UI/UX Articles and Interesting Tidbits of the Week
March//26//2021
Here are some interesting finds on UI/UX of the week!
1.
Designing Voice Experiences. Very relevant article hailing from author Michael Craig, on how to craft Voice driven product experiences. In the past I’ve listed on the newsletter topics pertaining to Natural Language Processing, particularly when it comes to the main 4 venues in which applications have been construed, namely Automated Speech Recognition, Speech to Text, Semantic Analysis and User Response. This article focuses on providing considerations on building these experiences, including aspects such as Security and Privacy, Technology Constraints, to name but a few. Well worth a read. Highlight of the article includes:
“It should be said that voice interfaces are by no means a replacement for visual interfaces. Even as technology advances, we will continue to find that the two can complement each other rather than compete, leading to a better product. Depending on your system, there are times when it would be good to reinforce auditory comments with visual elements. Of course, this requires a good balance. How might we visually represent audible speech or content? How can we make seamless voice interfaces without relying too much on visual cues? When is it appropriate to reinforce audio? Many of the answers to these questions depend largely on the product you are building.”
2.
UI Components in Atomic Design. On the heels of many articles pertaining to Design Systems, this article focuses on actual UI components that are associated with Atomic Design. It’s a succinct article illustrating the categories available in Atomic Design, including Atoms, Molecules, Organisms, Templates and Pages, with just enough information on each of these to provide context and elements for reflection. Highlight of the article includes:
“Pages, finally, are the final element of Atomic Design. According to Frost himself, pages are the specific instances of templates. Pages are the most tangible element of all and are the places users spend most of their time. They’re also one of the most essential phases of the Atomic Design process since the final iteration of pages is where developers get to see whether the entire design system is effective or not. In short, the final appearance of the pages dictates whether the site is ready to launch, or whether the developer needs to loop back and make changes to earlier design elements.”
3.
Q&A with the Head of Design of Nested. Another great interview hailing from the Marvel Blog, this time around with Will Thomas, Head of Design at Nested. These series of interviews from the Marvel Blog are quite interesting, since they shed light on other professionals career paths and experiences, but also because they end up going in different directions, depending on the individuals they’re speaking with. In this particular article, it was refreshing to read about Mr. Thomas’s take on leadership, hiring and crafting solid Design teams. Well worth a read. Highlight of the article includes:
“I think AI will make our lives faster and easier, but I can’t imagine it being able to take over the design thinking process. That’s such a nuanced, human thing. At Nested we sometimes describe what we do as mining for diamonds, rather than mining for coal, because we have so few customers, but each customer is really high value. With such small data-sets, there’s a lot of intuition and gut feel when talking to customers. So much of our research is qualitative rather than quantitative. It’s anecdotal. It’s talking to people and hearing real stories. AI which AI will be able to smooth out the potholes and get rid of the speed bumps, but designers can’t retire just yet — we’re still going to be needed for the nuanced design thinking work.”
