CategoryUsability

November 19, 2013 — Most designers spend too much time with their designs to be objective about them. The best thing any designer can do is to collect feedback from real users. Testing uncovers pain points and flaws in a design that are not otherwise obvious. Read more…

November 11, 2013 — Product findability is key to any e-commerce business — after all, if customers can’t find a product, they can’t buy it. Therefore, at Baymard Institute, we invested eight months conducting a large-scale usability research study on the product-finding experience. We set out to explore how users navigate, find and select products on e-commerce websites, using the home page and category navigation. Read more…

October 23, 2013 — Some websites outperform others, whether in their content, usability, design, features, and so on. We’ll share some lessons drawn from various models and analyze why these simple patterns work so well. Read more…

October 4, 2013 — Axure is a powerful tool for creating software prototypes quickly. Getting started with it is really easy; however, therein lies a danger. The tool is so intuitive that many users can be productive without undergoing any formal training. What they might not be aware of is that they probably aren’t using Axure optimally. Read more…

September 24, 2013 — As more designers and writers look to analytics to inform their decisions, many still struggle to implement their findings in a sustainable, ongoing way. Too often, testing and analysis are one-off activities, providing plenty of important-looking numbers but not lot of context or specific direction. Read more…

August 13, 2013 — Touch devices have rightfully been praised for generally being much more intuitive than the decades-old computer mouse and keyboard. Users interact directly with touch interfaces, which narrows the gap between human act and software response. Read more…

July 16, 2013 — The recently popularized “flat” interface style is not merely a trend. It is the manifestation of a desire for greater authenticity in design, a desire to curb visual excess and eliminate the fake and the superfluous. Read more…

June 14, 2013 —

Editor’s note: Please note that this article explores an entirely hypothetical scenario, and these are opinions, some of which you may not agree with. However, the opinions are based on current trends, statistics and existing technology. If you’re the kind of designer who is interested in developing the future, the author encourages you to read the sources that are linked throughout the article.

May 24, 2013 — As a mobile UI or UX designer, you probably remember the launch of Apple’s first iPhone as if it was yesterday. Among other things, it introduced a completely touchscreen-centered interaction to a individual’s most private and personal device. It was a game-changer. Read more…

May 21, 2013 — Everyone is talking about mobile. Some e-commerce websites are venturing into it. Mobile commerce (also known as “m-commerce”) has immense potential, exhibiting a 86% growth rate and hitting $25 billion in 2012 (set to reach $86 billion by 2016, according to eMarketer). Read more…