design mistakes Articles & Videos

  • Popups: 10 Problematic Trends and Alternatives

    Whether modal or not, most overlays appear at the wrong time, interrupt users during critical tasks, use poor language, and contribute to user disorientation.

  • Top 10 Application-Design Mistakes

    Application usability is enhanced when the UI guides and supports users through the workflow.

  • 10 Design Guidelines for Reporting Errors in Forms

    Help users recover from errors by clearly identifying the problems and allowing users to access and correct fields easily.

  • UX Debt

    Understand the four critical activities that design teams should be focusing on when it comes to UX debt.

  • Observe, Test, Iterate, and Learn (Don Norman)

    There isn’t a next time in product development. You must always study to keep up with the product cycle.

  • Five Mistakes in Designing Mobile Push Notifications

    Provide value to users before asking them to receive your app’s notifications; tell them what the notifications will be about. Don’t send notifications in bursts; make it easy to turn them off.

  • Don't Be Fooled by Surface-Level Design (Jakob Nielsen)

    Look beyond surface-level qualities to assess UX value. A design that looks (or sounds) good does not mean that it is. Good websites contain engaging features that help people accomplish their goals.

  • Making Flat Design Usable

    The hazards of flat design and 5 key UX guidelines for making flat design usable.

  • "Get Started" Stops Users

    A generic Get Started call-to-action attracts clicks, but also misleads users and acts as a roadblock for those looking to get information about the company.

  • Jakob's Law of Internet User Experience

    Users spend most of their time on other sites. This means that users prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know. Design for patterns for which users are accustomed.

  • Small Pictures on Big Screens: Scaling Up from Mobile to Desktop

    To transition images from mobile to desktop, consider relative screen space and information density. Pay attention to cropping, scaling, and proportions.

  • The Most Hated Online Advertising Techniques

    Modal ads, ads that reorganize content, and autoplaying video ads were among the most disliked. Ads that are annoying on desktop become intolerable on mobile.

  • Beyond Blue Links: Making Clickable Elements Recognizable

    Whether you adopt a flat-design style or not, interactive components must retain sufficient cues to suggest clickability. Signaling clickability with cues such as borders, color, size, consistency, placement, and adherence to web standards can give interactive components the proper look.

  • HealthCare.gov’s Account Setup: 10 Broken Usability Guidelines

    HealthCare.gov’s account setup process is unnecessarily complex and may have contributed to backend technology failures.

  • QA & UX

    Quality assurance impacts the user experience: when things don’t work, users question their understanding and develop superstitions and inefficient workarounds.

  • Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design

    The ten most egregious offenses against users. Web design disasters and HTML horrors are legion, though many usability atrocities are less common than they used to be.

  • Website Response Times

    Slow page rendering today is typically caused by server delays or overly fancy page widgets, not by big images. Users still hate slow sites and don't hesitate telling us.

  • Top 10 Information Architecture (IA) Mistakes

    Structure and navigation must support each other and integrate with search and across subsites. Complexity, inconsistency, hidden options, and clumsy UI mechanics prevent users from finding what they need.

  • Top 10 Application-Design Mistakes of 2008

    Application usability is enhanced when users know how to operate the UI and it guides them through the workflow. Violating common guidelines prevents both.

  • The Top 10 Web Design Mistakes of 1999

    New technology and conventions have led to several new classes of usability problems in Web design.