UX Living

experiencing the web and the world around me

[graduatemom]

All of the skills a child knows are neatly packed in the suitcase of his mind. When a child learns a new skill, he is unable to simply shove a few things in the suitcase to the side. Rather, he needs to completely unpack the suitcase and then slowly repack. The result? Chaos, tears, frustration...

[uxliving]

Great post

[graduatemom]

All of the skills a child knows are neatly packed in the suitcase of his mind. When a child learns a new skill, he is unable to simply shove a few things in the suitcase to the side. Rather, he needs to completely unpack the suitcase and then slowly repack. The result? Chaos, tears, frustration...

[littlebigdetails]

Tweetbot 3 - when adding a photo to a tweet “Use Last Photo Taken” is an option.

/via @nippr

[uxliving]

The Relative Value of a Feature - Spotify & Songkick

Long-time, no-post but here is a quickie when it comes to UX and the value of certain features.

Little Big Details

So I find myself on Spotify jamming out to the Wood Bros in preparation for what will be a fantastic concert tonight when I came across this lil promo:

At first glance, this is a nice little feature promoting live music of the band I'm listening to, but at closer look, it needs some definite adjustments. 

#1: View upcoming concerts in your country

Seriously? My country? The whole USA? I can't imagine a time where I'm able to travel freely across the country to see a band play.

An easy, location-agnostic alternative could read, "Hey - The Wood Brother are currently on tour. Check out their schedule."

And if they are truly playing in my area, it could read, "View upcoming concerts in your area." This could incorporate the Wood Bros and similar bands.

Or best yet because they are playing TONIGHT, it could read, "Whoa! These guys are playing in your city TONIGHT. Find Tickets."

That would be awesome.

#2: SEP 13

Today is September 12th, and as I noted above, there is a concert near me TONIGHT.

I can see the argument that most likely my day's plans are already baked-in, so why not promote the future. HOWEVER, when I click on the promo, it shows tonight's concert at the Fine Line. Odd.

Assuming the Best

Now for a couple caveats because I like what Spotify and SongKick are trying to do.

Technically, Madison is close(ish) to me in Minneapolis. Wisconsin is next to Minnesota, correct, but 273 miles isn't quite close. Maybe they need to change 'country' to 'area' and adjust their location filters. (NOTE: Relative location services could be a whole topic in itself.)

This promo is an integration with SongKick, so I don't truly know who has control of this feature.

Moral of the Story 

Read the labels you write out loud to yourself and vett out the relative values that the data presented brings to your end user.

[mariosakata-deactivated20260110]

While Airbnb is data driven, they don’t let data push them around. Instead of developing reactively to metrics, the team often starts with a creative hypothesis, implements a change, reviews how it impacts the business and then repeats that process.

How design thinking transformed Airbnb from a failing startup to a billion dollar business (via sprmario)

Lesson learned here is that data and creative problem solving need to work as a team. The attached article is a solid read as well.

[howtoworkwithcreativepeople-blog]

If you’re hiring for a creative position, this means creating an environment where good work can exist. This is obviously a complex topic in itself, but it touches on things like process, workspace, responsibility, and the kind of projects they’ll work on. If projects consistently don’t ship, don’t get implemented properly, or get watered down to nothing, this will quickly lead to disillusionment. Don’t think that pay or hiding behind perks or good company “culture” can even this out.

– Jacob Heftmann, Designer & Creator of Wevther (via howtoworkwithcreativepeople)

[huuugo-blog]

[kbillybrown]

Would like this to instantly pop-up and play when someone asks me “What do you do?”… My reply of “cartwheels” isnt working. And replying with “I’m a UX Designer” is even worse.

[uxliving]

a different breed indeed!

[uxliving]

Having Fun with Emails

I'm sure this has been done before, but this is the first I've seen it.

Rather than the typical info@, hello@, support@ for their generic email, Medium decided to have a some fun with it.

This may seem simple or even unprofessional to some, but it made me smile. Smiling users will never be bad for your brand.

So before I steal it in one way or another, I want to give a shout-out for a job well done!

[uxliving]

Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.

Pablo Picasso

[uxliving]

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.

Albert Einstein

[uxliving]

The Art of Designing for People

I just listened to a fantastic podcast/interview by Dorm Room Tycoon featuring Ryan Singer, from 37Signals.

Ryan talks about the importance of solving the human problem first (the interaction and the UI) and finding a way to make it work on the back-end.

On building something intuitive for new users, he asks, "How [as a designer] do you make things familiar even though it is new?"

Living in the software and UX space, solving this type of problem is what gets me excited for work each day.

When you have a spare 38 minutes, you can find it here: http://www.dormroomtycoon.com/ryan-singer-37signals-interview-the-art-of-designing-for-people/

[kolboid]

UX mantra

[uxliving]

Empathy. Empathy. Empathy.

[uxliving]

Wishlist: Exact Playlist Time on Spotify

I love Spotify. I'm a proud Premium member, in fact, because I believe their product is exceptional. However there is one tiny piece of information I desperately want from them: exact playlist time.

Above is a snippet of my playlist 'Jams,' which Spotify tells me is 1 hour long. Yet, I assure you that with 25 songs, 'Jams' definitely has over 60 minutes of playtime.

For the first 1+ year of service, this detail (or lack thereof) didn't affect my experience. However, it has recently become a thorn in my experience when I started teaching yoga. For class, I'm trying to build an exercise playlist to be as close to 65 minutes as possible. Much trickier than it sounds!

The interesting part is that Spotify shares exact minutes for any playlist under one hour, yet rounds down to the nearest whole hour for anything above 60 minutes - meaning a 1 hour 59 minute playlist would be labeled 1 hour. Odd.

I can't see a reason why Spotify wouldn't share this tidbit. Exact timing would improve my user experience and likely that of many others. Product management may have their reasons, but if not, could someone make that quick push? :)

[uxliving]

Need Help Explaining to Friends and Family What You Do?

[uxliving]

The Importance of Humanized Microcopy

Need a light read for the end of your post holiday work week?

Here is a lovely little post on microcopy aka those little tidbits of information that make or break your site's UX. It is an archived article, but the content still applies.

In it, Joshua Porter highlights the value of contextual copy. He notes how microcopy "answers a very specific question people have and speaks to their concerns right on the spot." I could not agree more.

I want to take it a step further and stress the importance of humanizing that copy. Here is Josh's example: 

He could have easily been shortened to "Enter the billing address associated with your credit card" or "Please use the billing address associated with your credit card," but how automated and impersonal do those sound? The phrase "Be sure to" is a very disarming instruction, almost as if your best friend was guiding you through the site.

Interestingly enough, I find integrating humanized copy to be very challenging for some clients. Quite often, the main reason to hold them back is "professionalism" or lack thereof.

"It doesn't sound professional enough."

I understand what clients mean by this, but it forces me to ask: Is there a more professional trait than trust? I can't think of one, and trust comes from that human touch.

When you write copy, try to imagine an actual human saying your words. Better yet, ask someone else to describe that person. What do they look like? What does their voice sound like? You might be surprised how well this works.

Pretend the copy read, "Hey man, use whatever address is on your credit card bill". Now describe that person.

Personally, I go from figuring out a form to cautiously uncomfortable as a I imagine some disheveled checkout clerk walking in back to swipe my credit card.

This example may be a bit extreme, but I want to stress that there is a definite difference between casually disarming and unprofessional. The goal should be to come across as human as possible - a human you trust.

What are some other examples of great microcopy that makes you trust a site more?

[uxliving]

What is User Experience?

User Experience professionals are a unique breed. Where others see pain-points, we see opportunities for improvement. We genuinely want all of life's interactions to be easier, better, smoother, happier.

Stephen Anderson sums it up perfectly -> http://boxesandarrows.com/what-is-user-experience/

[uxliving]

Curious where you left off in your perusing of facebook? Check out this interesting little update when you reload. I can’t quite figure out exactly when it refreshes, but I like it!

NOTE: twitter has been doing this for a while