UI/UX Articles and Interesting Tidbits of the Week
May//3//2024
Here are some interesting finds on UI/UX of the week!
1.
Design Systems. This is a topic always worth highlighting, for the fact alone that the establishment of a consistent Design language within an organization, allows for consistency, relevance, and hopefully, pertinence of the output to a stalwart of that same organization. However, this article from Chad Bergman does bring to focus that these types of endeavors don’t exist in a vacuum, and require the convergence of investments, sound points of view, advocates, and an execution that marries technological savviness, with business acumen, and Design relevance. Worth reading through. Highlight of the article includes:
“Building a design system is a team effort, so start recruiting advocates early on. Seek out people who are passionate about design consistency, or who have experience with design systems. Don’t limit yourself to just the design team — reach out to developers, product managers, customer support, and people working in other areas of the business. Getting diverse perspectives will help ensure your design system meets the needs of your entire product and organization, not just one specific group. And remember, many successful design systems start with a team of one! Don’t be afraid to champion the cause yourself.”
2.
Lessons from Selling a Startup. This article from Yaakov Karda for The Smashing Magazine is a very pertinent case study of his journey in the world of business creation, but just as importantly, in the world of product creation and customer experience. What the author details, in terms of crafting a solution statement, but just as importantly, learning from his clients, until the eventual sell of the startup, is a great testament to the fact that Customer Experience isn’t linear (there’s no “build it and they will come”), in the sense that it requires constant scrutiny and engagement, to further understand client’s journeys in the product that exists in the market. As I mentioned before, once a solution exists in the market, there’s an unexpected layer of utilization that needs to be accounted for. And that plays a part in ensuring further retention of clients. This article is well worth the read. Highlight of the article includes:
“We tried improving the free-to-paid subscription conversion rate by targeting those who actively used the product but remained on a free plan for an extended period. We offered them an upgraded plan subscription for just one dollar per year. And to our surprise, that failed to convince many people to upgrade. We were forced to conclude that there are two types of customers: those who pay and those who do not (and will not).”
3.
Notifications and Emotional Triggering. Joanna Nelius’ article for the Verge is an interesting reflection on Technology, and specifically how something as trivial as Notifications, can actually trigger emotional responses and revive possible trauma in someone’s life. The power of Design solutions lie not only with their ability to solve actual problems, but also create an emotional entanglement with its users. Don Norman’s three levels of Design, Visceral/Behavioral/Reflective is indicative of that, something this article also brings to mind. The way certain solutions and features are deployed and leveraged is something that Designers, Product Specialists, and Development Experts should always keep in mind. People/users don’t typically leverage solutions in sequestered environments, they do so in a variety of different contexts. Understanding those contexts, how the solutions are part of someone’s habits, is essential to further comprehend how those solutions integrate into users’ lives, as opposed to blocking them. Well worth reading through. Highlight of the article includes:
“An extreme solution by today’s standards is to store everything on an external drive where no one has access to them but you. You lose the convenience of accessing them from any device anywhere at any time, but you gain something much better in return: privacy. So, that’s where I will store all my photos from now on. I’ve avoided getting a NAS because it seems like too much work, but it’d be nice to still be able to access my stuff from anywhere. I’m done dealing with emotionally unaware algorithms and automated emails feigning sympathy to get me to engage with websites. My memories are not marketing tools.”
