user-centered design Articles & Videos

  • Storyboards Help Visualize UX Ideas

    Storyboards are visual representations of UX stories, which capture attention, provide clarity, and inspire us to take action.

  • Will UX Ever Become Obsolete? (Jakob Nielsen)

    Research and design go hand in hand and have staying power. Even as UX principles become more widely accepted, there is always more to learn and improve.

  • Focus on Results, Not on Perfect UX (Don Norman)

    When designing, think about what the person is trying to accomplish. Don't let the design get in the way.

  • 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.

  • Most Important Skill Required for UX Professionals

    What do successful user experience professionals have in common? Empathy. It’s the ability to understand the perspective and motivations of other people.

  • Democratizing Design (Don Norman)

    The future of design is making it accessible to everyone, by empowering people with tools to help themselves.

  • The Two UX Gulfs: Evaluation and Execution

    With every interaction, users must overcome the twin challenges of understanding the current state of a system and figuring out how to change it. Designers can support them by being aware of these gulfs and bridging them with a transparent conceptual model.

  • 10 UX Challenges for the Next 25 Years (Jakob Nielsen Keynote)

    Jakob Nielsen presents his UX directions for the future: How UX roles will evolve, and how UX involvement can solve major challenges for the world. (This was the keynote at the UX Conference in Las Vegas.)

  • A 100-Year View of User Experience

    The UX profession has grown substantially since 1950 everywhere in the world. Even so, the expected growth until 2050 will dwarf anything we’ve seen so far.

  • Don't Drop the Patient! Examine the Entire System

    Behavioral designers must look at the entire system to solve complex social and structural problems.

  • UX Lessons I Wish I Learned in School

    Novice UX practitioners often start with the wrong mindset. Know the common mistakes and how to avoid them.

  • UX Without Users Isn't UX

    Many organizations claim to be user-centric. Yet they fail to include users in the development process. Without customer input, organizations risk creating bad interfaces.

  • Scaling Design Thinking to Fit Your Needs (and Budget)

    Design-thinking methods are flexible and scalable. You can apply them to a variety of design challenges regardless of budget and team size.

  • Personas vs. Jobs-to-Be-Done

    Jobs-to-be-done focus on user problems and needs, while well-executed personas include the same information and also add behavioral and attitudinal details.

  • Human Technology Teamwork: The Role of Machines and Humans in Good UX Design (Don Norman)

    Design technology to be a collaborator—a team worker. Allow people to do what they are good at rather than force them to act like machines.

  • How to Collaborate with Stakeholders in UX Research

    When teams become involved with users, they become better at preventing problems and faster at delivering usable software.

  • UX Prototypes: Low Fidelity vs. High Fidelity

    No matter which prototyping tools you use, the same tips apply to preparing a user interface prototype for the most effective user research.

  • Designers Are Not Users

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

  • Don Norman on the Term "UX"

    We asked Don what he feels about the way people are using terms like “UX” and “user experience” these days.

  • Segment Analytics Data Using Personas

    Persona-inspired segments can be used in website analytics to uncover trends in data and derive UX insights. Better than (a) lumping everybody together or (b) segmenting on demographics that don't relate to user behavior.