Interaction Design Articles & Videos

  • How to Empathy Map

    A 5-step process for creating empathy maps that describe user characteristics at the start of a UX design process.

  • Gamification in the User Experience

    Gamification is the usage of game mechanics in nongame contexts, such as mainstream UX design. The most successful implementations of gamification begin with a learner-centered mindset.

  • Fitts's Law

    Fitts's Law describes how long it takes a user to hit a target in a graphical user interface (GUI) or other design, as a function of size and distance. Understanding this law helps us design better buttons, forms, lists, and other interactive elements.

  • Why Microinteractions Are Important for UX

    Defining microinteractions and why getting these small UI details right matters for the quality of the user experience.

  • Design Systems and Their Benefits

    Go beyond a brand or UX style guides to create engaging, consistent user interfaces. At the same time, fit design activities within in short development cycles, spending the least possible development time and money.

  • Checkboxes vs. Switches in Forms

    Navigating whether to use checkboxes or switches can help make your forms easier to use. This video covers guidelines of when to use each.

  • Design Patterns for Complex Apps and Workflows

    Two design principles for supporting complex and repetitive workflows.

  • Why Interaction Cost Matters to UX

    Interaction cost is a direct measure of usability. It’s an indicator of how difficult the interface is going to be for the user.

  • Skeuomorphic Design: Don' t Apply It Blindly (Bruce Tognazzini)

    When using skeuomorphic design, apply aspects of the real-world counterpart that are useful, and leave out the drawbacks.

  • Industries Impacted Most by UX (Jakob Nielsen)

    Industries such as technology and ecommerce have reaped the rewards of good UX. Other sectors such as B2B and Intranets are following suit.

  • Just-Enough Prototypes Make Communicating Specs More Successful

    High-fidelity prototypes take too long to produce and are insufficient at identifying the nuances of complex interactions and logic.

  • Usefulness, Utility, Usability: 3 Goals of UX Design (Jakob Nielsen)

    For products to be useful, they must have both utility and usability. Either UX quality alone won't cut it.

  • Thumbs Up for Solving Nonlinear Reading Needs

    The user-experience benefits of a design that makes it easier to navigate complex information and return to previous locations.

  • Designers Are Not Users

    Professional designers are very different from mainstream users who will use your product in unexpected ways.