Blog

     In the Fall of 2018, Eugene Santiago and Shao-Yu Chen conducted a small study to understand the strengths and weaknesses of PUBG Mobile’s post-game statistics screen. While informative, the study was largely qualitative, consisting of multiple in-depth user interviews. However, UX evaluations often go beyond qualitative interviews and user-submitted feedback. This article is an effort in compiling and discussing a (in no way exhaustive) list of existing measures, standards, heuristics, and models, both objective and subjective, that may prove useful in evaluating video game interfaces and processes.

       The standard Material UI color palette is extensive – and for good reason. If you’ve ever built a website or a software application, you’ll quickly realize that you need more colors than you could ever imagine.

        Recruitment agencies are invaluable for locating and managing participants for your UX research studies. They can be generalists or even specialize in recruiting hard-to-find types of participants, such as medical personnel, law enforcement officers, or any other profession or group of people meeting a particularly restrictive set of recruitment criteria. Their extensive experience and databases can often make difficult recruitments possible as long as they have the appropriate information and lead time for the planned sample size.

       Summer is right around the corner, and in order to help you prepare we have compiled a summer reading list. Summer reading lists are becoming a lost art, however, as the technology world continues to develop, the list of books covering topics from user experience to design to research methods keeps growing. Oftentimes we rely on things like social media, or online articles as ways to stay up to date on the things that are going on around us. However, reading books is one great way to stay up to date on trends, topics, ideas, methods and more.

       The two-wheel culture is growing in popularity every day where we see more and more people decide to ride to work, to class, or just ride for fun. Some say it’s because it’s cheaper to drive a motorcycle than a car, others want to ride a bicycle to work because it's healthier. Technology for this culture is not falling so far behind. New AR equipped motorcycle helmets are being produced with a rearview camera, navigation, music, phone call, SOS alerts, among other features. This is awesome, but, does that make it safe?

           As we get further and further into the 2019 year, we are seeing more user interface design trends begin to solidify within the world of UX. One of those user interface trends that we see solidifying is the application of motion based-design. Motion-based design is the process of applying graphic design principles to a typical digital interface. Motion-based design elements can be manifested in various ways- from the use of films or videos to animations, animated texts, or the use of 3D depth. Motion-based design is an important and innovative addition to a typical user interface which can help to improve the overall user experience, all while making the UI engaging and dynamic.

       How confident are you in moderating conversations and discussions with research participants? In my experience, there is nothing worse than a participant speaking to a researcher for an hour that is monotone and deadpan. It only makes for frustrated and fatigued participants. During a session, the user’s shut down emotionally and become unwilling to share details because they just want the interview to be over. Effective moderating is the art of building rapport instantaneously with a user, resulting in a more holistic and robust data-driven story for your stakeholders.

          Last week, we discussed the importance of applying UX research and principles to the design process of RPA’s. To quickly recap, RPA’s are the use of “software robot”, or other specialized computer programs that can carry out various different kinds of repeatable processes that previously required humans to do. Many believe that the implementation of software robotics will do away with the need to include UX research or processes. However, as discussed last week, applying UX research and design processes are more critical than ever in order to prevent a world takeover at the hands of the robots. But what exactly does this application look like?

       More and more the world of banking and investing is moving into the online and technological world. Terms like “cryptocurrency” and “bitcoin” have steadily been gaining popularity as user’s are finding ways to handle their finances in a way that matches today’s fast-paced, digital world.  In relation to online financial going ons, another term that is gaining a lot of recent attention is “blockchain”. Blockchain is not a new term, but it is generating increasing buzz since they will have a massive impact on the future of online banking, investing, digital identity, and more.