UI/UX Articles and Interesting Tidbits of the Week
February//9//2024
Here are some interesting finds on UI/UX of the week!
1.
Designing for Older Adults. Another pertinent article from Vitaly Friedman for The Smashing Magazine, this time around on the topic of crafting solutions for older demographics. It is a topic of the utmost importance to prioritize as the percentage of people over the age of 60 keeps expanding. The article provides some sound recommendations namely avoiding floating labels, using sufficient contrast, making error messages helpful and actionable, to name but a few. Well worth reading through. Highlight of the article includes:
“Older adults also often struggle with precise movements, so avoid long, fine drag gestures and precision. If a user performs an action, they didn’t mean to and runs into an error, be sure your error messages are helpful and forgiving, as older adults often view error messages as a personal failure. As Peter Sylwester has suggested, sensory reaction times peak at about the age of 24 and then degrade slowly as we age. Most humans maintain fine motor skills and decent reaction times well into old age. Therefore, error messages and small updates and prompts should almost always be a consideration. One good way to facilitate reaction time is to keep errors and prompts close to the center of attention.”
2.
Leveraging a Job Atlas to showcase Jobs to Be Done Research. Interesting article from Nikki Anderson and the Dovetail blog, showcasing how a Job Atlas can play a pivotal role in sharing the outputs of Jobs to be done Research. The author specifically looks at how Job Atlas divides the information into 4 quadrants, namely: Needs Statements and Motivations, Behaviors and Tasks, Pain Points and Obstacles, and Ideal Outcomes. This enables for the information retrieved from a Jobs to Be Done framework to be structured in a more succinct manner. Worth reading through. Highlight of the article includes:
“Finally, the ideal outcome area is where you include what the user would define as success. What is the user hoping to achieve by using your product? What is their ideal outcome? This section helps you understand where you are or aren’t supporting your users. For instance, if your product doesn’t support any of people’s ideal outcomes, you might experience retention rates drop, or you may struggle to acquire customers. The more ideal outcomes you support with your product, the more satisfied people will be. If you aren’t supporting ideal outcomes, this section is a great place to look for innovation and improvement.”
3.
Email Deliverability Metrics. Another relevant article from Unspam, this time around on tracking email deliverability metrics. The metrics represented and substantiated in the article include Deliverability Rate, Delivery Rate, Open Rate, Click-through Rate, Spam Rate, Spam Complaint Rate, Soft Bounce Rate, Hard Bounce Rate. The article also highlights how good email deliverability produces many positive aspects, including: better user engagement, more conversions, consistent lead generation, higher ROI, greater trust, healthier relationships with customers, more reliable and stable email infrastructure, and stronger brand’s position in the market. It’s a very thorough and relevant article and one well worth reading through. Highlight of the article includes:
“When tooltips are clear and adequately placed — for instance, not obscuring other essential elements or information, they offer a smoother navigation experience. In considering accessibility, tooltips are even more critical. They become invaluable tools for users with cognitive difficulties, helping them better understand the function of web elements and empowering them to interact with web content. For example, a user with memory impairments might benefit from a tooltip that offers a reminder of what a particular icon does.”
