train switch tracks as a metaphor for how ux lessons can change your life

How UX is Changing My Personal Life

“User experience is a process of discovery, vision definition, strategy, planning, execution, measurement and iteration. It requires flexibility, and a willingness to be wrong until you are right.” ---Robert Hoekman Jr., in Smashing Magazine
How UX is Changing My Personal Life
How UX is Changing My Personal Life,
tips for conducting user testing

Tips for Conducting User Testing

If you’ve been following this series, you already know why user testing is important to any digital project. And you’re familiar with a range of testing methods that help you gain insights into user preferences and measure user behaviors. Now the final element of your testing plan is to decide how you’re going to conduct your user testing.
Ben Lynch
Ben Lynch, Senior User Experience Architect
Leslie Mohn, Director of User Experience Architecture
choosing the right types of user testing

Choosing the Right Type of User Testing

Last week we launched an intro to user testing: why to do it, and why it should be an ongoing process of improvement. Now it’s time to get more specific about the types of user testing and how to select the best ones to meet your objectives, budget and timeline.
Ben Lynch
Ben Lynch, Senior User Experience Architect
Leslie Mohn, Director of User Experience Architecture
image of person user testing a website or application

Intro to User Testing

Let’s say that one of the key performance indicators you’re tracking on your site is the number of requests for literature. But the numbers seem surprisingly low. How can you find out why? Do some user testing.
Intro to User Testing
Intro to User Testing,
Intro to User Testing,
integrated help features are more intuitive and fun

Why We Love Integrated Help

Have you noticed all the friendly, integrated help popping up everywhere? YouTube, Google+, MySpace (you should check out the new MySpace), and tons of apps are all moving away from traditional help menus and stand-alone content to more intuitive introductions and in-the-moment assistance...
Mike Osswald
Mike Osswald, Vice President, Experience Innovation

When Good Forms Go Bad: Improving Your Online Forms

Do you hate filling out online forms? Most web users do. Forms are critical to companies collecting our personal information so they can “convert” us into something---a new lead, a direct sale, a happy existing customer, a new employee. That’s why forms matter, and why they won’t be going away anytime soon. But do forms have to alienate the end user?
Private: Melisa Zachrich
Private: Melisa Zachrich, Senior User Experience Architect
Websites & Trail Races: It's All About the Navigation

Websites and Trail Races: It’s All About the Navigation

There is nothing to fear except fear itself. And also getting lost in the woods overnight. My husband and I are both runners. Yet I had long hesitated to run a trail race for one reason: my fear of getting hopelessly lost in the woods. Last summer my husband coaxed me into a series of XTERRA trail races. But as the date of our first race approached, I became almost panic stricken that I would never find my way out of the trees.
Websites and Trail Races: It’s All About the Navigation
Websites and Trail Races: It’s All About the Navigation,