User Experience Design Blog

Feb 17, 2009 - As seemingly everyone is moving toward working online, security concerns are being thrown to the wayside with troubling consequences. A recent occurrence at a hot start-up made me seriously think twice about how safe our online data is from malicious eyes. One of the main themes of Web 2.0 is the large-scale migration to the ‘cloud’. [...]

Feb 11, 2009 - A while back, Marissa Mayer of Google shared some very compelling research results at a Web 2.0 conference. In essence, she stated that an additional delay of 0.5 seconds to page-load time caused a 20% drop in traffic. Naturally, the first question that came to mind is whether this was an isolated case, or if [...]

Jan 26, 2009 - In these tough economic times, one reads of disappointing earnings and layoffs almost every day. Certainly, consumer electronics companies are not unaffected, and major players like Microsoft and Sony are seeing sales plummet and are cutting staff. However, there is one among them that is doing exceptionally well given the market conditions–Apple. Matt Burns over at [...]

Jan 19, 2009 - The BBC reports on a study conducted by Mformation, which reveals that of 4,000 people interviewed in the UK and US, 61% claim that “setting up a new handset is as challenging as moving bank accounts.” The report reveals other details of the complexity users face, such as using various applications, browsing the web, reading email, [...]

Jan 16, 2009 - YouTube announced yesterday yet another way to access its videos on a TV: through the Sony Playstaion 3 (PS3) and Nintendo Wii. The service is now in beta but there are many other devices that can access complete versions today. YouTube has made several deals with set-top box manufacturers and TV manufacturers, releasing its first [...]

Jan 15, 2009 - Gary Hustwit brings us “a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets” with his new feature-length documentary film, Objectified. The film includes interviews with international visionaries and design leaders such as Jonathan Ive from Apple and Chris Bangle from BMW among others. “[The] film documents the creative processes of [...]

Jan 7, 2009 - With the Consumer Electronics Show and MacWorld underway here on the West side, I thought it would be good to highlight some key user experience and product development events that have already been scheduled for the year ahead. From virtual sessions to week-long events, here are some events worth checking out across the globe. Please [...]

Dec 19, 2008 - As the year winds down, we come to expect many “best of … ” lists. An interesting one that caught my eye today was Business Week’s top ten books within innovation and design. The list includes books from authors such as Procter & Gamble’s CEO A.G. Lafley, analysts at Forrester Research, a senior writer at Business [...]

Dec 12, 2008 - It seems the Netvibes team has been busy. This week it announced support for greater customization for users and an expansion of its widget technology. For those of you that don’t know or don’t use Netvibes, it is a personalized homepage where you can follow your news, email accounts, blogs, social networks, etc. It is [...]

Dec 4, 2008 - This article strives to explain, in non-technical terms, what is user experience design, why it is critical in the modern business landscape, and how businesses can take advantage of what the field has to offer. What Is User Experience Design? User experience design is a specialized field that combines product strategy and usability engineering. It aims to [...]