Design decisions are often seen as a matter of opinion or preference. But design solves problems, and so good design decisions shouldn’t be based on hunches or opinions. They have good reasons, they address the problem effectively, and as such, they impact business goals.
We...
Where would you find inclusive, free-to-use photos of diverse people? There aren’t many resources out there, but the ones that do exist are absolutely fantastic. Here are some useful pointers that you might use in your work.
Beautiful, Inclusive, Free-To-Use Photos of People...
Do you actually rely on the well-established Double Diamond process in your design work? Chances are high that you had to cut corners, make tough compromises and keep convincing stakeholders about the right approach to design.
Is there a single, universal, perfect design pro...
That’s a question that seems to fuel never-ending discussions year after year. Do we open external links in new tabs by default? Do we mark external links? How do we deal with links to PDFs, videos and audios? Let’s figure it out!
Below are some practical UX guidelines on ho...
Getting support for accessibility efforts isn’t easy. There are many accessibility myths, wrong assumptions and expectations that make accessibility look like a complex, expensive and time-consuming project. Let’s fix that!
Below are some practical techniques that has been w...
Nearly 1% of the global population is autistic. Yet often it’s not obvious how to consider the needs of autistic people in the design process. Let’s change that.
Below are some general UX guidelines, do’s and don’ts to design better UX — for autistic people and everybody els...
Design tokens represent small, repeatable design decisions. Instead of using exact HEX or px-values, we refer to a token which name describes how and where they are used. It makes it much easier to update the design by changing one value in one place and not breaking anythin...
These books have been kindly shared by the community, with lessons learned by authors for everybody to read and benefit from. A sincere, enormous thank-you to the authors for making their work available to everyone for free. Hopefully you and your friends will find them usef...
Poor color contrast is the most common problem on the web. Here are some useful guidelines for text and buttons, with minimum contrast recommendations for better legibility, a few color contrast tools and useful resources.
How Color Contrast Is Calculated #
In general, colo...
Things To Avoid as a Design Manager #
Most managers don’t give enough feedback.
Don’t “sandwich” feedback — critique with humility.
Never do your team’s work; help them do their best work.
Don’t mandate decisions from the top; explain them.
Don’t be a silent voice in the...
Avoid Wrong Assumptions #
Don’t assume that older adults struggle to use digital.
You don’t need to strip the design to bare minimum.
Avoid general stereotypes and assumptions about elderly people.
Most users are healthy, active and have a solid income.
How To Write...
Too often accessibility is seen as a checklist, but it’s much more complex than that. We might be using a good contrast for our colors, but then if these colors are perceived very differently by people, it can make interfaces extremely difficult to use.
Depending on our colo...
An example of anin-house ladder, ranging from junior designer to design director. From 10 Directions To Take Your Next Career.
There is no universal career path that works for everyone. In fact, the best path is the one that feels right to you. But there are some thing...
In some interfaces, navigation feels extremely slow and frustrating. Users seem to be running in circles, heading through multiple pages, sections and sub-sites, being re-routed and redirected multiple times — often without a clear path forward.
How can we boost the speed of...
Dyslexia can take different shapes. Different people are in a different place on a continuum, but for some dyslexic users reading might take longer, especially if text has many large uninterrupted blocks, italics, words written in uppercase and flashing images.
It’s difficul...
How do we write a great design case study? I’ve put together some practical guides, examples and do’s and don’ts on how to stand out.
Key Takeaways #
Think of a case study like a magazine feature.
Keep a case study digestible, thorough and a story.
Choose a customer that r...
Do your design initiatives clash against the company culture? Do you struggle to boost the role of UX in your organization? If you also struggle to convince your colleagues or stakeholders about the impact of UX, the action points below might help.
We’ll also dive into the i...
When talking about job interviews for a UX position, we often discuss how to leave a good impression and how to negotiate the right salary. But it’s only one part of the story. The other part is to ask questions and to listen carefully — to discover red flags early, and figu...
Design process is messy. You might be following a structured approach, but with all the last-minute changes and overlooked details, too often it takes a life of its own. And before you know it, you are designing in a chaotic environment, full of refinements, final-final-deli...
We often rely on sticky headers to point user's attention to critical features or calls to action. Think of sidebar navigation, CTAs, sticky headers and footers, “fixed” rows or columns in tables and floating buttons. We've already looked into mobile navigation patterns in S...
Rage taps are annoying and frustrating. These wonderful occurrences in our interface when we need to tap twice, or sometimes three times to continue our journeys. Of course sometimes they happen because the website is too slow, but sometimes it’s the target size of interacti...
Drag-and-drop is not a trivial user interaction. It’s messy, inaccurate and comes in plenty of flavors — from design states to interaction modes. Yet when we think of drag-and-drop, we typically think of a simple drag’n’drop file upload — which is only one of the many contex...
Many companies organize their workflows around projects and departments. Especially in large companies, work often travels from one place to another, often getting stuck between emails and Slack messages, and often “refined” on its never-ending journey between design and eng...
Recently I stumbled upon the article How To Avoid Bias in UX Research, with pointers on how to anticipate, identify and overcome biases in your research by being more strategic about how you ask questions and how you run the test. A concise write-up by Genís Frigola.
Here ar...
Red flags to check in your design interviews. Photo by Carson Masterson.
I’ve recently stumbled upon Red Flags To Check In Your Design Interviews, a quick guide on how to work out if a team is right for you, and what it's going to be like to work in that company, or wi...
Are you the only designer on the team? Navigating The UX Team Of One is a very honest article about the things to keep in mind in the open waters of technology-driven teams. Written by Jamie Ryan.
Document everything, from your work to org charts.
Ask a lot of questions,...
Autocomplete! Their design seems to be almost obvious at first, yet there are some common usability issues that appear over and over again, preventing users from using them effectively. Let’s fix that — by exploring 5 autocomplete UX details where the design pattern can be i...
Too often, our individual goals and plans are left far behind the company’s goals and product development roadmaps. That’s not right. Below are some of the tips around design career that I wish somebody had told me earlier in my career, and that I hope will be useful for you...
Designing a time-zone selection is hard. Not only are time zones difficult to scan and understand; they also change over time, with or without daylight saving at different times, and there is no universal way of organizing and displaying them.
Time zones are hard, a wond...
Nobody is surprised by design systems these days. A novelty just half a decade ago, they have become an established part of the design process, helping teams bridge the gap between design and code.
I'd love to share with you some of the useful features of design systems that...
