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?”
A Prescription for Success: Social Media Voice
Humans Remain Vital, Despite Technology Advancements
Protecting Privacy
The following five references relate to privacy. These references are listed in order, to demonstrate how privacy can be perceived, how it affects us, and how we can empower ourselves to protect our information, as much as possible, through knowledge of what, and how, our information could be, and is being, used.
Too Late to Apologize?
Change is a Constant
In 2014, Thomas L. Friedman wrote in the New York Times editorial piece, “If I Had a Hammer,” about “Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee’s fascinating book, ‘The Second Machine Age.’”
Friedman emphasizes in the article that “something very, very big happened over the last decade. It is being felt in every job, factory and school.” He is describing the technological advances that Brynjolfsson and McAfee focus on in their book. Friedman concludes that the authors are saying that the technological advances, that our generation is seeing “will have more power to improve (or destroy) the world than any before, relying on fewer people and more technology.”
Putting All the Pieces Together: Strategic Design
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.
Hindsight is 20/20, so is proper UXD
The Best-Laid Plans
How to avoid making your UX testing purple …
Being Constructive with Criticism
If You Build It, They Won’t Necessarily Come
I think, therefore I am … at least I think so?
Humans have limits. We struggle to remember simple daily tasks. So what do we do? We generate to-do list upon to-do list. I know personally, I am keeping Post-It Notes in business. Additionally, with dependencies on electronic devices, we forgo the need to remember how to calculate a tip at 15 percent, or what our closest friend’s phone number is.
So, if we have trouble remembering where we parked, or what we wore yesterday, or better yet — what we have to do this week, how can we be expected to self-report accurately when questioned?
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.
Beyond the Baseline
Don’t Lose Sight
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.
Looking Back Can Also Be Looking Forward
The only constant in life is change. That is a given. Day turns to night and night into day. We continue in a forward motion, despite our best attempts to hold onto the past.
“People invariably object and complain whenever a new approach is introduced into an existing array of products and systems. Conventions are violated: new learning is required,” Don Norman writes in The Design of Everyday Things.
Short-term memory loss — I think?
The Importance of Understanding and Awareness
We need to clear our minds and focus on what the user wants to experience, and advocate for that in the design process. The user needs to be motivated to learn something new, and that something new needs to not only accomplish the user’s goals, but also aid in their productivity, through an easy-to-learn process.