are small
Do fewer things, but do them well, really well.
It is easier to delight when you are small.
Clear goals help maintain focus on what really matters. Learning to say no: features, tools, words.
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The problem with fast-loading sites
Customers find waiting more tolerable when they can see the work being done on their behalf, and they tend to value the service more. Ryan W. Buell, “Think Customers Hate Waiting? Not So Fast…”, Harvard Business Review, 2011
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The worst of the best
Take a look at a list of top X anything: top books, top music albums, top athletes. Intentionally or not, it imposes order. The list starts with the best, and it ends with the best. But here a funny thing happens. The list is finite. In most cases you only see things that made the list. And as it happens, the very last items on the list appear to be the worst. They are the worst of the best? You are more likely to put more hope in the things on top, even though the thing at the bottom might be just as good.
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Business comes first
Business exists for people. If it was merely for making money, it would become extinct very quickly. Good business came into being for the customers, and it puts customers first. You work for the business that works for the customers. If it is not the case, find something else to do.
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Blessing and a curse of working smart
For years my boss had a hard time keeping me busy. He would give me a project. I would take my time to work on it…
Not boasting. I am sure I could have done better…
In retrospect, I think the habit of working smarter and not harder was developed during my freelance years, when I would be paid for results, and not by hours. Naturally, I would develop ways to design quicker and better.
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Take it to 11
Coming up with 10 ideas is hard. Often really hard, but it is necessary to provide real value. Ideas come one at a time.
- Free up the bandwidth. Write things down.
- Connect the dots. What are the things involved? How are they related? How do they interact?
- Change perspective. Thinking hats.
- Ask others.
Ideas need time to grow and mature. Put something out there and give it some time.
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Why prototyping software will never win
We've been there. It was called Dreamweaver. A tool loved by some, and hated by many. It gets you some distance toward your destination fast, but then it slows you down, sometimes to the point when you have to either abandon your trip (probably not true), or go back to the beginning and start over.
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Count the questions it asked
Essays
- How I Actually Became a UX Designer (Long and Boring Story)
We all have unique paths. Nevertheless it is often beneficial and encouraging to learn about others' journey.
- The Elements of User Experience: User Experience Design Basics
Solid fundamentals are everything! It is true for any field, and UX design is no exception. In this article I'd like to talk to you about basics of UX design,…
- How to Become a Self-Taught UX Designer
A step-by-step guide to becoming a self-taught UX Designer from scratch (no design degree or experience necessary)
- Top 3 Sketch Alternatives, and Why I am not Switching
Sketch has been around for a while now. It came out at a time when there were really no alternatives for UI design. Sketch quickly became a de facto standard…
- This is not UX
I have a confession to make. I got onto Instagram couple months ago, and no, I didn’t get addicted. On the contrary, I rather quickly realized that it’s not…
Book reviews
- 3 Ways to Get UX Design Books for Free
You've collected a reading list of UX books, and you are eager to get into them, but then you check the prices on Amazon and decide that you might have to…
- Best UX Design Books
There are literally hundreds of UX design books out there. Some are great for beginners others are more suitable for established UX designers. It is so easy to…
Resources