Sarah Doody
Do you know what problems you’re solving? Honestly though. Whatever project you’re working on right now, can you articulate how that project or design is solving a problem? If you can’t, then you should hit pause on everything and spend some time identifying the problem.
Think about some of your favorite brands and what it’s like to interact with them. How often do you visit their sites or use their apps? How have those positive experiences translated beyond the screen? Have you purchased a product, connected with people, or recommended the service to a friend?
A few weeks ago I decided to train for another marathon. In November 2015, I ran my first marathon – the NYC marathon – and it was a great experience. I was able to do it only 15 weeks after having surgery. Crazy, I know.
When I start a new project, I immediately go into research mode. I spend hours looking at other sites, products, and apps to see if the purpose of the product is clear.
The start of any year is a great time to think about the direction UX might be going. UX is an ever changing area and one that can be different one week to the next. Here I share some of my thoughts on where I think UX might be steering towards in the coming year.
One of the reasons why I love user experience so much is because it involves solving a lot of problems. One thing I’ve been thinking a lot about lately is:
It doesn’t matter how you get to the conclusion – you just need to get there.
When we’re trying to solve a problem, there isn’t one way to approach it. In the end, the most important thing is that we solve it.
Product Management is a critical component to creating a great product. Product management teams help ensure that a product is headed in the right direction – the direction that meets the market needs.
Product management works with all teams involved in the product development process to understand requirements, resources, opportunities, obstacles and how together we can all create the best product possible.
A picture is worth a thousand words. But sometimes, a picture isn’t enough. There’s a story behind every picture that often requires context that a picture alone can’t provide.
In user experience design, wireframes are our pictures. Wireframes help convey what bulky requirements documents used to convey. A lot of teams don’t even make requirements documents that are hundreds of pages long anymore. But, I’ve been doing user experience for long enough to know sometimes wireframes are not enough.
Picasso famously said, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” In product design, we’re always drawing inspiration from others. If I see something I like that another product is doing, I file it in the back of my head as inspiration for later.
But as helpful as inspiration is, there’s danger associated with it.
People always tell me that my wireframes are very pretty.I do put a lot of thought into making my wireframes as clear as possible. One way I achieve that is paying close attention to the design of my wireframes.
What . . . the “design” of wireframes.
I know you’re thinking that is kind of an oxymoron. Isn’t the point of wireframes to not contain any design? Isn’t the point of wireframes to focus on the information and user flows?
Yes, yes yes.Continue reading