User Experience Design Blog

Sep 4, 2008 - A while ago, I wrote about the dangers of radical experience redesigns and how to implement them so the fewest number of users will abandon the product during the transition from old to new. The main points articulated in the article were: Make only changes that really will benefit users Let users know what improvements will be [...]

Sep 2, 2008 - Google announced in a nifty way its new, soon-to-be-released open source browser, Chrome. Frankly, I am really looking forward to it based on the description they presented. It is clearly both an evolution of Mozilla’s own product, and a complete innovation. Google, staying true to their revolutionary core, threw away practically every existing model to [...]

Aug 18, 2008 - This survey takes a look at the various example and trends of headers and navigation across major websites. (Scroll down to see examples.) In particular we focus on headers coupled with horizontal navigation as that has become the industry standard. Many top sites, like those shown below, have adopted this paradigm. A few notable exceptions [...]

Aug 6, 2008 - As a designer and consumer advocate, I often judge the experiences that I have with various products and services. So I was keen to read David Pogue’s recent article with his own experience observations, aptly titled It’s the Software, Not You. Of the Delta Airlines touchscreen kiosks, Pogue writes: “Whenever I encounter badly designed software like this, [...]

Jul 29, 2008 - Jakob Nielson’s article, Weekly User Testing: TiVo Did It, You Can Too provides a great case study supporting testing early and frequently in the design process to produce exceptional design. Having worked with TiVo, I can say that their approach to usability and research is stellar, and their user experience team is very talented, so [...]

Jul 23, 2008 - Last month Nokia published a document (PDF) that presents examples of good mobile design based on the interaction design, easy-of-use, and visual appeal of the products. The set includes: Gmail Jaiku Mobile Opera Mini New York Times Google Maps Yahoo! Go 3.0 Here are a few screen shots from the document: Although the analysis is quite subjective, I think the sampling is a [...]

Jul 21, 2008 - Today Facebook released a refreshed design of the site which includes some interaction enhancements for scanning profiles as well as managing your own profile. You can try out the new look at: www.new.facebook.com. The element I applaud the most is the prominence now given to the Wall. This is a great move, considering the stickiness of [...]

Jul 15, 2008 - Yesterday, the Xbox 360 team announced that their target product would be undergoing a face-lift and some noticeable experience enhancements. Of particular interest are the new dashboard and avatars; the latter which will be fully integrated in other Xbox LIVE gaming and future products. The dashboard surfaces the key navigation as in previous versions, but is [...]

Jul 11, 2008 - The search experience is one that continues to evolve. Developers continue to improve the algorithms and interactions aimed at getting users to their desired result(s) faster. Hints such as the exposed URL, have expanded to include elements such as StumbleUpon’s Social Search, Ask’s binoculars site previews, among others. There has even been talk and development [...]

Jul 9, 2008 - To some ‘reputation’ and ‘brand’ may be one and the same. I consider reputation to be an integral part of a company’s brand. Beyond reputation, brand can include things like popularity (market penetration), identity, uniqueness, etc.¬† Yet reputation probably pays the biggest role in building a valuable brand. Indeed, this past week Forbes released [...]