UI/UX Articles and Interesting Tidbits of the Week
August//13//2021
Here are some interesting finds on UI/UX of the week!
1.
Customer Experiences and Service Design. As habitual, a good read from the Nielsen Norman Group on the topics of the relationships between Product Design, Customer Experience and Service Design initiatives. While not an in depth look at the complexities involving Service Design, it’s well worth a read, since it details the general touch points this practice touches upon, and its impact in the overall journey the client embarks on, when establishing a relationship with an organization. Having just been involved in a considerable endeavor in this domain, I can attest that its complexities and ramifications are tremendous to the success of any Product Design endeavor. Worth reading and reflecting upon. Highlight of the article includes:
“Historically, companies have been organized internally according to various touchpoints in the customer experience — that is, around products and delivery channels. This approach has often led to siloed departments for marketing, sales, product, billing, and customer support. Some organizations may even have separate departments (or teams) for different areas of the same product (e.g., homepage, profile, chat, cart). Collaboration across departments and teams is required in order to achieve a seamless customer experience. This is where service design comes in. To facilitate this collaboration, intention and effort must be spent designing how people, processes, and tools come together to create the experience you aim to deliver to the customer.”
2.
4 Habits that Describe Great Communication. One of the traits I always admire about an Organization’s culture is indeed its communication stance, with a firm footing in aspects such as democratization, transparency and outreach. This article showcases 4 habits leaders should keep in mind, which will bring effective results, namely Sharing Information, Embracing Conflict, Learn to Communicate in Different Styles, and also Learn to Listen. This article from Marcel Schwantes is well worth reading and reflecting upon. Highlight of the article includes:
“Be transparent in sharing company information to foster trust and accountability across the enterprise. By being open and honest with everyone about both the good news and the bad news helps ensure people that their work and role are valued. Leaders at Bridgewater Associates, the investment management firm founded by Ray Dalio, record every meeting and make them available to all employees. This open communication vehicle is a learning tool that illustrates how decisions are made and encourages more precise thinking and communication that reduces politicking.”
3.
Accessibility, Contrast Rations, A-Levels. Accessibility is one of the topics I always highlight on this newsletter. As technology evolves, and accordingly the products released to market, it’s fundamental that these solutions become more inclusive, democratic and widely accessible. Building products with different audiences in mind, is not only ethically minded, it’s also business minded. This article focuses on topics such as explaining what A/AA/AAA compliance entails, and explains contrast ratios, while also shedding enough light on topics as descriptive code, hierarchy of items, alt tags for images, and the list goes on. Well worth the read. Highlight of the article includes:
“A-level compliance is viewed as the bare minimum level of requirement which all websites, apps, and electronic content such as documents should adhere to. This means that although it is the most viable option, simply meeting all A-level criteria is not enough to meet the legal requirements for accessible websites in most countries. For instance, when it comes to making it easier for users to visualize content, the requirement is at minimum you use other elements besides color to visually convey information or indicate an action.”
