Design Archives - Page 4 of 10

9 UX Myths That You Thought Were True But Are Not

May 8, 2015

UX design does not have an official, standard definition because apart from its various visual components, it encompasses information architecture, user research, wireframing and many elements that together decide the fate of UX. The closest to a definition of UX is the one provided by Nielsen and Norman which states that “User experience encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products.” Thus, UX involves knowing what end-users want from a product or a system and meeting those requirements with perfection and in a way that delights them.

The Future of Consumer Tech Is About Making You Forget It’s There

March 7, 2015

Microsoft, Samsung, GoPro, and others take their best guesses at the next five years of consumer electronics.

When Apple introduced the iPad 2 in 2011, it laid out a noble goal for the future of technology.

“Technology alone is not enough,” an Apple ad proclaimed. “Faster, thinner, lighter, those are all good things, but when technology gets out of the way, everything becomes more delightful, even magical. That’s when you leap forward.”

Hands-on with Mattel’s new AR, VR View-Master

February 20, 2015

A View-Master for virtual reality: Hands-on with Mattel’s new AR, VR phone toy

Mattel is relaunching View-Master, but as a virtual reality and augmented-reality phone toy. And I got to play around with it for a bit…or at least, some of the tech behind it.

Welcome to the Age of Holographs

January 22, 2015

Up close with the HoloLens, Microsoft’s most intriguing product in years

We just finished a heavily scripted, carefully managed, and completely amazing demonstration of Microsoft’s HoloLens technology. Four demos, actually, each designed to show off a different use case for a headset that projects holograms into real space. We played Minecraft on a coffee table. We had somebody chart out how to fix a light switch right on top of the very thing we were fixing.

Balancing Product UX and Lean Execution

October 22, 2014

Dealing with these competing priorities at each stage of product development

What matters more: killer UX that makes people want to use your product, or shipping the things people want quickly and staking down a huge share of the market? If the UX is bad, people won’t want to use it. On the other hand, if someone else gets it there first, people are happy to use what is available and help to improve it with feedback as it grows.

Scarcity Principle: Making Users Click RIGHT NOW or Lose Out

October 14, 2014

Summary: Feeling that there is only one chance can convince people to take action sooner, sometimes without careful consideration of consequences or alternative options.

The scarcity principle is a well-documented social-psychology phenomenon that causes people to assign high value to things they perceive as being less available.

The $3.2 Billion Man: Can Google’s Newest Star Outsmart Apple?

September 17, 2014

GOOGLE IS BETTING BIG ON NEST CEO TONY FADELL, WHO HELPED INVENT THE IPOD AND IPHONE. HERE, A LOOK INSIDE HIS DESIGN REVOLUTION.

Lounging poolside in 93-degree July heat as Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” thrums through the patio speakers, Tony Fadell takes a sip of nonalcoholic beer and sinks far enough back into his chair that his belly peeks out from under his Lacoste polo.

UX Without User Research Is Not UX

August 18, 2014

Summary: UX teams are responsible for creating desirable experiences for users. Yet many organizations fail to include users in the development process. Without customer input, organizations risk creating interfaces that fail.

A website’s (or product’s) success depends on how users perceive it. Users assess the usefulness and ease of use of websites as they interact with them, forming their conclusions in seconds—sometimes milliseconds.

London Firm Creates Mind-Controlled Commands for Google Glass

July 15, 2014

Forget voice commands and touch gestures: A London firm has developed a way for Google Glass users to control their devices just by thinking.

This Place, an agency that specializes in creating user interfaces and experiences for programs used in the medical industry, developed a software called MindRDR that allows Google Glass to connect with the Neurosky MindWave Mobile EEG biosensor, a head-mounted device that can detect a person’s brain waves.

The Virtual Sun Is Finally Setting

July 2, 2014

In 2006, I switched from PC to Mac in the midst of an aesthetic sea change called Web 2.0. Overnight, all my buttons and toggles became aqueous, squishy blobs. For my entire young life as a computer user, that place had been populated with beige file folders and gray boxes; now it had metamorphosed into a world of glistening chrome, cool blues, and gummylike buttons.