UI/UX Articles and Interesting Tidbits of the Week
April//7//2023
Here are some interesting finds on UI/UX of the week!
1.
Cognitive Walkthroughs. Another great article from the Nielsen Norman Group, this time focused on the topic of Cognitive Walkthroughs (courtesey of author Kim Salazar). The goal for these are of course to allow diverse teams to go through a flow or a task, and document the journey these participants experience while going through it (and of course questions are asked while they’re going through this journey). These can be an opportunity to leverage these participants insights, some of which can potentially be proxies for actual users though that’s not the goal here. This type of study was firstly introduced in 1990, and it is a means to gather a better understanding of the learnability aspect of software applications. Fascinating read and well worth adding to the arsenal of research methods. Highlight of the article includes:
“A cognitive walkthrough takes place in a workshop setting. The user tasks to be evaluated within the session are defined in advance. (If you have a list of top tasks, that’s a good source for evaluation tasks.) The workshop participants may include UX specialists, product owners, engineers, and domain experts. One participant acts as a facilitator. All participants serve as evaluators, offering their interpretation of how a particular type of user (which could be defined by a user persona) would perceive the interface and behave in the given situation. Another participant serves as the recorder, documenting the answers found for each question and the probable success or failure of the overarching task (as determined by the group).”
2.
Body Language and Interviews. Fantastic article from Nikki Anderson-Stanier on the topic of Body Language and its impact on Research endeavors, particularly UXR Interviews. Having recently gone through a series of these myself, I can attest to the veracity of the points the author highlights in the article, not to mention and just to reinforce these particular aspects: always make sure the interviewee feels at ease, comfortable, and doesn’t have to repeat himself/herself on a similar topic (or the same topic) countless times. Reading body language is very important, since it allows for the tone of the conversation to be ajusted as it goes along. The author suggests aspects such as Introducing the Session, Nodding and reinforcing the listening aspect to the interviewee, Avoiding distractions and always making sure to be aware of how the interviewee is feeling/doing. Well worth reading through. Highlight of the article includes:
“I’ve seen many sessions begin by just diving into big questions. Take the time to introduce the session and yourself! This introduction includes explaining the setup, how long the session will be, what they can expect (I always say it will be a conversation on X topic), and what you want. This way, they can mentally prepare themselves for the upcoming session. Additionally, when you take the time to introduce yourself, you make the participant feel more comfortable.”
3.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90874799/goodbye-silicon-valley-hello-arlington
Shifts in Resources. This interesting article from Wilfred Chan for The Fast Company, while having a click-bait type of title, it illustrates nonetheless a momentum that has started to occur since this wave of layoffs in Tech Companies has occurred. Namely and against prior trends, an opportunity for the US Military-Industrial sector to have a good choice of professionals to choose from. These professionals are typically seduced by the perks and compensation packages that are offered with Tech companies in the Silicon Valley area, something that the more government centric positions can’t quite compete with. However with the ever evolving job market, this situation has also transitioned into something else. Well worth reading through. Highlight of the article includes:
“The defense sector, with its buttoned-up culture, rigid pay scales, and controversial war ties, has historically struggled to lure workers away from shiny, remote-friendly tech companies swimming in VC cash. Last year, a McKinsey report found that as many as 50,000 positions were unfilled across the 15 largest aerospace and defense companies, with “the overwhelming majority” of those vacancies in tech roles.”
