Issue 337October 18, 2011
Personality in Design
by Aarron Walter
Personality is the mysterious force that attracts us to certain people and repels us from others. Because personality greatly influences our decision-making process, it can be a powerful tool in design. In an exclusive excerpt from his spanking new book Designing For Emotion, Aarron Walter shows us how to create a strong human connection in human-computer interaction by turning our design interactions into conversations, imbuing mechanical "interactions" with distinctively human elements, and using design and language techniques to craft a living personality for your website.
Organizing Mobile
by Luke Wroblewski
When organizing content and actions on mobile, solid information architecture principles like clear labeling, balanced breadth and depth, and appropriate mental models remain important. But the organization of mobile web experiences must also align with how people use their mobile devices and why; emphasize content over navigation; provide relevant options for exploration and pivoting; maintain clarity and focus; and align with mobile behaviors. In this exclusive excerpt from his new book, Mobile First!, Luke Wroblewski explains how to do all that.
Issue 336October 4, 2011
Fire Drills: Communications Strategy in a Crisis
by Mandy Brown
Every site or service will fail eventually. An emergency communications strategy can get you through the crisis faster and reassure your users while you're putting out the fire. Learn to imagine, prioritize, and prepare for everything that can go wrong, assign roles in advance to get you through the crisis, and communicate effectively with your customers throughout the experience.
Reigniting Your Creative Spark
by Denise Jacobs
Creative is as creative does, except when your creative spark fizzles out. Looming deadlines, over-fussy clients, dull projects, or feelings of fatigue that may signal the beginnings of burnout—any of these everyday afflictions can tamp down your creative fire, making it tough to come up with creative ideas just when you need them most. But fear not! Denise Jacobs shares sure-fire strategies to reignite your creative spark.
Issue 335September 20, 2011
Demystifying Design
by Jeff Gothelf
Mystifying design with jargon only we understand makes us feel like heroes and creates a sense of job security. But it also creates an “us and them” atmosphere which excludes non-designers, obscures the true value of design, and generates antagonism when only cooperation will yield the best product. By revealing our process and inviting others into our world, we can create a team that is invested in the success of our work, and deliver better design. Jeff Gothelf discusses the steps we can take to increase the value of our practice and of ourselves as practitioners.
Banishing Your Inner Critic
by Denise Jacobs
Everybody has one: the inner critic that tells you you’re just faking it, that others have more talent, that you’ll never achieve the success you seek. The inner critic is an unconscious deterrent that stands between the seeds of great ideas and the fruits of achievement, making you hate your designs, giving you “writer’s block” as your deadline looms, keeping you stuck in a project’s initial thinking stage because something isn’t quite right. Denise Jacobs anatomizes and shows how to quash your inner critic, giving you the mental space and energy to let your true talents emerge.
Issue 334September 6, 2011
Being Human is Good Business
by Kristin Smaby
Customers aren't shy about shouting their experiences—good and bad—to the world via Twitter and Facebook. When you see customer service as a cost center, you risk treating customers as a liability. Yet, customers are a valuable resource: their feedback is integral to shaping your product and building your brand. Customer service, by definition, is about serving people; it should be genuine, personalized, and compassionate—or, simply put, human.
Marry Your Clients
by Shane Pearlman
Do you consistently work to stay engaged, or do you get comfortable with clients? With new projects, it's easy to make the extra effort. The longer you work together, the easier it becomes to feel satisfied with the status quo, while giving your best energy to the shiny new client. Rather than pretend this won’t happen, prepare for it and create a strategy to combat it. Shane Pearlman shows us how.
Issue 333August 23, 2011
Making up Stories: Perception, Language, and the Web
by Elizabeth McGuane / Randall Snare
Stories have been around as long as we have, helping us understand our world and ourselves. We learn and retain information best through stories, because they turn information into more than the sum of its parts. But what makes a story a story, and what does it mean for the digital world we’ve built? Elizabeth McGuane and Randall Snare weave an enchanting tale of attention, comprehension, inference, coherence, and shopping.
A Primer on A/B Testing
by Lara Swanson
Data is an invaluable tool for web designers who are making decisions about the user experience. A/B tests, or split tests, are one of the easiest ways to measure the effect of different design, content, or functionality, helping you create high-performing user experience elements that you can implement across your site. But it’s important to make sure you reach statistically significant results and avoid red herrings. Lara Swanson shows us how to do that.
