Author Archive
UX leadership insight #10: Tools of trade
(See my earlier posts for introduction to the series.)
Watercolor paintings and oil paintings look no doubt quite different. The artist had a vision about the desired end result and then selected the painting technique that is best suited to reach it. In any form of art or craft, the tool is always visible in the [...]
UX leadership insight #9: Demos are not only for demos
(See my earlier posts for introduction to the series.)
Demos are great for many purposes. The most obvious ones are to communicate the design to someone else, and test the UI with end users. However, in a large design project, the less obvious purposes may be the most important ones.
A demo or a simulation is [...]
UX leadership insight #8: UX and agile
(See my earlier posts for introduction to the series.)
Agile software methodologies were developed for creating small software applications for company internal use. The process was intended for small software teams. Most certainly, no user experience folks were involved. Anyway, software developer is UI designer’s best friend. If agile makes them perform and feel better, it [...]
UX leadership insight #7: Difficulty of UX design reviews
(See my earlier posts for introduction to the series.)
Have you noticed how well a couple of screenshots of UI designs can inspire discussion? In project reviews, technical architecture charts may get a question or two, but when you show UI designs, everyone has an opinion. Although this is sometimes quite annoying (you don’t want to [...]
UX leadership insight #6: Milestones are good for you
(See my earlier posts for introduction to the series.)
In the previous posts I’ve discussed issues about leading the design work itself. Now, let’s look at some things related to the design process. Processes are there to help you. The name “process” may sound like something that will limit your creativity, but in fact it does [...]
UX leadership insight #5: Split it
(See my earlier posts for introduction to the series.)
A large group of people cannot work on same design at the same time. A large design project must be split into meaningful and understandable chunks. In the beginning of a large project, when the basic ideas are still finding their shape, it may be difficult to [...]
UX leadership insight #4: Appropriately radical
(See my earlier posts for introduction to the series.)
If you are lucky, you can be in charge of a design project where many fundamental areas of the UI will need to be changed compared to the old products. For example, in mobile devices or any embedded (non-PC) software, you may need to design both the [...]
UX leadership insight #3: Pick your battles
(See my earlier posts for introduction to the series.)
In any larger design project, the design leader cannot be everywhere. There are so many managers to please, stakeholders to keep happy, designers to meet, usability tests to attend, and so many interesting blog posts to read. So admit it or not, you need to become very [...]
UX leadership insight #2: Vague or specific?
As a design lead you will be working with different kinds of designers. You naturally want them to be able to use their skills to the max, to contribute as much as possible to the success of the project.
Read more »Two decades of mobile UX
This is a summary of a presentation I made in IxDA Helsinki meet-up on 10th September at Nordkapp.
Defining the mobile phone
I have been working with mobile user experience for over 16 years. During this time, the profession of designing for good user experience has changed surprisingly little. In early 1990s, the forerunners of UX (the [...]
Back to Nordkapp.fi
