Persuasive design techniques are a tool and with thoughtful application they can be a valuable addition to any designer’s toolkit. — “Persuasion or persuasion arts is an umbrella term for influence. Persuasion can influence a person’s beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivations, or behaviors.” — Persuasion: Social Influence and Compliance Gaining — Robert H. Gass and John S. Seiter (2018) Persuasive design is a set of techniques used to influence user behavior in…

Figma is gaining popularity for design portfolios as a free, web-published alternative to traditional no-code website builders. It has a wide range of design features and thousands of free templates, making it easy for designers to create professional-looking portfolio sites. Most designers hate the same cookie-cutter portfolio templates offered by…

Sorry, would-be UX designers, don’t believe the marketing hype, UX bootcamps won’t do it for most of you. The model is broken. At best, you will get an introduction to UX — which is great — but most of these bootcamps won’t prepare you for a real-world job. Outrageously, some…

Cognitive ease happens when there is no cognitive strain. When a design works, people experience cognitive ease. When it doesn’t, we experience an interruption to our state of flow (more about this later) that throws us into cognitive strain, and the design has failed. This can easily happen when basic…

This article is an updated and expanded version of two of my previous articles “The Principles of Dark UI Design” published by The Startup and “Dark UIs: the dos and don’ts” by the UX Collective. Creating the look and feel of a product is one of a designer’s primary responsibilities…

Designers need to start thinking about AI in design as an augmented intelligence system and a creative partner. As design tools, workflows, and processes will inevitably be molded by AI in the coming decade, we need to shift our mindset from a human versus machine to a human plus machine mindset. — This article is an updated and expanded version of my previous article “AI and Design: why AI is your creative partner” published in 2020 by the UX Collective.

Experimental product design techniques deployed rigorously during the design process are crucial for optimizing user experiences. Instead of converging on a single solution and implementing it in the final phase, experimentation enables product teams to test out ideas earlier in the process with real-world users at scale. — Following up on our previous collaboration, Evolving UX — Experimental Product Design with a CXO, I joined forces with Chris Gibbins, a chief experience officer (CXO) at Creative CX, an insight-led, advanced experimentation consultancy based in London. We discuss how experimentation fits into the design thinking process, and how designers…

Involve your customers and collaborate with them from the start. Otherwise, you are designing without understanding the whole picture. — What Is Human-centered Design (HCD)? “ When you understand the people you’re trying to reach-and then design from their perspective-not only will you arrive at unexpected answers, but you’ll come up with ideas that they’ll embrace.” —IDEO, Field Guide to Human-centered Design

Most mobile experiences suffer from poor UX because their creators failed to observe mobile UX design principles and best practices. These fundamental tenets of mobile usability have been developed over time through meticulous research and user testing. Applying them with rigor will enable designers to create better mobile user experiences. — With nearly 9 million apps at people’s fingertips, it’s tough out there for a mobile app designer. At least a thousand new apps pour into the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store each day. Yet, more than 75% of them are downloaded, opened once, and never used again. Most…