Three design patterns for organizing complexity in your form fields — “It’s not negotiable, we need to include that field.” Unfortunately, I’ve heard that sentiment more than a few times when attempting to streamline complex interfaces. As designers, we know that users often perform actions by mistake, and it’s best to eliminate error-prone conditions to help them avoid making mistakes. Those…

How to get people to understand UX Design without becoming an extrovert — "You have to be more aggressive to get good UX done," my client once told me at a performance review. The answer was evident to him, a "Type-A" personality doctor who worked for an Ivy League Medical Department (and dabbled in UX). …

How to make sure user research and testing don’t fall by the wayside — When you work as a UX Designer long enough, you live through several boom and bust cycles. Sometimes, your entire organization and the team are behind UX: you have access to all the software you need, they listen to all of your recommendations, and more. But with the news of…

What I’ve learned starting to write again after giving up 13 years ago — Now is the best time to pick your creative hobby back up, especially if you gave it up in the past. There are more platforms than ever that allow anyone to become a creator, but headlines will always focus on the young ones. Whether it’s the 11 year old prodigy…

Design documentation to help you use data visualization in your designs. — I recently had a chance to revisit Data Visualizations as I’ve started using them more in my design projects. We often don’t think of Data Visualization as a design pattern. …

Customize and clarify the ‘standard design process’ to fit your work environment — I didn’t realize that my design process had changed that much until I sat down and sketched it out. I recently had the chance to assess how I’d like my UX group to work with writers, developers, and other organization members. This was where I saw the changes I’d made…

Make sure your team doesn’t jump on ‘good enough’ solutions — “How much time does UX need?” Unfortunately, that’s a question I had to learn to answer to become a Senior UX Designer. One of the cool things about being a designer is that you’re the first person to take a crack at creating something visual. The mockups, wireframes, and prototypes…

Simplify and save time by making choices for your users — Sometimes, you must design to lessen complexity and frustration. Whether designing a server configuration page with dozens of technical fields or workflows users must use hundreds of times a day, sometimes the best design is about reducing frustration and user error instead of a seamless and beautiful user experience. This…

Always have an answer about “How UX Design Helps” in your back pocket — "I thought you already did user testing. Why do you need to do it again?" A developer asked me, making me prepare my 'answer' once again. After a decade of working in the UX industry, I've encountered this more times than I can count. It sneaks up on you in…