Articles

Kate Moran

Kate Moran is a former NN/G employee who worked on research, teaching, leadership, and design thought leadership. Her expertise spanned both qualitative and quantitative research methods. At NN/G Kate discovered and published ground-breaking findings on artificial intelligence (AI), interaction design, digital content, and information-seeking user behaviors.

Articles and Videos

  • Long-Term Exposure to Flat Design: How the Trend Slowly Decreases User Efficiency

    Clickable UI elements with absent or weak visual signifiers condition users over time to click and hover uncertainly across pages — reducing efficiency and increasing reliance on contextual cues and immediate click feedback. Young adult users may be better at perceiving subtle clickability clues, but they don’t enjoy click uncertainty any more than other age groups.

  • Page Parking: Multi-Tab Mania

    Browser tabs separate the stages of collection and comparing and serve as memory aids to keep many alternate pages available for consideration as users are shopping or researching. 7 UX guidelines support this user behavior, which is particularly common among younger users.

  • Flat Design: Its Origins, Its Problems, and Why Flat 2.0 Is Better for Users

    Flat design is a web-design style that became popular around 2012. It is still widely used today, and its overuse can cause serious usability problems.

  • The Characteristics of Minimalism in Web Design

    Our analysis of 112 minimalist websites revealed the defining features of minimalism: flat design, limited color schemes, few UI elements, use of negative space, and dramatic typography.

  • The Roots of Minimalism in Web Design

    Many popular web-design trends originate in minimalism, a movement that aims to reduce information overload by presenting content in its simplest form.