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Locus of Control presents topics that spark discussion among website creators and users, with a focus on enhancing web user experience. It regularly spotlights useful, innovative web applications as well as examples of exceptional design. About the author...Keep in Touch
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Tag Archives: web design
Wireframing & Prototyping Tools: Balsamiq & Friends
For last month’s meeting of the NHUPA, a number of people did short presentations and demos of a variety of wireframing and prototyping tools.
I presented Balsamiq, a low-fidelity wireframing tool best used for capturing ideas quickly, keeping people focused on concepts/layout or for teaching new user experience designers about wireframing.
I figured someone might find it [...]
Posted in NHUPA Also tagged collaboration, design tools, desktop apps, information design, interaction design, interface design, mobile, productivity, requirements, research tools, usability, user experience, webapps Leave a comment
Webitect ~ Conducting Collaborative Design Sessions – Part 4: Maintain
Make sure you never leave your participants hanging after an important meeting. Part 4 of this series will help you maintain a long term relationship with your participants.
Part 1 of this series gave an overview of the purpose behind collaborative design sessions and how to prepare to conduct your own. In Part 2, we showed you how to [...]
Posted in Locus Extended, NHUPA Also tagged collaboration, design tools, productivity, requirements, research tools, user experience Leave a comment
Webitect ~ Conducting Collaborative Design Sessions – Part 3: Facilitate
Clients and users need guidance when contributing their design ideas. Part 3 of this series will prepare you for the challenges inherent in facilitating collaborative meetings.
In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, we explained how to prepare in advance for collaborative design sessions and how to begin your meetings with a solid focus [...]
Posted in Locus Extended, NHUPA Also tagged collaboration, design tools, productivity, requirements, research tools, user experience Leave a comment
Webitect ~ Conducting Collaborative Design Sessions – Part 2: Inform
Getting the most out of your users requires that you take the initiative. In Part 2 of this series, you’ll learn how to begin your design session in a goal-oriented manner.
In Part 1 of this series, we discussed the benefits of collaboration with users and clients at various stages throughout the design process. We also provided [...]
Posted in Locus Extended, NHUPA Also tagged collaboration, design tools, productivity, requirements, research tools, user experience Leave a comment
Webitect ~ Conducting Collaborative Design Sessions – Part 1: Prepare
Read “Conducting Collaborative Design Sessions – Part 1: Prepare” on Webitect.net »
Perhaps someone noticed I haven’t been posting at my normal rate. Or perhaps no one cares. For anyone who actually noticed the lapse, I appreciate your patience and support. The fact is, I’ve been working on my first paid blogging job! I’ll be [...]
Posted in Locus Extended, NHUPA Also tagged collaboration, design tools, productivity, requirements, research tools, user experience Leave a comment
Design Spotlight – Apr ‘09 Winner – Now Accepting Entries for May ‘09!
Congratulations to Pixel Bridge for winning the April 2009 Locus of Control Design Spotlight Award for their work on Phatty Burrito, a flash game for Glide Magazine. A total of 10 votes were collected for 3 nominated flash games. Phatty Burrito won by a margin of 5 votes. Details of the original nominations can be [...]
NHUPA – Design Slam!
Last month’s NHUPA meeting had an interesting format, the “Design Slam” workshop. The basic idea was that a non-profit organization presented goals and needs for a new website (to be designed from scratch, not a redesign). Then we all split into groups to plan and design a specific aspect of the site. We determined our [...]
Posted in NHUPA Also tagged collaboration, information architecture, information design, inspiration, interaction design, interface design, productivity, user experience Leave a comment
Tutorial: How to Get Good Feedback from Website Users
All too often, we think we know what our users want. But the only way of truly knowing is by listening to them directly. You may not think it’s representative of your primary target audience, but it is still valuable nonetheless.
In the previous post we talked about what users can do to make their feedback [...]
Is Banner Blindness a Myth?
Banner Blindness is a term which refers to the theory that users ignore page elements that have typical traits of an advertisement. Animation is one trait of advertisements which users have allegedly learned to ignore. However, a 2003 study by Ping Zhang and Nelson Massad for the Ninth Americas Conference on Information Systems shows that:
Animation [...]
Posted in Research Studies Also tagged flash, interaction design, interface design, usability, user experience 4 Comments
Etsy Provides Innovative Ways to Browse Products
Etsy is a site where people can buy and sell homemade goods, craft supplies and vintage items. This site offers over a dozen unique and innovative ways to browse through products. My top 3 favorites are:
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged flash, inspiration, interaction design, interface design, shops, user experience Leave a comment
Design Spotlight – Mar ‘09 Winner – Now Accepting Entries for Apr ‘09!
Congratulations to PixelMEDIA for winning the March 2009 Locus of Control Design Spotlight Award for their recently launched BreastCancerStories website. A total of 17 votes were collected for 3 nominated websites. BreastCancerStories won by a margin of 15 votes. Details of the original nominations can be found here.
Tutorial: Turn Your Sketches Into Clean, Sharp Vector Art
When you scan a sketch into your computer, the lines are often light and have fuzzy edges. Resizing the scan blurs or pixelates the image. You can use Photoshop to darken the lines, but they’re still not going to be as clean and sharp as if you vectored the sketch.
Vectoring your scanned sketches is great [...]
Error Prevention vs. User Satisfaction – What’s the Deal with Duplicate Form Fields?
Lately, it seems to be increasingly common to find web forms with duplicate fields, particularly for the email address. It’s a low likelihood that a user would make the exact same typo in both fields, so by ensuring that the two fields contain matching data, we can more thoroughly prevent user error.
In his “Eight [...]
Why the “Fold” Doesn’t Matter Anymore
At a recent meeting of the NHUPA, Will Powley from Mad*Pow gave a 10-minute presentation called “Newspapers Have Folds, Websites Do Not“. In this presentation, a study by ClickTale was mentioned in support of the notion that the “fold” should no longer be a primary concern for designers.
Two New Tools for Quick Usability Testing
In a previous entry, I discussed the need for better UX design tools. Now, from the makers of OptimalSort, come two new tools for testing the usability of your IA and interface design.
Treejack
You input a sitemap in the form of a hierarchically structured list and assign tasks for test participants to perform.
Participants navigate through the [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged information architecture, information design, interaction design, interface design, research tools, usability, user experience, webapps 2 Comments
Design Spotlight – Feb ‘09 Winner – Now Accepting Entries for Mar ‘09!
Congratulations to the folks at SimpleBits for winning the February 2009 Locus of Control Design Spotlight Award for the Foamee logo (be sure to visit the Foamee site and mouse over the logo to get the full effect ). This was the first logo-specific design spotlight contest. A total of 31 votes were [...]
A Picture’s Worth 1000 Words – Using Comics in the Design Process
A few weeks ago I attended a meeting of the NHUPA, held at Mad*Pow headquarters in Portsmouth, NH. Amy Cueva did a very informative presentation about using comics in the design process. She included lots of examples and methods, as well as a bit about why and when to use comics.
As part of the presentation, [...]
Designing Web Forms – Label Placement & Primary vs. Secondary Actions
As previously mentioned, user experience practitioners often rely on common sense, convention and past experience when making design decisions. Usability research may seem like overkill, but even when you’re sure of your assumptions, it’s always good to double check.
For instance, Luke Wroblewski once wrote an article in which he provided some very sensible guidelines for [...]
How to Make the Most of Five Seconds
You might be amazed how little time it takes for users to get a first impression of a website and how difficult it is to change that impression once it’s made. Wouldn’t it be great to know what users see in the first 5 seconds of viewing a site design – before building it out?
Mega IA: Thinking Outside the Box