When I was a junior designer I made plenty of mistakes. I believed false assumptions mostly because I did not have the experience yet to know better. I still don’t know it all. But, I am always eager to learn new things about design and to see which preconceived notions are accurate or a complete myth. That’s how this post came about. I want to address seven common design myths which I still see influencing design decisions. Unfortunately,...

Color is one of the key elements in any design system. On websites or in apps, color can be used in a variety of ways: sometimes color can be used to create a focal point through contrast or through limiting the color to a selected spot; color can also help establish hierarchy and therefore influence where a user looks. In this article, we’ll talk about how to use color strategically. 1. Creating a focus point through proportions   A good...

I am always looking for inspiration, for great design that challenges convention. This post is all about unique layout solutions; that means I will be talking about eight different websites which present something typical, in a unique way. We’ll go over unique layout solutions from showing off products, to incorporating personal and human elements in a website. 1. Harvard reinvents the infamous carousel Harvard’s School...

Happy Thanksgiving to all our American readers! Animation is nothing new in digital interfaces. They have had an interesting history of rising, falling and now rising again in popularity. Subtle animations add personality and empathy into an otherwise dull interface. They make experiences fun, delightful and memorable. Animation in web design has been around for a long while. They first became popular thanks to the .gif format, and later,...

Did you know that the term “onboarding” comes from the HR department and refers to new hires acquiring necessary skills and knowledge in order to effectively join the company as a new employee? It eventually changed its meaning to refer to new users who needed necessary knowledge in order to use a new product like a web or mobile app. I like to think of onboarding as a big part of the journey a new user takes in signing up for a product. I also think...

Affordance is a term originally coined by a psychologist, J.J. Gibson, in the 1970s. He defined it as the relationship between an environment and an actor. Today, affordance extends beyond behavioral or cognitive psychology and into the design of digital interfaces. Understanding affordance will allow you to better understand product and interfaces design, in turn, making you a much better designer. What is affordance? A situation where...

Shopping on a mobile device can be a nightmare. It’s possible however, to create a smooth and delightful shopping experience. Mobile devices are small and have little screen real estate so it’s important to embrace this limitation instead of fighting it. Oftentimes, apps clutter the small space with as many things as they think a user might need but it’s actually counterproductive. The best shopping experiences are ones that are light,...

Mobile apps are becoming increasingly refined: Where once an app performed numerous functions, now there are apps that focus on a single task. As users become more adept with their devices, and more comfortable replying on apps, this trend is only set to continue. Designing mobile apps — whether as web apps, or native apps — relies on great UX and careful UI planning. Below, I’ve pulled together 19 apps that get everything right;...

Material Design is Google’s new visual design language. It was introduced at the 2014 I/O Conference in June, and it’s beginning to find real traction in all areas of the design community. This new visual language is fascinating because it systematically addresses a lot of issues we, as designers, face on a daily basis. At the same time, it’s both surprising and refreshing to see a giant such as Google publicly announce its new...

We’ve all interacted with an app walkthrough at some point or another. Heck, some of us designed them. But when you take a look at the design literature out there, you will notice there is very little that specifically deals with app walkthroughs. They are such an important aspect of an app’s overall experience because, after all, they are the first interaction a user has with an app (if the walkthrough is present that is). In this post, I have...

User testing doesn't have to be difficult at all. I'm going to talk about three lean research methods that are neither extensive nor expensive to carry out but will in turn provide you with valuable feedback. The methods can be used for anything, test a landing page or test a whole mobile app. The important thing is to gather feedback: design for yourself, and only your point of view counts; design for others, and you need to hear their thoughts....

I'm sure you've heard of personas and scenarios, but let's start with a quick explanation of how they are useful in the design process: A persona is an elementary tool of usability and user experience design and describes a typical member of your target audience. Although a persona is a fictional representation of a user, it is based on real data; the persona should be as close to a real potential user as possible. A scenario is a 'story' based on...