Design: Key Recommendations
The hierarchy of user friction
Often the focus is on perceiving only the most basic forms of user friction and often not on the higher-level forms of friction users face. Sachin Rekhi outlines a hierarchy of three types of friction and explains what happens at each level. This is a great read for anyone (designers and beyond) who works on their company’s product.
How to choose the right UX metrics for your product
If you want your product’s design to be informed by large-scale data, it really helps to have metrics that reflect the quality of the user experience, and that map closely to your main goals.
The author, Kerry Rodden shows how to use some useful methods to help choose and define appropriate metrics to inform your design decisions. I honestly haven’t heard of the HEART framework before, but I found it a very interesting UX research method. Worth the 7 min read.
Design metrics for better design decisions
You need to be constantly vigilant that you are measuring the right things, for the right reasons, in the right way. So how can metrics help designers in a consistent, practical way?
Critical design decisions should be based on data, not opinions. Use metrics to keep everyone clear headed and on point. Rob
All Top Articles
The Ultimate Guide to Launching a Product Redesign
Product redesigns are moments of accomplishment and celebration for product teams. But with change comes anxiety for many users. Julia Chen lists a collection of the very best tips to launching a product redesign, along with some great examples.
Your loyal users usually don’t like product UI changes, and it’s completely logical. They invested time to learn your product. But when done well, product redesigns give users more value and provide fresh opportunities to re-engage churned customers and attract some new fans.
One of the listed examples in the article is the recent redesign of Dropbox. Dropbox did an excellent job in getting the message and roll-out right. Influencing Redesign from Ed Chao is also worth a read. Rob
Design principle: Error & Forgiveness
Making errors is an integral part of the way we humans live. As Designers, we must have that in mind when designing. Our designs must be aimed at preventing errors happening.
As designers or SaaS founders we can’t assume our users know how to use our product. They test it. We can use the knowledge our users have from other products and designs. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Use already established usability patterns to reach your user’s goals. Rob
What makes a design seem ‘intuitive’?
The biggest challenge in making a design seem intuitive to users is learning where the current and target knowledge points are. What do users already know and what do they need to know? To build intuitive interfaces, answering these two questions is critical.
Don’t build your product without knowing your customers first
If you don’t have any customers, it’s hard to figure out what they want and where to start. If you start building your product too early, you risk building for the wrong customers. That’s why you need to learn more by researching your customer.
While this article is not directly related to design, the key takeaway is if you don’t know who your ideal customer is, you can’t design (build) a product that solves your customer’s pains. Always take the time to research your audience. Rob
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