UI/UX Articles And Interesting Tidbits Of The Week
June//19//2020
Here are some interesting finds on UI/UX of the week!
1.
Well Being in Digital Products. An interesting article hailing from Smashing Magazine, on the topic of removing stress from digital products. It’s an interesting read for its unique angle, namely, removing what can be considered detrimental information, dark patterns essentially (sneaking, urgency, misdirection, social proof, scarcity, obstruction, forced action), in order to create more pleasurable, usable and desirable product experiences. The author gives specific examples on how to use color, hierarchy of elements, consistency of design elements, to name but a few. Worth a read.Highlight of the article includes:
“If you notice your visitors ignoring the noise you’ve placed before them on the website, don’t try and jam it down their throats even further. Just get rid of it. They’re either going to suffer through the experience and be left with a sour taste in their mouth… or they’re going to immediately bounce off the site and be left with a sour taste in their mouth. If you want to remove the stress from your web design, look to traditional stress relief activities to iron out the issues. If you can turn your website into a relaxing and welcoming environment — while still pushing all the right buttons to drive visitors to conversion — you’ll lower your bounce rates as well as visitors’ stress levels.”
2.
IBM & Invision. Not a typical highlight of this newsletter. Case studies sponsored by companies who want to advertise their own products, can be somewhat a gratuitous way to do self promotion, but Invision has a dynamic and rich Design blog, and this article is a very pertinent dive into the inner workings of a large organization such as IBM. It’s an article focused on bringing a consistency to Design practices across such a large company, while also detailing the evolution of processes across different teams (and the tools used to empower these initiatives of course). Worth a read. Highlight of the article includes:
“As UX researchers on the Security team grew their practice, offering managers (IBM’s term for product managers) began to trust them with greater responsibility. “Now we have teams doing extremely well together,” she says. “The offering manager knows what’s coming two or three sprints ahead and sends researchers out on location. It took the researchers a while to realize their job is to get the offering manager to trust them enough to send them out, to rely on them. Next year their conversations will be completely different.””
3.
AI & Warehouse Management. Very interesting article from The Verge, focusing on an AI driven application, the “Distance Assistant”, which Amazon has deployed in warehouses, in order to track workers movements. This tracking primarily aims to warn/notify individuals to keep a safe distance, therefore abiding to rules of social distancing. Powerful statement on the evolution of AI and how technology can have an effective impact in auxiliary prevention of situations of risk. Highlight of the article includes:
“The company’s “Distance Assistant” combines a TV screen, depth sensors, and AI-enabled camera to track employees’ movements and give them feedback in real time. When workers come closer than six feet to one another, circles around their feet flash red on the TV, indicating to employees that they should move to a safe distance apart. The devices are self-contained, meaning they can be deployed quickly where needed and moved about. Amazon compares the system to radar speed checks which give drivers instant feedback on their driving. The assistants have been tested at a “handful” of the company’s buildings, said Brad Porter, vice president of Amazon Robotics, in a blog post, and the firm plans to roll out “hundreds” more to new locations in the coming weeks.”
