UI/UX Articles and Interesting Tidbits of the Week
June//28//2024
Here are some interesting finds on UI/UX of the week!
1.
FinServ Usability Testing. This is an interesting article from the Usertesting.com blog on the topic of conducting usability testing in FinServ organizations. The challenges Researchers and Designers face when tackling Research in such a domain is palpable and at times painful to overcome, due to restrictions, compliance issues, content sensitivity, to name but a few. Nonetheless its importance is undeniable, and the article refers some good recommendations including paying close attention to Customer Privacy and Close Collaboration with other teams (to highlight but two). The article quotes Sharon Meaney, Senior User Researcher at Wells Fargo, who provides the following statement: “Getting the customer voice to where it needs to go is super important. Make sure it permeates your organization and that your business team, product owners, and design teams are all on board and setting a customer-centric KPI. It’s getting that voice infused throughout your organization, so you’re not operating out of a silo or vacuum.” Highlight of the article includes:
“Remember that asking your customers for feedback is only half of the equation. If you’re not asking the right questions, you won’t necessarily be nearing solutions. And, of course, the right questions need to be asked at the right time. Before fully developing your product, spend time understanding your customers’ needs and frustrations. If you’re in the prototyping stage, collect user feedback as soon as you have a wireframe. And even after a new feature, product, or campaign has launched, keep monitoring feedback to help guide decisions on functionality or features you need to add or remove. To get started, use the following questions, categorized by different focuses, as inspiration.”
2.
Google and the Infinite Scroll. Very brief article from The Verge and author Andrew Liszewski, detailing Google’s paradigm shift when it comes to continuous scrolling on search results. This has been a paradigm that has existed for a considerable amount of time, mostly as a result of the mobile inflection that has occurred in users’ habits. The shift back to pagination is an indication of a behavior and pattern that allows the users to get an understanding of the finite type of data slotted per page, and get a better sense for the priority of results being displayed. Highlight of the article includes:
“In its place on desktop will be Google’s classic pagination bar, allowing users to jump to a specific page of search results or simply click “Next” to see the next page. On mobile, a “More results” button will be shown at the bottom of a search to load the next page. Google told Search Engine Land that “this change is to allow the search company to serve the search results faster on more searches, instead of automatically loading results that users haven’t explicitly requested.””
3.
Improving Microcopy. Very interesting article from The Smashing Magazine and author Irina Silyanova, who provides insightful recommendations on how to write microcopy for Digital Experiences. UX Writing is always a topic well worth exploring and playing close attention to, since it impacts the comprehension and subsequent prompt for action that is asked from users. The author showcases aspects such as being especially careful when there’s sensitive topics, such as monetary/health ones, which require a level of comfort from the user, that a transparent copy can underline. There’s a variety of recommendations on this article including avoiding negatives, expressing action with verbs, avoiding excessive politeness, refraining from using technical jargon, to name but a few. Well worth reading through. Highlight of the article includes:
“As a product manager or someone with a marketing background, you might want to create catchy and fancy button labels to boost conversion rates. For instance, when working on an investment app, you might label a button for opening a brokerage account as “Become an investor.” While this might appeal to users’ egos, it can also come across as pretentious and cheap. Additionally, after opening an account, users may still need to do many things to actually become investors, which can be frustrating. Opt for a straightforward “Open an account” button instead.”
