Aug 22, 2020
UI/UX Articles And Interesting Tidbits Of The Week
August//21//2020
Here are some interesting finds on UI/UX of the week!
1.
How the Pandemic Exacerbated the need for Accessible Product Solutions. Accessibility is a topic I highlight frequently, and one always worth being revisited. The Pandemic has forced us all to rethink habits, and become even more online centric. For those with disabilities of different natures, it’s always a challenge to operate through Interactive/Digital Offerings that aren’t done, contemplating their specific needs. This is an article, worth reading for the fact that the author highlights topics such as Readability, Functionality, Organization of content and even Multimedia elements, how to tackle these and keep them in mind for inclusive audiences, and not solely segmented ones. Highlight of the article includes:
“Contrast sensitivity can be reduced, color perception can be difficult, and focus can be hard, making web pages particularly difficult to read when text is not crisp, clear and large. Someone with cataracts, macular degeneration or any other impairment causing low vision may not be able to fully engage and interact with a website if it isn’t created to support zooming or provide options to enlarge text.”
2.
10 Years of Designmodo. Not a typical highlight of this newsletter, but an article that is well worth a read. Designmodo, which is celebrating 10 years of existence, operates simultaneously as a Product Solution Organization, but also as a hub filled with articles on everything pertaining to Product/Web/Digital Design. The article hails from the founder of Designmodo, Andrian Valeanu, and in it, he details the ups and downs that he and his team have faced during their existence. It’s a testament to their perseverance, unique point of view, that they’ve been able to look back, and learn from all the projects they have tackled, successful they may be or not. It’s an article that also provides an interesting view of how far the Design discipline has come in the last 10 years. Well worth a read. Highlight of the article includes:
“After a massive redesign and new logo release, we put all our efforts into the new products. This time, we decided to offer subscription-only access to our apps. Previous products remained online, and clients could access them; but for new products, clients had to keep a subscription active to access app functionality. We redesigned and recoded Slides and Startup, and released the first new product: Postcards. Those apps are now the core of the Designmodo business; we frequently update them with new functionality. Thanks to the dedication of our team and the profitability of the apps, we worked in a stable, slow-grow mode. What do you think we did with the money we started earning? We continued to invest, putting 70% of the money back into the business.”
3.
Remote Usability Testing: Moderated and Unmoderated. Very pertinent article from the Nielsen Norman Group, always worth revisiting. These days in particular, with everyone working remotely, Remote Usability Testing is even more habitual than before. This article provides great insight on not only what these entail, but how the Moderated and Unmoderated variants allow for different types of feedback, and just as equally important, how and what to get from these sessions. Well worth a read. Highlight of the article includes:
“Moderated sessions allow for back and forth between the participant and facilitator, because both are online simultaneously. Facilitators can ask questions for clarification or dive into issues through additional questions after tasks are completed. It can be difficult to know when to ask a question in a remote study, however. Silence on the other end of the line may mean that the user is confused, immersed in content, looking around the page, or distracted. It can be difficult to find the balance between letting users know you are listening and interrupting them. Although the same is true in face-to-face studies, the problem can be magnified in remote studies. Unmoderated usability sessions are completed alone by the participant. Although there is no real-time interaction with the participant, some tools for remote testing allow predefined follow-up questions to be built into the study, to be shown after each task or at the end of the session. Questions can also be emailed to be completed after the user has finished her session. In both cases, questions are the same across users. There is no opportunity to ask detailed questions specific to the user’s actions.”
