Articles

Tanner Kohler

Tanner Kohler is a Principal Experience Specialist with Nielsen Norman Group. Tanner's studies have focused on social psychology, and he has researched theories of human motivation and the gamification of learning. He has developed, taught, and evaluated curricula for thousands of full-time volunteers for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He has an MS degree in instructional psychology and technology.

@tbkohler

Articles and Videos

  • Basic Psychology Is Essential for UX Practitioners

    Basic psychological principles can guide you as a UX designer because most users share many common characteristics. Consider learning more about: motivation, attention, memory, persuasion, learning, decision making, emotion, sensation, perception, or cognitive biases.

  • How Screen-Reader Users Type on and Control Mobile Devices

    Users who are blind or have low vision prefer dictation over typing with a keyboard whenever possible. Screen readers on touchscreen devices are restricted to a well-defined set of gestures which makes interaction more challenging than on computers.

  • Conducting Mobile Accessibility Research with Screen-Reader Users

    Use word of mouth to recruit research participants who rely on screen readers. Conduct the study in person to help participants feel comfortable, and plan to record the screen-reader output.

  • Challenges for Screen-Reader Users on Mobile

    Using a screen reader on mobile is challenging because users must access information sequentially and they cannot easily scan page content. Screen-reader users do not consider accessibility menus helpful.

  • The UX of Phone Trees

    Phone trees are notoriously frustrating for 4 main reasons. There are many small ways to make them more usable and less miserable, however.

  • 10 Survey Challenges and How to Avoid Them

    Response biases make it difficult to create good surveys. Follow these tips to counteract 10 of the major survey response biases and improve your survey data.

  • What Every Prospective University Student Wants to Know

    Most prospective university students have four main questions, but choosing which schools to apply to is a very challenging process for them.

  • The UX of Phone-Tree Systems: 16 Usability Guidelines

    Phone trees are often frustrating. Badly designed interactive voice-response (IVR) systems violate many of the 10 usability heuristics.

  • Five Questions for University UX Professionals

    Prospective university students are selective when applying to schools. They share many of the same questions and expect communications to be personalized.

  • A Researcher’s Mindset

    There will never be firm rules for every detail of good user research, but cultivating a researcher's mindset will help you make sure that your research findings are valid.