There are lots of opinions. However, there are opinions you should take much more seriously than others. These are the opinions of 10x people. A 10x person is someone who can do the work of 10 people. When I worked with Crash Tung, he looked me in the eye and said, “Don’t hold back!” As a…
Whenever I design business software, I imagine three stages that I need to design for. See figure below. Demo How good does it show to someone who has no idea how this thing works? In other words, how much will this feature help the sales rep. Generally, I design for the intermediate user, which doesn’t demo…
I recently traded in my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 for a Nexus 6. I wanted the latest greatest OS from Google. I could have gotten an iPhone 6 Plus or a Galaxy S6 (or Note 3) or other device, but I chose the Nexus mainly because I wanted to get the latest OS quicker. (Current version…
Let’s get something out of the way. I appreciate Apple, but I don’t like MacOS X. I have many different kinds of devices, iPods, iPads, Laptops, Wearables, Mac Minis and desktops. They have a wide array of operating systems. I think iOS is brilliant for the iPad/iPod/iPhone family. However, I think MacOS X is inferior…
Yesterday, a colleague asked my opinion about the Data vs. Intuition debate amongst designers. Should a designer rely on data or intuition to do their job? It seemed to me to be a false choice. These are not mutually exclusive ideas. Great design requires both at different times. When a new feature or product begins,…
It’s not the most common technique, but I fully endorse the idea of employee on-boarding by spending time on phone support. I think 3 weeks is probably the right amount of time. Certainly 3 days is too short and 3 months is too long. The reason this is a good technique is that it forces…
UX should apply to your working environment. Naming your conference rooms as funny names will actually change the culture in your office. Here are a bunch of name themes I have collected that are fun. Some are better than others. This is meant to inspire you to name with some fun. Snow White Snow White…
Contrary to what you have heard, size matters. However, bigger isn’t always better. Here is the rundown: Taller In business, if you are taller, you are more likely to be promoted. Also, in SmartPhones, a taller screen is helpful. Especially if you are scrolling down. In fact, I have three screens on my desk. See…
When you want to change people’s behavior you must take into account a simple social fact. Early adopters feel social anxiety when everyone is doing the same thing. They feel wrong when they are in the pack. On the contrary, the early majority feel anxiety when they are NOT following the pack. If you want…
I was in a nice restaurant in Palo Alto. (Less than a mile away from Stanford University). This was a picture I took in the bathroom. Nice, real nice. Classy.
I failed high school. Badly. My grade point average, to be exact, was 2.2. I slept through Math, literally. I never got past basic algebra. I was good at “proofs” but bad at everything else. I just didn’t see the point. Well, Karma has a wicked sense of humor. Here is the joke: A child…
I hate passwords in general. The weird Cr@zyPa$$w0rd style that people ask for today ensures that users will never remember them and just write them down at their desk. They are also difficult to type. The worst offenders are like Dell below. They demand that you use only a few special characters $?=., Seriously?? You…
Google is trying out a new interface for GMail called Inbox. I asked for an invite and received one that day. Clearly the design has been lifted from Google+. It’s all circles and material design. At first, I didn’t like it because it was too full. Then I discovered a new way to “Archive”. They…
We had a UX team exercise today, where we tried to redesign the car wash experience. It started with a picture of a completely dysfunctional UI. Funny, isnt it? Then the team all designed alternatives. My mind wandered to my feelings about the car wash experience in general. As a kid, I remember going with…