“Which UI is better?” is not a great question to ask
Why would you use that, pineapple on pizza, reasons to become a UX designer in 2022, Lean UX, and more!
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[ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS]
Which UI is better? The importance of contextual design
Finally, someone has come out and said it (kinda) but ‘Which UI is better’ posts on LinkedIn are pointless.
Every UX designer should know that ‘Which UI is better’ is often subjective to personal taste and aesthetics that without the context of what we’re trying to achieve, there is no ‘better’.
The context of the problem explains what the requirement is, how the solution solves the problem and takes into consideration what the users need. Without content, it wouldn’t be UX design, it would just be decoration.
However, there may be Laws of UX and design principles that can help train your design “sense” — more ideas below.
[ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS]
10 design principles every designer should know
- The Flexibility-Usability tradeoff
- The Aesthetic-Usability Effect
- Forgiveness
- Scarcity
- Signal to Noise ratio
- 80/20 Rule
- Most advanced yet acceptable
- Immersion
- Garbage in, garbage out
- Cost-benefit
Of this list, cost-benefit is something I feel like many junior designers overlook in a whiteboard challenge. The benefits of a solution have to be equal to or greater than costs. Why does this matter? Well, while designers are taught to think about the users, the business is also just as important — they’re the ones paying your salary. If you create a solution for users that isn’t also beneficial to the business, you’ve missed the mark on your research.
[DESIGN PODCAST]
Why Would You Use That?
“Our entire computer and technical system is working because of duct tape and optimism.”
I honestly love this episode of User Knows so much because it uncovers the usefulness of products that we create and why we continue to use certain products. While coming up with a solution for something may seem easy, many other moving parts need to be accounted for. The aesthetics and functionality can be one, the cost could be another but those are only 2 things of many. Taking that into account with the project planner, the people needed to build, timeline, and everything else, suddenly, we have a huge monster to deal with.
The conversation resonates a lot with some projects I’m working on as a designer. We’re currently working on a facelift where we only update the UI with a new color palette and icons. By reskinning it like this, we can chip away small components to update the look and feel of our product. Afterward, we’ll work on functionality like responsiveness. However, if we tried to do it all at once, we’d lose focus on the scope and project over a year’s worth of work before our users could see any progress.
[SOMETHING FUN]
Let’s Settle This: Pineapple on Pizza?
A fun little game to decide if pineapple goes on pizza. Kim says yes. Oz says… HECK YES!
[UX QUOTE]
“Want your users to fall in love with your designs? Fall in love with your users.”
[WATCH THIS]
Become a UX Designer in 2022–4 reasons
- UX pays well (without a ton of work demand such as coding skills)
- Time, freedom, and looking cool (flexibility if you can design faster)
- Creativity?
Some people argue that having a Design System Manager or DSM that serve as design guidelines, philosophy, and direction for an organization is constraining, others say it’s more open-ended 🤷I think it’s really about how you use the tools — do you take what you’re given or do you think outside the box?
[BOOK RECO]
Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience
I was surprised to go through the newsletter copies to find that this was not a recommendation I’ve already made… Perhaps I was saving it for the day when I would actually read the book and then share my thoughts.
Alas, this is probably the topic book recommendation for UX’er at any stage in their career. It’s filled with details on how to work with Lean UX and Agile approaches to be effective at your job. If you work in a fast-paced environment, it’s important to prioritize the MVP, think about the timeline, and thoroughly understand the problem you’re solving for. This book is on my 2022 reading list and I hope it makes it on yours as well!
[DESIGN TOOL]
Iconoir.com
Free, open-source SVG icons… Woo hoo! This makes grabbing icons so much easier for that project you’re working on.
[SOMETHING LNY]
Celebrating LNY with Panda
Not sponsored, but in the spirit of Lunar New Year, Panda Express has created a cute little platformer game for you to earn four coupons to redeem at their stores.
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