Default cursor on mouse over of a button is not a hand pointer
Why is the default cursor an arrow when you hover over an HTML <button>? I always thought that arrows let you select stuff, but hands let you execute an action. Since buttons execute actions, shouldn’t I override the de…
Default cursor on mouse over of a button is not a hand pointer
Why is the default cursor an arrow when you hover over an HTML <button>? I always thought that arrows let you select stuff, but hands let you execute an action. Since buttons execute actions, shouldn’t I override the de…
What is the best way for a college freshman to learn enough about UX design to be valuable to a startup in 3 years?
First, don’t call it “UX Design”. Call it Product Design. You’ll earn far more credibility by calling it something tangible start-up leaders can point to and dissect intelligibly as part of their business model/plan. “User Experience Design” is a vague erratic phrase from the dot com era that C-Level folks don’t grok.
Familiarize yourself with the fundamentals of visual design (type, color, grids, layouts) by studying Mullet/Sano’s Designing Visual Interfaces. Practice critiquing sites and products against visual qualities of communication of affordances and tone/voice/quality. Start the path of gaining that sensitivity, which takes years.
Start sketching and keep a sketchbook with you at all times. Jot down ideas, sketch solutions, and constantly iterate, fast. Jot down the reasons for/against possible solutions. Revisit, repeatedly, after reflection.
Know the basics of user research methods and cog psych principles, concepts like affordances, cognitive load/chunking information, basic user/screen/input ergonomics, Fitts Law, etc. A/B testing vs heuristic eval vs contextual inquiry, etc.
Start thinking about flow, scenario, tasks, goals, activities. Look at how you use your iPhone or Tivo or XBox or Microwave even. What’s the sequence of actions, feedback/information loops, hierarchies of needs/values in getting tasks done, etc. Sketch out the flow of actions, accounting for error states or diversion paths, sub-paths, etc.
Read Don Norman’s Design of Everyday Things. Great rundown of the basics of basic usability concepts and examples.
Always ask yourself how to simplify, simplify, simplify: visuals, behaviors, navigational paths/error states, and terminology.
Learn how to prototype, from click-throughs to HTML/CSS/JQuery or Flash/Flex/AIR tools. Study the digital behavior and affordances of online and desktop apps, and on your iPhone/Android device. Look at the timing, transitions, visual effects, all those cues.
Keep asking yourself how to make something better, in terms of visuals, behaviors, information architecture/navigation paths, simplifying and unifying elements. Start developing that sensitivity now so that in 3 years you’ll be sufficiently valuable to a start-up.
And start designing something now 🙂 Either fix up an existing product or invent something as a hobby, for practice. Enjoy!
Signifying to user that field is editable
I have a grid that has a bunch of data. Some of the fields are editable and cause a postback updating the data. What are the best ways to show that to the user?
i.e. Is there a best practice for how to make a distinction bet…
Signifying to user that field is editable
I have a grid that has a bunch of data. Some of the fields are editable and cause a postback updating the data. What are the best ways to show that to the user?
i.e. Is there a best practice for how to make a distinction bet…
Is it true that UX people have a hard time working for Google?
Charles WarrenDoing good design is hard wherever you work. At Google, us UX designers are finding more and more opportunities to truly lead Product Design. One great example is our turn-by-turn navigation product for Android. The team was co-led by UX…
What qualities do the best UX professionals have?
Humility.
You must be humble enough to recognize your own human limitations,
including the cognitive biases that you bring to the table. You must be
humble enough to recognize the best idea whether it is your own or
someone else’s. You must be humble enough to learn from subject matter
experts or users or business stakeholders. You must be humble enough to
take constructive criticism without taking it personally. And you must
be humble enough to understand where your strengths end and those of
your team begin.
How would you describe your user experience design philosophy in one sentence?
The best thing about users is they eventually all die. Users come to a design with certain expectations, until they don’t anymore.
Good design is invisible. If a design draws focus to itself, instead of the users’ objective, it is not a good design.
Risk averse companies produce crap.
Design is not immune to Sturgeon’s Law. Sturgeon’s Law: 99% of everything is crap. How do you prevent your design from being in that 99%?
What qualities do the best UX professionals have?
Dan SafferThe ability to quickly see to the actual problem, not just the issues that result from that problem.The ability to visualize that problem.The ability to generate multiple solutions to the problem, then discuss the pros and cons of each.The a…
How to best represent a ToggleButton (representing on/off) with the ability to be locked
I’m designing a ToggleButton control that has the ability to be in a locked state in which user interaction will not be able to further toggle the control. In general I would like the button to appear somewhat natural in the …