App Prototype: Final Steps
Over the past several weeks, I have slowly been putting together an app for my hometown’s website. Using several steps in the design thinking process, I have finally gotten to the final stages of the project. Last week, I tested my low-fidelity prototypes, and after receiving my final round of feedback, it’s time to put…
Testing Prototypes
Last week, I created a dozen paper prototypes for my app idea for my town’s website. “Paper Prototyping is a technique that consists of creating hand drawings of user interfaces in order to enable them to be rapidly designed, simulated and tested.” – Justin Mifsud My paper prototypes consist of the main page of the app. For…
Paper Prototypes
The fourth step in the design thinking process, prototyping, can be done in many different ways. One of these ways is through paper prototypes. This method gives a lot of freedom for the designer and the team. “Paper prototyping is a process where design teams create paper representations of digital products to help them realize concepts and test…
Flowing Into The Next Steps
“Show me your flowcharts and conceal your tables, and I shall continue to be mystified. Show me your tables, and I won’t usually need your flowcharts; they’ll be obvious.” – Fred Brooks Flowcharts are a great tool to use for communicating several steps in a given process. From easy to complex charts, this method of…
An App for A Town
“Rule of thumb for UX: More options, more problems.”— Scott Belsky, Chief Product Officer Smartphones make our lives easier for many reasons, mostly because it’s a mini-computer in our hands. Still, the mobile apps on these devices are simple and straightforward versions of the web browser due to their limited functionality. Unfortunately, even though it…
Town Website: Information Architecture
“Information architecture is the practice of deciding how to arrange the parts of something to be understandable.” – The Information Architecture Institute Information Architecture (IA) is often used in user experience (UX) design. It is an organizational method that lays out content in an effective way. There are many different types of information architecture. From site maps, content…
Ideation for an Avid Reader
Good ideas are common – what’s uncommon are people who’ll work hard enough to bring them about.– Ashleigh Brilliant There are many different apps for book lovers, but they all have their flaws. Some you have to pay for, some are toxic, and others don’t properly track your reading progress. This week I came up with…
A Mind Map for a Mind Map
“We shouldn’t abbreviate the truth but rather get a new method of presentation.” ― Edward Tufte Sometimes gathering thoughts and generating designs can become difficult when your brain isn’t flowing with new ideas. There are many different ideation techniques to help get your mind back on track. From brainstorming to worst idea, these techniques allow the user to come up with…
Seven Weeks of Learning UX Design
A few weeks ago, I was pretty clueless about UX (user experience) design. I had an idea that it was a process to “make things better,” but I didn’t know what those things were or why. “Design Thinking is a design methodology that provides a solution-based approach to solving problems.” Rikke Friis Dam, Teo Yu…
The Journey of the Book-Buying Experience
“You need to be content with small steps.” – Katie Kacvinsky, Young Adult Author Buying a book seems like a pretty simple task. Go to the store, pick out a book, pay, and leave. But what about all the little steps in between? A journey map is a great tool to break down all the…
Ideation Time
A few weeks ago, I looked at some App Store reviews for some of my favorite apps and created some Point of View, POV, statements based on the feedback. Now, it is time to take those statements and develop some ideas to fix the problems. Ideation Techniques There are many ideation techniques designers can use,…
Mash-Up Ideation
When I was younger, I was in an after-school program called Destination Imagination, or DI. This problem-solving club for all grade levels focused on various absurd science, technology, engineering, arts, or math challenges. After coming up with a solution, a team will perform a short skit or presentation to show the judges their solution. The whole…
Point-of-View Statements
About 90% of the time I am on my phone, I am using one of these three apps. They are my favorites, and they are favorites of some other people too. All three of these mobile applications have 4.8-star ratings in the app store, but they all have significant problems that designers need to solve…
Defining the Problems at Yankee Candle
“If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.” ― Albert Einstein Problems are constantly surrounding us on a daily basis. Some we barely notice, but others clearly present themselves. While watching an episode of the show Undercover Boss, I took a look…
Personas of a book lover and a casual reader
“When UX doesn’t consider ALL users, shouldn’t it be known as “SOME User Experience” or… SUX?” — Billy Gregory, Senior Accessibility Engineer How can designers make sure they design their website or app to fit everyone’s needs? From the rookie user to the expert, designers need to put themselves in others’ shoes to create the…
Jennifer Coffey 
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