Questions relating to the general UX field, such as career, academic aspects, its relation to other fields and disciplines, and other topics that relate to the field as a whole.
37
votes
8answers
2k views
As a programmer, how do I move into User Experience Design?
I've been a developer for over 6 years, mainly working in the web context, and generally distributed applications, services, and also front-facing apps. I got into programming originally through ...
22
votes
5answers
415 views
Avoiding designing by committee
How can one avoid making a design that satisfies everyone, but pleases no one?
As a UI designer, you often find yourself a part of a development team, with numerous stakeholders. Now, when it comes ...
16
votes
8answers
886 views
Where can I find problems to challenge my UI design skills?
I'm still in the beginnings of my career as a programmer, and have always thought I was more interested in low-level back-end type stuff. However, having done a few projects lately on my own, I've ...
15
votes
2answers
516 views
What is User Experience (UX)?
I've looked at this site for the first time today. I've checked About, the FAQ and the FAQ and searched, and I don't seem to be able to find an answer on this site.
These are the closest I can find:
...
14
votes
11answers
747 views
How do you describe what you do?
When meeting new people, I'm often asked about my job. However, I've found that outside (and to an extent, within) the app and web development industry, UX is still rather new and not understood.
If ...
14
votes
3answers
962 views
Is user experience design (UXD) equal to user centered design (UCD)?
Can user experience design (UXD) and user centered design (UCD) be considered the same?
If not, how do they relate to each other and how do they differ?
14
votes
5answers
706 views
Is user experience a job position?
What I meant by my question was is user experience a stand alone job position, or is it a technical or artistic position that uses some principles of user experience design?
The reason I ask is ...
13
votes
4answers
1k views
How to make a 20-field online form more user friendly?
I've made a pretty basic form for data entry that will be used by office workers to build a database. The form is actually a composite of a decade of excel files that the organization has been using, ...
13
votes
6answers
1k views
Is implementing dark patterns unethical?
A recent question and discussion got me thinking - some UX practices are considered "dark patterns", and they're held up as bad UX from the user's perspective, though they can actually be good for the ...
13
votes
8answers
735 views
How to showcase UX work?
Presenting your UX design on the portfolio is more than just showing off some screenshots of the wireframe or finished graphics. I am just wondering what your thoughts are on the ideal way to display ...
13
votes
6answers
277 views
Should usability testing of a competitor's website be a part of your usability testing routine?
I was reading up on best practices on usability testing for websites and a recommendation was that get your participants to do usability testing on your competitors website as well as that would help ...
12
votes
10answers
3k views
What is the difference between Wireframing and prototyping
What is the difference between Wireframing and prototyping? Prototype should be interactive and Wire-frame Static? Am i right?
12
votes
7answers
441 views
Does a large UX team tend to spoil a design?
Is there a rule of thumb for how many UX designers should be working together on a project? Factoring in things like the size of the project (e.g. number of functions/screens), timeline of the ...
10
votes
11answers
460 views
What tools are sitting in front of a creative user experience designer during most of their workday?
There may not be a "typical" UX Designer, but if there was a normal one, what is the main tool or tools that is in front of them as they craft, plan, think, and create an incredible UX that shows real ...
10
votes
4answers
669 views
What's the difference between UX and layout design?
This probably falls under the "If you have to ask, then you obviously don't understand" category, but I've always wondered what the difference was between UX and layout. Or even if there is one. I'm ...
10
votes
3answers
275 views
How to minimise the biasing influence of stakeholders
I'm working on a large project where I am a UX consultant. The company I am contracted with also consult a domain expert (DE) but she is not UX.
More than a few times now I have noticed her insisting ...
10
votes
4answers
493 views
So are there “standards” for UX?
I'm establishing a new UX unit in our organization, and whenever I try to introduce something, I get asked about "standards". You know, questions like "So do you have any standards that you based this ...
10
votes
4answers
327 views
How can we communicate that UX work can't be done by just anyone?
About 2 years ago, I asked about a good usability/UX elevator pitch, so I can quickly explain what UX is whenever I need.
But, to this date, I still can't get over one little issue: lots of people ...
10
votes
3answers
424 views
How to categorize usability/ux problems?
Even though the definition of usability/ux problem can be elusive I would like to learn more about how to categorise usability problems. And by categories I mean various qualities of the user ...
10
votes
3answers
783 views
UI / UX Review Site? [closed]
I stumbled upon a UI/UX review site some time ago, but cannot seem to put my finger on it again. Could someone please advise if you are aware of what this site may be? I have a few designs I'd like ...
8
votes
4answers
416 views
What skills (if any) differentiate UX from Design?
I recently came across a poster on UX careers, where the bottom of the poster lists some specific skills and their prevalence in UX jobs. I found it somewhat disturbing that usability testing was ...
8
votes
4answers
238 views
What are the User Experience disciplines in the analog world?
It is clear to me that User Experience (UX) is about how a person feels about using a product, system or service.
This website is focused on the digital world, but what happens on the analog world? ...
8
votes
6answers
1k views
What should a UX designer know about CSS (for a job interview)?
I've an interview on Friday for the role of a UX designer. The job description says 'require HTML & CSS skills'. While I know the basics of HTML& CSS, I have not done coding. What potential ...
8
votes
2answers
215 views
Is it acceptable to have more than one type of confirmation message?
We're discussing having multiple types. For example, one type would appear at the top of the page and drive users to perform another action:
The other type would appear "inside" a submit button ...
7
votes
7answers
1k views
Are there PhD topics for user experience?
What topics in user experience can have areas to do PhD in?
7
votes
4answers
647 views
Are there any online resources, such as courses/tutorials/blogs, about UI/UX sketching? [closed]
So, I've read Sketching User Experience by Bill Buxton and several blogs discussion how to start the ideation process in a good way with sketching. I've also read about different pens, such as Copic ...
7
votes
6answers
728 views
Best way to explain UX Design to someone that isn't tech-savvy
I'm trying to explain what UX Design is to my not-too-tech-savvy parents. All the descriptions I've come across thus far are lengthy and "deep" and very task-oriented. I've yet to find a concise ...
7
votes
4answers
398 views
What's the definition of Information Architecture?
According to Morville, Peter & Rosenfeld, Louis in their book Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (2006) 3rd edition, its this:
The structural design of shared information ...
7
votes
5answers
2k views
UX Designer, UX Analyst or UX Architect?… does it matter?
Lately I've been asked to explain my job description, you know, what is your title?. I've been looking around to see how other colleagues describe the job.
I find that some people call it UX ...
7
votes
3answers
128 views
Is there any issues with approaching a website re-design from a mobile first perspective?
I've read the book Mobile First and agree with many of the points made. However, I still do not approach a project creating a set of mobile wireframes and then desktop. I still design the other way ...
7
votes
6answers
850 views
What to ask when hiring UI Experts?
I'm creating a desktop (PC) application. A dictionary / thesaurus / spell check tool that works across applications (explorer / browser / spread sheet etc..)
I know my own intuition on UI sucks and ...
7
votes
3answers
164 views
Where to get my own Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP)
Is there any (software) framework or company that offers "Customer Experience Improvement Program" (CEIP) like Microsoft uses it?
I think this should enable software vendors to do thinks like that:
...
7
votes
4answers
477 views
How to transition from Technical Writing to Usability/User Experience and pick up the necessary skills to build an entry level portfolio?
I don't have a formal degree in fields related to UX, although I've picked up good number of books and keep myself updated with UX blogs. They have proven to be the bulk of my UX knowledge so far ...
6
votes
3answers
346 views
Is it a good Idea to force user to sign in/sign up for purchase [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Should registration be optional on an e-commerce site?
I have seen a number of eCommerce sites which force the users to signin for making a purchase.
Is this at all a ...
6
votes
4answers
279 views
How to convince stakeholders to invest in proper UX?
I'm working on a web app with a team of 5, including me. One database administrator, one project manager, two programmers and me the front-end designer. This project is an internal reporting system.
...
6
votes
3answers
259 views
UX responsibilities
Is there a number of responsibilities that fall under UX (for example, graphic design, usability etc), or is UX a sub responsibility of design?
6
votes
2answers
593 views
What should an ideal Interaction Design Portfolio Include
I am preparing my Interaction Design portfolio. I would like to as what should my portfolio include. What all deliverables should be included in the portfolio?
6
votes
3answers
164 views
Is there such thing as UX evolution, and how to adapt?
I was watching this video on how would facebook be if it were invented in the '90s. And made me think about how User Experience evolves through time given technology availability at the moment.
...
6
votes
2answers
111 views
How to use paper prototyping on an existing product
Paper prototyping is a very powerful tool early on in a new product build as it helps you to iron out ux and rapidly iterate.
However if you're working on an existing product and want to test small ...
6
votes
2answers
554 views
Industry standard for documenting IxD / UI Design Patterns?
What's the industry-standard way to document a design pattern?
I have seen websites like ui-patterns.com and patternry.com that host and share design patterns, but when creating an reusing a design ...
5
votes
6answers
221 views
Which is better option 'School', 'College' or any other?
I have used the school field name for both school and college on my website, but I think 'School' and 'College' have different meanings. Can anyone suggest a more appropriate option?
5
votes
7answers
715 views
What is the best (& quickest!) way to learn wire framing?
I need to get-up to wire-framing speed! What's the easiest way to learn? I have a good understanding of the concepts as a content manager, but my next role requires these additional skills.
5
votes
4answers
377 views
How do we validate our persona?
When we pursue our goal of ease of use for our users we sometimes use personas to test or guide our designs. And that’s all good – because it gives us a feeling of how a user would interpret the ...
5
votes
4answers
215 views
Why use paper prototyping, besides saving time?
When creating a web application prototype, I find it's pretty easy for me to put together a fast prototype. What are the advantages to using a paper prototype instead (or before that)?
This video ...
5
votes
2answers
594 views
Hiring Web Designer/Usability Expert - What should I be looking for?
I work for a small data management/warehousing company that also focuses heavily on web applications. We are looking to "beautify" our existing web apps into something along the lines of mint.com or ...
5
votes
1answer
287 views
What are the first steps for growing UX operations in an agency?
I'm the first UX hire at an aggressively growing digital agency. I've been doing UX for corporations for a few years and before that was mainly doing dev and some minor design work.
I'm working on ...
5
votes
2answers
293 views
How do you handle not being allowed to do stakeholder interviews?
I was recently hired for one of my first new projects and have been interviewing stakeholders. I got through the interviews with other people who work for the client, with no problems. However, the ...
5
votes
4answers
746 views
How can I get a job in the UX field without any professional experience?
How do I get an entry level job doing UX if I have no direct professional experience? I am asking is there something I can do on my own to build up a UX portfolio?
5
votes
2answers
302 views
What is a simple way to explain the disciplines and benefits of UX to a client?
What is the clearest way to explain to a client the disciplines and benefits of User Experience Design?
What I've got so far...
This is the clearest definition of the disciplines I've seen, but it ...
5
votes
5answers
833 views
Great UX blogs - any “ultimate” collection you should know of? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Which are the best UI related blogs/sites?
Where do you find inspiration for user interface design for web applications?
What are your preferred blogs and resources of ...
