What's My Title Today?

I've been pretty far down in the trenches the last couple months, hence my lack of posting. It's good to be busy, and working on what I love the most, visual designs. A fun thing happened while on the client site last week, and I thought I'd quickly post about it. I was there to present my visual designs and get feedback before the requirements doc was finalized. I had suggested to the client previously, with the recommendation of my company's UX Director, that I try some paper prototyping with some real users. They liked the idea, but didn't really speak of it much since. So there I was, on the client site, working away at some suggested changes made by the BAs in our morning session, and here comes a BA with a user. "Do you want to try some paper prototyping?" I was a little stunned, but luckily had my visuals previously printed (all be it in black and white). I took the user into a meeting room. Now this isn't something I had ever done before, I rea...

For some back story – I’ve been on this project for 2 years now. I’ve helped design and build two dashboards and have never had the opportunity to meet or talk with a user until now and I am no expert in the client's line of business. I met with 7 users from 3 different user groups; 1 group per day; 30-45 minutes with each user, followed by an hour group session discussing the observations. A lot of them have similar issues. Issues within groups of users seem to be pretty much the same. I found myself getting frustrated and having to consciously calm myself down while meeting with the users. Seeing the roundabout way some of them had to work just to use the system drove me crazy. If I had only been involved from the beginning in this capacity, and with the requirements gathering for each release, these poor users wouldn't have to deal with a system that really doesn't meet their needs. But hey, better late than never I suppose. That is the story of my life... the story of ...

A UX specialist is the best thing your company never knew it needed. Remember the day you got your first microwave? Your first cell phone? Your first smart phone? Your first DVR? Remember life before these devices? Can you imagine going back to that? What these devices do for your life, is what a UX specialist can do for your development company. A UX specialist can make things run more smoothly. A UX specialist will always make a product better, and will make a client happier. They may need some time up front, kind of like how you need to spend time learning and setting up your smart phone when you first get it, but more often than not, the total time spent on the project will be less because all those bumps and kinks get sorted out right up front. Because of this, a UX specialist will make your other team members happier because their job will be easier and there will be less rework. If you're running your TV without a DVR, you're missing out. If your development company is o...

So I am kind of digging this whole move toward more simplistic, minimalistic web (and other app) design. I like the feel of space. I like that there isn't lots of distracting chrome and boarders. It's all about the content, it's all about getting what you were trying to get done, and that's the whole point isn't it? Now don't get me wrong, I love color and added interest. - I am a bit of a color nut to be honest. Whenever I check out http://colorschemedesigner.com/ (aka my most favorite place to get a new color scheme) I always pick the tetrad first. - I just think there are better ways of adding those things than a lot of what we have been doing. Clean and simple. That's the new way to go. http://sixrevisions.com/design-showcase-inspiration/40-beautiful-examples-of-minimalism-in-web-design/