UI/UX Articles And Interesting Tidbits Of The Week
May//29//2020
Here are some interesting finds on UI/UX of the week!
1.
Data Visualization and Mobile Experiences. Another insightful article hailing from Smashing Magazine, focused on the topic of Data Visualizations and Mobile Experiences. In the past this newsletter has focused on the topic of Interactive Infographics, which is one of the explorations this article goes into. Surfacing compelling information using visual cues, ones that are interactive, allows for the content of a brand to be displayed in an engaging manner while simultaneously building extra brand awareness. Worth a read. Highlight of the article includes:
“In your mission to preserve your website’s message on mobile, you don’t want to create so many graphics that it compromises page speed or that they start to feel overwhelming. One solution to data visualization overload is to create a single graphic, but use filters to control which data sets are displayed. Not only does this enable you to deliver a ton of visual information in a smaller amount of space, but it can become a competitive edge, too.”
2.
Best Practices in Forms. For those who don’t know about UX Movement and author Anthony, this website has a flurry of interesting considerations on topics that range from Accessibility to best practices surrounding Forms, to name but a few. This article in particular looks at best practices on input fields which populate so many digital products, as ways to capture information from users, and who are invariably met with some friction/frustration, when these forms aren’t properly defined (always good to keep in mind that surrounding forms there’s always two important factors to abide to: perception of complexity and interaction cost). Well worth a read.Highlight of the article includes:
“Not only that, but underlined text fields are also hard to tap because the edges of the tap target are missing. When the top and side borders are open and invisible, the target becomes a thin and faint one-pixel line. A smaller and less visible target to aim at decreases the user’s tap accuracy and causes mistapping. In some cases, they may accidentally trigger an adjacent text field when aiming for their target. Without clear target boundaries, it’s easy for the finger to land in the wrong area.”
3.
Maze Discovery and Quick Ideations. Another different highlight on the newsletter. This in particular hails from Maze, and is very much an article about the edification of their new Product, Discovery. What is interesting about the article, is the informational component underlying how the team went about building this Product. It is a promotional article, but it is also a look at how teams collaborate, at how products are conceived, how clients are engaged in order to provide feedback, how different types of usability testing methods are used (card sorting and tree testing are mentioned, and even how brand refinement occurs. Well worth a read. Highlight of the article includes:
“With Maze user testing, our customers’ first interaction with the product is importing their prototype. That’s also been the main call-to-action on our website since we first launched. If we wanted to allow customers to do research at the discovery phase before they even have a prototype — that interaction was no longer going to be first. After receiving requests from users and speaking to some of them one-on-one, the ability to create Maze projects without a prototype seemed paramount. It was the key decision that shaped Maze Discovery at the very start. Another similar choice we had to make concerned the concept of mission, which is an essential element of prototype testing with Maze. With discovery projects, missions are no longer there. Instead, you’re able to create and run research surveys and do product explorations — without being constrained to a prototype. It soon became clear we had to rethink a lot of what Maze was. From product interactions to messaging — and the way we think about Maze generally — we had to go looking for new answers.”
