Foundational Thinking Archives - Page 4 of 22

Reorgs: Rocky or Righteous?

Posted by Rich Lee

As designers, we grapple every day with challenging projects. This of course is part of what keeps us coming back. Some challenges, although not directly related to project work, can still be looked at through a UX lens. In this case, I’m talking about a phenomenon you’re likely familiar with: company reorganization. If you’ve been through a reorg (that’s ‘reorganization’ in water cooler parlance), you’ve probably experienced your share of the whispers, closed-door meetings, and mixed messages that seem to

March 18, 2014 Business Design / Foundational Thinking / Workplace and Career

Ending the UX Designer Drought

Posted by Fred Beecher

The user experience design field is booming. We’re making an impact, our community is vibrant, and everyone has a job. And that’s the problem. A quick search for “user experience” on indeed.com reveals over 5,000 jobs posted in the last 15 days (as of March 15, 2014) in the United States alone! Simple math turns that into the staggering statistic of 10,000 new UX-related jobs being created every month. This amount of work going undone is going to prevent us

February 25, 2014 Foundational Thinking / Learning From Others

Siri, Chess, and Prostheses

Posted by Sorin Pintilie

Intelligent machines. There was a time when the mere mention of artificial intelligence was wrapped in constant debate and triggered images of Hollywood-crafted products, like Hal 9000. The concept itself is quite controversial; it challenges human thought as Darwin once challenged human origins. But we moved on, and now we carry these intelligent machines in our pockets. There’s a 38.9% chance you have one, too. Siri, the out-of-sight personal assistant from Apple, delivers an amazing experience. It listens to you,

February 18, 2014 Foundational Thinking / Process and Methods / User Centered

We Don’t Research. We Build.

Posted by Dan Turner

The following is a composite of experiences I’ve had in the last year when talking with startups. Some dialog is paraphrased, some is verbatim, but I’ve tried to keep it as true as possible and not skew it towards anyone’s advantage or disadvantage. As professionals in the user-centered design world, we are trained and inclined to think of product design as relying on a solid knowledge, frequently tested, of our potential users, their real-life needs and habits. We’ve seen the

November 12, 2013 Design Principles / Foundational Thinking / Learning From Others

An Open Letter to Project Managers

Posted by Michael Lai

Dear Project Managers, It has been a very enjoyable experience working with everyone over the last couple of months and sharing our ideas on UX design. The various discussions about user interface, product usability, and user engagement have been an enlightening experience for me as well, and it is very positive to see that everyone involved in the product thinks so highly about improving the user experience. In an ideal world with unlimited time and resources, I think the best