Rethinking User Personas
UX designers are creating elegant user personas that include details irrelevant to the work at hand, reducing their value for teams. In addition, these personas often leave out contextual details and behaviors that specify the frustrations and issues users face. Without these details, personas are just another deliverable that doesn’t achieve their goal — which should be to help design teams feel closer to the people for whom they are solving problems.
Personas need relevance — a trait often lost in an effort to simplify and move quickly. What designers need is a new framework for creating personas. This framework should steer designers toward better understanding, empathy, and inclusion.
New UX Books for Your Summer Reading
Summer is finally upon us and it’s time to start planning your reading list for lazy days at the beach. Several noteworthy UX books came out this year covering a wide range of topics within user research, design, and strategy. We’ve reviewed five books that are both enjoyable to read and will help to expand your UX knowledge.
Keeping Personas and Journeys Engaging and Relevant
Most personas and journey maps are dead shortly after arrival. A common reason why these documents are abandoned is that they eventually no longer represent the current customer or the latest business objectives. This article describes the common pitfalls associated with these projects and offers practical advice that your team can use to ensure a healthy long life for your personas and journey maps.
Keeping Personas and Journeys Engaging and Relevant
Most personas and journey maps are dead shortly after arrival. A common reason why these documents are abandoned is that they eventually no longer represent the current customer or the latest business objectives. This article describes the common pitfalls associated with these projects and offers practical advice that your team can use to ensure a healthy long life for your personas and journey maps.
Quarantine UX: The “New Normal”
The digital revolution has been brewing for years, but the pandemic has hastened the change. According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, “We’ve seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months.” Changing their approach to user experience (UX) is key to a business’s ability not just to survive but thrive in the new normal. […]
Embracing My Past as an Architect Has Made Me a Better Designer
For the early part of my career, I was an architect and urban designer. I spent years studying and practicing architecture across the United States, Europe, and Asia. To me, there was no problem architecture couldn’t solve; whether it be social, economic, or environmental. And while I initially enjoyed the ambition and rigor architecture provided, […]
How to Position UX Managers for Maximum Impact
UX manager recruitment is at an all-time high. What is the role of a UX manager? How do you write an effective job description to hire someone with the right kind of qualifications? Should UX managers contribute tactical value? Contributor Frank Spillers shares his insights from over 20 years in the UX industry into how to best position UX leaders for success within your organization.
How to Position UX Managers for Maximum Impact
UX manager recruitment is at an all-time high. What is the role of a UX manager? How do you write an effective job description to hire someone with the right kind of qualifications? Should UX managers contribute tactical value? Contributor Frank Spillers shares his insights from over 20 years in the UX industry into how to best position UX leaders for success within your organization.
10 Things UX Designers can Learn from Hamilton the Musical
What does Hamilton the Musical have to do with UX? Mike Galler provides 10 recommendations for those new to UX inspired by Hamilton.
What’s in a Name? How to Select a Name for Your Personas
There are many articles on how to construct a persona that represents your target audience. However, little attention is ever paid to the actual naming of these fictitious people. It is simply human nature to want to name things. If instead of calling our high school student persona “Martha” we just called her “Student Persona 11A” it wouldn’t have the same impact. Just like real people, names matter and can influence the success or failure of your personas.