WEB 3920: Experience Design ELENI PIRPERIS

TERMS

Scrum: Scrum is a derivative of agile and can be described as the project management rule book for applying the agile philosophy

Sprint: a time-box of one month or less during which a “Done”, useable, and potentially releasable product Increment is created

Scamp: Superaugmented Controls for Agile Maneuvering Performance

Skeumorphic: the design concept of making items represented resemble their real-world counterparts.

Material Design: makes more liberal use of grid-based layouts, responsive animations and transitions, padding, and depth effects such as lighting and shadows.

Mobile First: a business strategy and that assumes smartphones, tablets and task-specific apps are employees' primary tools for getting work done

Personas: The purpose of personas is to create reliable and realistic representations of your key audience segments for reference.

Color Psychology: Color psychology is the study of hues as a determinant of human behavior. Color influences perceptions that are not obvious, such as the taste of food. Colors can also enhance the effectiveness of placebos. For example, red or orange pills are generally used as stimulants.

Heuristic Evaluation: A heuristic evaluation is a usability inspection method for computer software that helps to identify usability problems in the user interface (UI) design. It specifically involves evaluators examining the interface and judging its compliance with recognized usability principles (the "heuristics").

ARTICLES

Why Native Apps Really are Doomed

Before reading this, I wasn't even aware of the terms "native app" vs "progressive web app." So it was interesting to find out what exactly the differences were between the two. From my understanding, an example I can think of as a native app is iTunes. Which I do agree native apps are flawed because rather than being made to fit all platforms, they design 3 different apps.

Progressive Web Apps (PWA) is where I'm not 100% sure if I've grabbed the whole concept. From my understanding, these are programs that we can access through the web, but will behave as an app, and will eventually download to our phone home screens as an app if used frequently? If so, I must agree that this sounds interesting. As I was reading the stats on "Why Native Apps are a Gamble", I realized they sort of described me. I definitely do not download apps very often and I'm guilty of downloading an app, but then not being very active with that app.

All in all, I feel that maybe these Progressive Web Apps will be a benefit to us and future phone apps.

Design Research

This article also has me walking away with new terms. Though I understand and have practiced both research methods, I never knew they had names (generative & evaluative).

I found myself saying "yes!" when I read the section on surveys. In my opinion, surveys do not necessarily enhance the research in the design process because they are not always accurate, and most of the time, people do not even bother with them. I've needed to use the survey process before and it did not help me in my site designing process or steer me in any design-making decisions to enhance the site. Therefore, I agree with this "resolution."

The Evolution of UI/UX Designers Into Product Designers

I agree with almost all the points in this article, if not all. I am still a little confused on what exactly the individual responsibilities of a product designer are exactly. It almost sounds like the product designer has the job of both a UX and UI designer.

I love the graphic comparing the design thinking process of a business perspective to a design perspective. It's so accurate. Designers always have more complex process and brainstorming to go through in order to find a solution.

Web Design Best Practices: Minimalism & Typography

As a graphic design student, most design work I have created has been print/publication design so these main rules of typography have basically been imprinted into my brain by now. However, I think it is important to see and be reminded that these typography guidelines are just as important on websites and digital spaces. It's key to making a web page enjoyable to look at and read with ease.

My favorite new trick that I took away from this article was the 5-Second Gaussian Blur test. I have never heard of this method for checking hierarchy before. It's brilliant. Or even just as simple as squinting your eyes. It truly is a successful way of checking effective hierarchy on a page. Even for print design. Another new term to add to my own list is vertical rhythm (maintaining a rhythm of Western culture reading style; left to right, top to bottom.) Another theory that I'm familiar with, just never knew there was an actual term for it.

Psychology in Design. Principles Helping to Understand Users

This might be my favorite article we've read so far. I used to say that I didn't believe in the study of psychology. In a way, I still don't, but I have learned to accept it when it comes to design. My opinion of this subject is difficult for me to explain. I don't judge people based on psychological theories, but I do take these theories into consideration when designing for a certain target. So, for the design world, I do agree that it is important to look into the psychology aspect of it.

The article opens up with the statement, "The sense of beauty and inspiration are not enough to create the proficient design" and I could not agree more. In order for a design to be both aesthetically pleasing AND effective, there must be some psychology to it. We need to get into the minds of the audience that we are trying to reach. That is what separates us (designers) from those who try to teach themselves to be designers. Throughout all the years in design school, we are always being reminded of these psychological theories (gestalt principles, color psychology, scanning patterns, etc.) and to keep them in mind when designing. It give the design purpose, and sends a message. It makes the design effective. And it tells a greater story than the guy who just made something that "looks good" from teaching himself how to use the software.

UX Design DO NOT need to Code

Just based off the title, I was already eager, relieved, and happy to read this. As a graphic designer, we are always more so based on print design, and most of the time, we're willing to convert to the web side and learn a few things of the web world. However, sometimes it can come off as intimidating for us. For me in this case, I am and have been interested in the UX/UI world, but I used to be under the impression that I needed to be a master coder in order to enter the UX field. It was relief to find out how wrong I was.

Come to find out that you don't even necessarily need to be a designer in order to get into the UX field. Much of the UX process is stressed on the research, testing, and planning out the best user experience, not on coding or debugging. I really liked how they compared this to an architect and a construction worker. Because an architect really does just do all the basic planning and blueprints for a space, but they're not expected to also be the ones who build the place. Same with UX. I can be the master mind behind making the navigation of the site or app user-friendly, easy, and enjoyable, but I am not expected to actually create it and put the code work into it. Doesn't mean I can't be a UX designer. This article inspired me on so many levels!

5 Steps to Quick-Start A/B Testing

This article was very useful to me recently because I was actually able to apply this to my Spot app. There was a debate in class on a way that I should display a certain screen and I came up with 3 different options. At first I simply asked people which one they visually preferred, but after reading about A/B testing, I decided to approach it in this manner. So I made 3 different tests of the app with the 3 different screens and made my decision based on which the user had an easier experience with.

Just like the article states, A/B testing really does help with the "guess work." Instead of just picking a design based on my guess of what I think would work or be more enjoyable, I was able to actually test it out and see real results. My initial guess was definitely not the preferred design either, so I'm glad I did it!

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