Conducting research and gathering data are crucial parts in the process of creating great design. But once you have all of the data, what do you do with it? How do you know you’re extracting the right conclusions and not leaving anything important on the table? Steve Portigal discusses the methods of synthesis and ideation to approach this crucial next step.

Analyzing data is a great way to make design decisions. But when your analytics log contains billions of clicks, how do you distinguish which ones you should use in forming those decisions? Users’ behavior and activity can provide you with great information and insights. But when do you look to that and when do you trust your own instincts? Julie Zhuo discusses Facebook’s design process.

There are dozens of reasons you should attend the Web App Masters Tour in Seattle on May 23-24 or Minneapolis on June 27-28. Here are 6 that attendees are excited about. Topics focus on mobile design, data visualization, and process best practices. The Masters are hungry for your questions and conversations. They’re accessible and want [...]

Whether you’re looking to improve your lawn, buy a baby stroller, or figure out which new 60″ TV you want, it’s quite common to start with a search on the web. You read product reviews, reviews from other consumers, and use social media to ask others for opinions. Searching on the web is a pretty [...]

“There are no problems, only opportunities. However, there are some insurmountable opportunities.” Just when we thought we knew what we were doing, suddenly we realize everything has changed. We thought we had finally mastered building great applications on the desktop, only to realize that we now have to challenges of the mobile platform to deal [...]

“Thinking mobile” goes beyond scaling down an existing app to fit a smaller screen or making decisions about what content to include. Because the app can be used anywhere by nature and the interface is manipulated with thumbs and fingers, there are much more than just aesthetics to consider. Josh discusses mobile design with Adam Churchill.

When you have billions of clicks in your analytics log files, how do you pick out the right ones for making decisions? When do you trust your own well-honed sense of good design and when do you look to what your users are telling you? At the first stop of the Web App Masters Tour [...]

Web-based applications are a different beast than other types of software or web sites. Web app designers have to take care of the users’ goals, and also ensure that the business needs are taken into account. Business needs can be complex. They come from all over the enterprise, originating from initiatives (like marketing campaigns), infrastructure [...]

The surge in mobile technology is incredible. Manufacturers ship over a million touchscreen phones every day. These devices allow people to interact with the web in new ways. Streamlining your design for mobile helps you focus on what is absolutely necessary. In this podcast, Luke joins Jared Spool in a discussion about designing mobile experiences.

Even the best of plans can go awry. We role play in our head how a usability test will proceed, understand the objectives at hand, and do a rigorous job of screening the participants. But what do you do when something totally unexpected occurs? Life circumstances among the participants can throw a curve ball at [...]