In this seminar you’ll get a reality check on critiques from Adam Connor. He’ll describe how to give, receive, and act upon feedback while confidently guiding your projects through beneficial feedback loops. With the right approach to critique and collaboration, your designs will be stronger than ever. In Adam’s seminar you’ll learn to: Structure projects [...]

To the delight of UX designers everywhere, organizations today increasingly conduct user-centered research methods like surveys, focus groups, and usability testing. In this Next Step seminar, Steve Portigal will give you the talking points to make it happen in your organization. And once you find out how to quell cultural, budgetary, and process resistance to [...]

Over time, intranets can become beastly things. Yes, the very intranet that was supposed to provide a great one-stop-shop for all information has now become a confusing jumble of pages that lack findability, ownership, and currency. On April 4, James Robertson will show you the two fundamental questions you’ll need to answer before untangling your [...]

[This is part 2 of a two-part post. For this article to make sense, you probably want to read part 1. This article was originally published on JohnnyHolland.org.] In the last installment, we talked about the distinction between Hands contractors and Brains consultants. Hands are brought in by the team as an extra resource to [...]

Opinion wars kill design projects. An opinion war happens when two or more people hold strongly held opinions that are in opposition of each other. Opinion wars can get messy. They can stop a team in its tracks. And the worst thing about them is they can’t be won. There is never a winner in [...]

We’ve been studying this for some time now and the reality is harsh: A co-located design team will have an easier time of producing great designs than a remote team. That doesn’t mean co-located teams will always succeed – they don’t. It doesn’t mean that remote teams will always fail – they don’t either. In [...]

[This article originally appeared at Johnny Holland.] What’s the difference between contracting and consulting? One major difference comes down to whether the job is handwork or brainwork. Whether you’re an “innie” or an “outie,” this is applicable. Innies are UX professionals who work inside an organization. Even though they are part of the company, they [...]

Personas are a powerful tool in the UX toolbox. When done well, they rally the team around a small, specific set of archetypal users. Each team member becomes closely familiar with each of the personas, then can create designs that closely match those persona’s needs. In our research on personas, we’ve found this works best [...]

The other day, I was sitting with a very talented designer who was debating what her next job should be. She was looking at several different opportunities, each sounding pretty good. When she asked my opinion on how she should decide, I asked her what the opportunities would be. She’s been a designer for a [...]

In the 30+ years I’ve been working in designing online experiences, I’ve met a lot of folks. Good folks, interested in creating really great products, services, and designs. I’ve seen my share of really great designs. However, I’ve also seen many bad designs. Yet, interestingly enough, I’ve never met anyone who wanted to make a [...]