Instead of learning methods and tools, you can start by developing a design mindset. From our video series, Design Spots.
Designing alongside your users will make your tools respond best to their needs. We'll show you how to get instant input from your users. From our video series, Design Spots.
These are additional considerations for conducting user research involving high-risk participants. From our video series, Design Spots.
How can design help make your tool more secure? We have three places to start. From our video series, Design Spots.
A complex tool can be hard to understand for new users. Here are four tips around designing for their specific needs. From our video series, Design Spots.
A quick card sorting exercise to improve the information architecture of your documentation.
Visual design makes for compelling software; learn about color and how to choose a persuasive color scheme.
If you're new to UX design, wireframing is a powerful tool to understand how users experience your software. People with technical backgrounds benefit from wireframing because it forces them to take a step back from their coding mentality. Rather than focusing on the technical architecture, wireframing exposes the user-experience structure: how the user moves from one screen to another. Example wireframes taken from GoodUI.org. Both show the same content organized with two different structures, but the left wireframe is better because it discloses choices rather than keeping them hidden.
Great user experiences are born through the hard work of professionals with a variety of skills. As illustrated by the UX unicorn we've seen before, there's a lot that goes into what we call "design" or "usability.
Your team has reached the stage where you need to hire a professional designer. Maybe you want to finally get a great-looking logo, make a website that doesn't look like it was designed in 1996, or create a really compelling video for your Kickstarter campaign. In any case, you know that it might be tricky to express what you're looking for – especially if you come from a technical background and aren't used to dealing with folks who work in pixels.
Are you part of the technical team? This list of resources will help you apply a design perspective to your development work.
Sketching storyboards – cartoon-like drawings showing how people use technology – is a way to get more, high-quality ideas for product design. Sketches are useful for taking notes during a discussion and for getting a team on the same page. Fine art drawing is difficult for many, but anyone can master the basics of sketching storyboards – even without drawing skills. You don't need to be artistic, just follow these simple steps.
Style guides specify the look and feel of how a company or team communicates with the outside word. Styleguides.io collects examples of website visual standards that maintain a consistent online presence. Brand guidelines typically focus on how logos are treated, while style guides are more extensive – including not only look and feel, but also interactive behavior, such as the alerts and form templates in the U.S. Web Design Standards.
Here are tips for UX copywriting to explain how your technology works and reduce the need for additional user support.