As designers, we make difficult decisions every single day. One of the toughest is to strike a balance between marketing objectives and user’s needs. Boosting a company’s reach and profits is a common reason why brands use UX Dark Patterns. What’s behind this mysterious term?
Dark Patterns are interfaces designed carefully to deliberately mislead users to choose a path they didn’t want to take. They are purposely designed to reach a company’s objectives without taking care of the user’s needs and ethics.
In 2010, London-based UX designer Harry Brignull created the website darkpatterns.org, that shows a host of examples of deliberately deceptive user interfaces. These tricks lead users to take unexpected actions such as clicking on fake buttons or unwittingly extending payments.
I can quote many theoretical definitions, but the truth is, every one of you had a problem with unsubscribing a newsletter, canceling a…
Hand-picked tips to improve your app’s first impression!
User’s permanent relationship with the product is one of the toughest things to achieve for product creators. Despite all their efforts, sometimes the journey with the app may end up being even shorter than a one-time date. Data reveals a merciless truth:
1 out of 4 people who downloaded an app never return to it after first use
Of course, stats don’t paint the whole picture, but they appear to reveal some insights about users’ first impressions of apps. The onboarding process is crucial when creating the initial experience. It starts right after user launches your app for the first…
In 2019, the way we interact with apps and consume content will change. What can we expect? Why? What should we do? After all, it’s UX Designers’ job to make software follow the hardware trends, so let’s dig in and see!
A new year has arrived, and it’s a great moment to make some predictions on possible directions for UX in 2019. Design and technology are subject to rapid and deep changes. If you are a UX designer, as I am, brace yourself for an exciting ride and take a peek at my picks of trends to look out for in the coming quarters.
1. Bottom navigation
Smartphones with larger screens are capturing a bigger audience each year, impacting the way devices and apps are designed. This raises the issue of how to plan the accessibility for thumbs more than ever before. Just look…
Easy steps to follow to get the best preparation for your next workshops!
A perfect UX workshop can help your team and stakeholders to brainstorm and make better decisions. It sounds fantastic, but in the real world, it is not always so marvellously flawless.
Nobody is perfect — in my UX designer career, I was responsible for a few epic workshops fails. I got a lesson, and now I realize that it is absolutely normal to get lost if you do not have a well-prepared plan.
As they say, everybody learns from mistakes, but thankfully, you can learn from mine ;) That is why I listed 5 tips that will help you plan…
When I graduated in psychology, I never thought that I would end up working as a UX Designer. However, my studies have not been in vain — I always knew that psychology is important in all areas of life, and design is no exception. Applying the laws of cognitive psychology helps me and my team to create stunning, intuitive projects. After all, when it comes to usability, it’s crucial to know how users think.
I identified 10 psychology principles that can improve usability and comprehension of almost every design.
Some of their names may seem scary at first glance, but…
This compilation of UX listening shows is similar to a mixtape of my favourite tunes.
In the world of technology buzz, it might seem that becoming a great UX designer is easy. After all, the internet offers tones of “skill enhancers” from tutorials to online courses to YT channels and podcasts. Too much of a good thing can be bad, however.
When I landed a UX Designer job some time ago, I started looking for a great inspirational and educational stuff but got swamped by a sheer amount of available materials. That led me to come up with a list of my favorite podcasts.
For me, podcasts are the best way to…
Agnieszka Cieplińska
Product Designer @Codility
