UX, usability research, remote testing cases, how-to's, and interesting links

A blog about visual design, analytics, usability, user experience, and remote research.

Think Outside The Box, But Design Within The Framework

on January 8, 2013 / by Richard de Vries / 1 Comment

As a UX designer I used to get frustrated when I had the feeling my designs didn’t really get built in the fashion I designed it. That’s the reason why I started to explore the way my UX designs get built. I learned about agile & lean, but also a lot of code. My biggest lesson so far: Think outside the box, but design within the framework.

In this post I would like to discuss different frameworks that impact our work as UX designers. I also would like to explain which frameworks you can use and how you can use them to create better user experiences.
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UX Videos

Interview With Steve Krug, Author Of Two Best-Selling Books On Usability

on January 4, 2013 / by Tomer Sharon / 5 Comments

Steve Krug is known for authoring two best-selling books about usability: Don’t Make Me Think and Rocket Surgery Made Easy. Steve and I met at the Design and Usability Center at Bentley University in Waltham, MA, USA, and talked about why it is so hard for people to sponsor UX research. An interesting part was when we talked about writing usability testing reports and Steve shared his hate for writing (surprising, ha?) and his approach to reporting results to clients.
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Design

What Is The Best Call To Action Phrase For You?

on January 3, 2013 / by Leanne Byrom / 4 Comments

When designing your website or application, one of the many areas you explore “calls to action”. What phrases or statements do you need to encourage the user to take the steps necessary to complete an action? What terms should you include to ensure that your calls to action (CTA) are clear to the user? What language or tone of voice do you use to get your message across?
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Demo UX Cases

UX Demo Case: The Effects Of Emotional Design

on December 31, 2012 / by Sabina Idler / No Comments

Emotional design becomes increasingly important on the web. More and more companies try to add a personal touch to their site to express personality, engage visitors and illustrate their content. Out of curiosity, we set up a quick visual survey with Usabilla to find out what effects emotional design elements really have on your visitors.
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Links

Our 15 Most Popular Articles of 2012

on December 27, 2012 / by Sabina Idler / No Comments

The year is coming to an end — the perfect time for a roundup of the most popular articles on the Usabilla Blog. We are very excited to see our community grow steadily, and our heartfelt thanks for a great year goes to all of you — our loyal readers, many many supportive promoters of our content, and of course all our valued guest authors.
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UX Videos

6 Must-See Usability Testing Videos

on December 24, 2012 / by Tomer Sharon / No Comments

Usability testing. Some people love it, some hate it, many don’t get it. Personally, I think they are the best thing anyone can do to learn from their users. In the same time, they are emotionally exhausting for moderators.

Here are 6 usability testing videos I love. Four serious ones, two not so much.
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Case Studies

Bol.com Validates Design Decisions Over Night With Usabilla Survey

on December 21, 2012 / by Sabina Idler / No Comments

Usabilla Survey is an easy and stable tool that helps design teams gather information and gain insights into the user experience of a design. It’s a great way to gather feedback from our customers based on early stage design versions, such as wireframes and mockups.

– Michiel Besseling, Senior Interaction Designer, bol.com

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Links

This Years’ Guest Contributions To The Industries’ Most Influential Blogs

on December 20, 2012 / by Sabina Idler / No Comments

It was an exciting year for Usabilla. In January, Usabilla Survey got a new interface, in March we introduced the UI library Usabilla Discover, and in June we launched our latest feedback tool Usabilla Live. But that’s not all, besides our steady ambition to build awesome UX tools, we also want to contribute to the UX community by sharing our thoughts and insights with you. We do so regularly on the Usabilla Blog and less regularly, but with just as much passion, on some of the industries’ most influential blogs.
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Design

Case Study: How SlugBooks Rebranded Through Emotional Design

on December 18, 2012 / by David Miller / No Comments

This is a guest post by David Miller

Emotional design, the trend of integrating UX elements with the primary goal of prompting user emotion (humor, trust, etc), is becoming an increasingly popular trend in user interface design.

If you own any part of the design or development process of a website or app, and you feel like you’re missing that extra hook to keep users coming back, emotional design might be an angle worth exploring. My name is David, I’m the founder of SlugBooks: a kayak for college textbooks (our users save money by comparing prices on their college textbooks). In this article I’ll be sharing the evolution of our website design, and the various strategies we used to build emotion into our product.
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Design

Parallax Hovering And Its Engaging Quality For Web Design

on December 13, 2012 / by Sabina Idler / 1 Comment

Parallax effects are interactive by nature and still relatively new in web design. That’s why they are a great way to make your visitors curious, draw them in, and engage them with your website. On the web, as much as in the real world, we are quite cautious and like to be in control. At times, we are uncertain and appreciate instant feedback on our actions. We are curious and love to experience new things. Parallax effects, whether triggered by scrolling or hovering, answer to all of these needs.
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