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Close the mental model gap
What's inside: UX/AI thinking, table of contents, onboarding friction, collaboration survey, AR accessibility design, and more.
Newsletter • November 3, 2023 • 5 min read
Hey folks,
Here are the top 10 things I found worth sharing and your UX tip of the week.
UX tip of the week
Identify and navigate your users' industry-wide and product-specific mental models.
To uncover mental models in a particulate problem domain, conduct intentional research / service design of your target audience's usage of existing products to evaluate how to leverage their mental models in designing new products or redesigns.
When product changes are substantial, always create a switch between old and new versions to allow users to decide when they’re ready to learn the new interface.
Revisit skeuomorphic interaction in digital surfaces to leverage real-world mental models (e.g. the switch UI).
Learn from Snapchat’s missteps that resulted in users’ confusion.
Top 10 things worth sharing this week
On AI: John Maeda released UX for AI: Design Practices for AI Developers on LinkedIn Learning. Darren Yeo wrote about developing UX/AI thinking. See also: Designing Human-Centric AI Experiences.
Explore important considerations in designing table of contents and if the button label “ok” is legitimate to use.
“Your goal is for people to get their first moments of value from your product, commonly known as ‘activation’.” Ben McRedmond examined why you should add friction to your onboarding.
Dedicate time to measure then improve the UX maturity of your organization because it matters to the bottom line as evident in this top 10 list. Related: Measuring the User Experience.
ReadyMag shared the results from an industry survey about the role of collaboration in design work. “The top drivers of successful collaboration are clearly connected goals, defined roles and responsibilities, team culture, and style of leadership.”
Whether you’re working in AR or just interested, dive into these accessibility guidelines for designing augmented reality apps by Luis Talamantes. Related: UX for XR.
Dive into a refresher on the differences and need for both A11y and Inclusive design improvements.
Matic Pelcl asked if we are turning designers into factory workers? “As our roles adapt to a more conservative and automated landscape, a divergent mindset will become increasingly sought after.”
Confirmation that job hunting is time consuming. “It took a bit over two and half minutes to apply to a job. If the company size increases by a factor of 10, then the app time increases by 20%. Older ATS like Workday and Tales make job applications as much as 128% longer.” (Data)
A recap on the value of data-driven UX design. “It’s not enough to know the metrics – you have to interpret them correctly and understand why users are behaving the way they do.”
Thanks for reading!
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Sincerely,
Gerren