UI/UX Articles and Interesting Tidbits of the Week
September//2//2022
Here are some interesting finds on UI/UX of the week!
1.
Running a Hackathon. Hailing from the Marvel App blog, this article from Jane Adojutelegan focuses on the purpose and how to run Hackathons. These types of initiatives are both catalysts and focus opportunities for teams, and in the article the author highlights aspects such as Process Improvement, Learning Opportunities, Community Interest, to name but a few, which stem from these endeavors. The article also details operational aspects of running this type of initiative, including selecting mentors and judges, prizes, criteria for participation and marketing. It’s an article that both suggests and endorses quite a few interesting tactics in order to make these sessions productive and effective. Highlight of the article includes:
“Many hackathons are created because the organizers felt passionately about solving a particular issue, and it’s good to kick things off by using this passion to introduce things. It might be worthwhile to look at creating a presentation that explains the origins of the Hackathon, its sponsors and partners, the goals for the event and the criteria for each team need to meet to be successful. It’s also a great time to explain that every participant has a very important role to play. This can be really encouraging for people if the event is their first foray into tech. Asking everyone, regardless of skillset, to bring their unique qualities to the table should also encourage people to explore creating clearly defined roles for each other during the event. This will ensure that they optimize the time they have focusing on different areas of the project.”
2.
Building an Inclusive Team. Interesting article from Brittany Anas, published on the Invision Blog, focused on building and developing inclusive teams. The article mostly focuses on the different techniques and approaches to leverage the insights from both extroverts and introverts that typically exist within teams. When we discuss Inclusive Design, we usually refer to creating a diversity of ways of participation, so that everyone has a sense of belonging. The same can be said about team work, and the author refers tactics such as providing multiple formats of collaboration and communication, as well as providing context for working sessions well ahead of time. It’s an interesting perspective on this topic, worth reflecting upon. Highlight of the article includes:
“Oftentimes, extroverts will assume that if an introvert has something to say, they’ll speak up. But that’s not always how it works and doing so can create a false sense of consensus among a team which just creates friction down the line. Introverts often participate well if they’re allowed to put their ideas in writing, Bechtle says. Or they may prefer to hear a brief discussion on the issue then have a second meeting to share what they’ve been thinking about. “Learn to value the differences people bring to any discussion,” Bechtle says. “You don’t want to strive for consensus, where everyone supposedly agrees, but rather strive for synergy, where different perspectives become the raw ingredients to create new solutions.””
3.
Best User Research Questions. Another interesting article on the topic of research, specifically addressing how to craft the best user research questions. Author Lorelei Bowman addresses interesting aspects on this journey including creating a Question Bank, and then specifically addressing questions about Product/People/Problem. There’s also quite pertinent guidelines on how to shape the questions themselves for the studies, including recommendations such as neutrality, asking one question at a time, open-ended questions, to name but a few. Well worth parsing through. Highlight of the article includes:
“Before planning your questions and diving head-first into research, look at your overarching research plan and objectives. Consider this on a project-by-project basis, as your end questions will be drastically different depending on where you are in the product development process. For instance, if you’re in early product discovery, you may want to discover user intent and pain points. Or, if you’re working on a high-fidelity prototype, you might want to see how users interact with the prototype, and how easy it is to use.”
