UI/UX Articles and Interesting Tidbits of the Week
February//15//2019
Here are some interesting finds on UI/UX of the week!
1.https://usabilitygeek.com/problem-with-power-users/
Power Users. Very interesting article focused on the concept of power users, and how their input should be duly considered in the Product Design cycle, while not shifting product strategy and direction based on their particular feedback. It’s a very relevant article, since understanding the reach, traction, fidelity of products is of crucial importance, when creating new or refining existing features. Highlight of the article includes:
“Engaged users are a fantastic source of information. They are a real-life knowledge database on your product in everyday application. Instead, the danger lies in granting special status to a vague and divergent user group. Your so-called “power users” may know your product, but they almost certainly do not know what is best for it. Using a product does not make you a usability consultant. Nor does it transfer in-depth market knowledge, or seasoned design and development skills. Remember: your users want the features that suit their own personal use cases. They will not be approaching product planning from a strategic industry perspective or considering what is best for the majority of users.”
2.https://www.userinterviews.com/blog/laura-klein-on-building-products-that-dont-cause-emotional-trauma
Building Conscious Products. Unlike most articles on the newsletter, this one is the transcript of an interview with Laura Klein, author and design professional. It’s a fascinating read, on Product Design, but also on understanding how edge situations/scenarios and cases should be heavily considered in the flow of how products are conceived, deployed and eventually used. Highlight of the article includes:
“Part of the problem is we don’t know what we don’t know. If we can’t imagine possibilities outside the “normal,” majority, or perhaps most please to think about, how can we design for them? Creating more diverse product and research teams, who bring different perspectives to the work, can help alleviate some of this. Doing research with more diverse sets of users is also a good way to bring more “edge cases” to the forefront of the research cycle. More voices and more contact with people who use your products is going to improve your connection with all kinds of users, creating more opportunities to think outside whatever personal or organizational boxes we have to make truly great products.”
3.https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2019/01/6-ways-designers-can-avoid-infringing-intellectual-property-rights/
Intellectual Property Rights. Great article hailing from Web Designer Depot, focused on Intellectual property rights. It’s an article that sheds light on processes to protect ideas, trademarks, and what exactly are the steps to make sure that all is done correctly, from an ethical and legal perspective . Highlight of the article includes:
“In an ideal world, rights ownership would be discussed before any intellectual property were even created, and those rights would then be memorialized in a joint intellectual property ownership agreement, a work-for-hire agreement or other document that would establish precisely who would own what. But we do not live in that ideal world, and often the issues are ignored until the filing is about to be made. The law accounts for that as well. Believe it or not, the law generally provides for a way of assigning all right title and interest to whatever a person has, regardless of whether they know what that is. It is called a “quitclaim assignment. Before filing any sort of copyright or trademark application with the government, the applicant should analyze whether anyone else has a potential claim to that intellectual property. If so, every such person should sign such a quitclaim assignment, to the extent that they are willing to do so.”
