Sarah Doody
Recently I told you about PillPack (read the previous post) and why I think they are really doing a great job about designing a system that improves the experience of both pharmacists and patients.
I realized that there are a lot of lessons we can learn from PillPack so I wanted to actually show you it and go a little deeper. So, I did my very first Periscope a few days ago to show you more about PillPack.
Think back to the last time you had to take medication. Did you actually take it exactly as prescribed? Or, did you miss a few doses or perhaps just stop taking it before the last dose?
There’s a good chance that you don’t take every single dose. In fact a 2015 study by market research firm Kenton Global found that 80% of Americans miss taking their medications.
There’s a lot of talk about storytelling in these days. But a lot of it is quite cliché. The focus of storytelling in business has become very out of balance.
Most of the ideas about storytelling in business focus on using storytelling to craft a story for your customer – a story that’s marketing focused.
This is part three (here’s part 1 and part 2) on a series about why having a portfolio is not enough and the importance of designers also being writers.
In this series, I’ve been talking about why it’s not enough for user experience designers (or likely any designer) to just show their work work visually. People really want to understand how you think. They want to hear the reasoning behind your design decisions and your unique perspective on the world around you. A great way represent this is through writing.Continue reading
Last week, I write about how important it is for designers to also be writers. I promised I’d follow up with a post with more practical ideas and tips on how to become a better writer. Here are 5 myths you need to stop believing that are keeping you from writing and ultimately being a better designer.Continue reading
There’s a lot of discussion around whether or not UX designers need portfolios. That’s a topic for another day. But I do have opinions about what’s wrong with a lot of UX portfolios.
One observation I have is that thanks to sites like Dribbble, we’re seeing designers post designs perhaps as a way to showcase their skills to other designers … fetching likes and comments on their “artwork”. But, this type of thinking is dangerous because it puts too much emphasis on the interface, on what it looks like, on the end result.
As a user experience designer, it’s hard not to look at products through a design and experience lens. One key problem that I’ve identified has to do with calendars and to-do applications. I don’t understand why they can’t exist in the same spot. Continue reading
Recently I’ve been spending a lot of time on Medium, the new writing and publishing platform created by people including Ev Williams, among others. I love it because the simplicity of the interface helps me focus on the actual process of writing and not get distracted with playing with fonts, styles, sizes, and such.
One of my goals for 2013 is to write more. Continue reading
I wanted to share an article I recently wrote for UX Magazine, it’s called The Flâneur Approach to User Experience Design. The idea came to me while I was on a flight from London to NYC. I’d spent almost 3 weeks wandering around London and Paris without any agenda, simply exploring, observing,
“The details are not the details, they make the design.” – Charles Eames
Most people think that design is just about deliverables. But, every great designer knows that it’s really about the process of discovery, problem, and solve that we go through to ultimately reach the design. What design is really about, is the million little details and the thoughtful decisions that we make along the way. Unfortunately, with the democratization of design, comes a focus on deliverables, and a sacrifice of the details.
Today, everyone thinks they’re a designer. This can be attributed to the ever growing popularity of the fields of user experience and design (in fact, the field is in such demand, that Inc Magazine listed it as one of the 5 hardest jobs to fill in 2012.) Needless to say, in a very short amount of time, the field has gone from being relatively unknown to now a buzzword – something that everyone feels they’re qualified to govern. As a result, the very details that “make the design” are at risk.
The popularization of the field of user experience is causing a growing focus on the deliverable and not enough attention on the details. Why? Continue reading