Good experiences are invisible and hardly ever seen. Bad experiences scream out at us and are impossible to ignore.

Based on several articles I’ve read over the past months, and the session Eric Reiss gave at last years IA Summit on ‘ROI: Speaking the Language of Business‘, I wrote out this mind dump of how I think about selling User Experience. These ideas are fairly rough and are intended to see how closely my thought process aligns with that of my peers. Hope you enjoy! Continue reading →

I know the majority of my readers are UX designers, so most of this will preaching to the choir. But, I promised the attendees an online version of my slides with what I  wanted to say during the presentation. For you seasoned presenters I look forward to any feedback you might have on the quality of the presentation and the content. Hope you enjoy! Continue reading →

Later this month I will be speaking at Day of .Net, a local developer conference here in St. Louis. The topic of my presentation is ‘UX != User Interface’. I hope to clear the room on what User Experience is and how it helps developers effectively do their jobs. Since I don’t have nearly all the answers, I am hoping the User Experience community will provide me with a few talking points that are important to them. Continue reading →

Seeing Things Differently – It is always best to keep in mind the people that always need a little help.

Designing A Unified Experience – Kim Goodwin gives an outstanding overview of design. Great video to check out.

Todd Zaki Warfel – redUX DC ‘09 – Todd gives us a great run down of the workshop he gave on prototyping at the IA Summit back in March. Continue reading →

It is obvious to say that times are tough financially. Every business is trying to control its costs in order to best weather the storm, which makes asking for money difficult. What can you do to convince your manager that it is worth the time and money to send you to a conference like IDEA 09? Here are some tips to help you sell the idea of going to a conference. Continue reading →

Ghost in the Pixel is one of my favorite Interaction Design blogs. Last May, Uday Gajendar posted some insightful questions to guide young designers on the path they want to take professionally. I found this helpful in allowing me to better define the type of designer I want to be when I grow up. Below are my answers. Continue reading →

10 UI Design Patterns You Should Be Paying Attention To – Great additions to your design pattern library. Smashing Magazine never disappoints.

Four Must Read Pieces on UX Matter – You can never have too much reference material.

Visual Decision Making – Investigation on the importance of visuals and how they encourage people to engage at a deeper levels. Continue reading →

This is a guest post by Carol Righi who is waiting patiently for some Card Sort data to come in. Enjoy!

  1. Write the report. Make sure to leave a couple of blanks for the actual data.
  2. Think of new requirements for Jed to build into WebSort, e.g., “I want to hit a button and have it send my bill to the client.”
  3. Continue reading →

During my college years I worked as a Lab Tech at Lenscrafters. Five days a week I would find myself working behind a large plexiglas window helping other people see. This large window is a trademark of all Lenscrafters stores as it allows customers to watch their new eye wear get made, but it is easy to forget that that they are also able to watch you. I can’t recall how many times I looked up and saw a customer looking at me weird due to my behavior. Luckily, most of the time it was harmless laughs and snickers, but occasionally I would get a dirty look.
Continue reading →

How to Create A Style Guide With Ease – Great tips on how to great a style guide that is both thorough and understandable.

Oldie but goodie: When I’m asked to design a bridge … – Dave Malouf offers some great starter points for attempting the Mozilla Design Challenge. Continue reading →