Sara Smith
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's an ... alicorn?

When determining if one is a unicorn, it is important to consult an expert, like a good patient would consult a specialist (or, perhaps, even two). In this instance, I was able to locate one in the tri-county area who focuses on mythical creatures and Greek mythology. Okay, so she may be twelve, but she is well read and very cute (insert parental bias here). I posed this question to my daughter first, “Do you think a unicorn is the best creature?” Her reply, “No! An alicorn is the best creature. It is a cross-between a unicorn and a pegasus. It has all the qualities of a unicorn, but it can also fly!” My next question was for myself, “Could I be an alicorn?”

Sara Smith
Too Late to Apologize?

Copyright is exclusive, but the internet is not, nor are its users. The lines between right and wrong can become blurred, and decisions can become compromised when it comes to technology. Piracy without concern for consequence is disconcerting.

Sara Smith
Putting All the Pieces Together: Strategic ...

Understanding is the key to strategic design.

Proper planning, listening, viewing, testing, reporting, designing, iterating, and so forth, can only be successful if they stem from understanding the user's tasks, overall goals, current processes, etc., from the start of the project.

In order to move forward, we need to know the moves that the user has previously made.

Sara Smith
How to avoid making your UX testing purple …

When a lawyer is in court, presenting his case, he or she is told to not ask leading questions, as to not elicit testimony the witness would not otherwise volunteer. The same is true for usability testing, whereas you do not want to lead your participant into the answer.

Sara Smith
Striving for Failure

To fail is to succeed. When we are in school we are taught lessons. We are tested on these lessons and expected to retain the information through our studies, and then as a result, score high on tests. The expectation is to succeed, not to fail. The opposite is true of design. Failure is desired, because failure sheds light on where improvements can be made.

Personas

Personifying the Persona

Personas help to determine how to design a workflow, characterizing what a user needs to accomplish his or her goals. Understanding the context of use, motivation and task frequency are only a few key components of a useful persona. These assist in providing focus and clarity in our design thinking. While a persona is not a real person, they are built upon, and are largely based on, observations of target users.

When creating a persona, one should include information about the user, their goals, pain points, wants, needs, recommendations and so forth.