Rather than say, “I think users want this feature,” a product manager should ask, “What outcome do you predict this feature will have?” Read more insights from co-VPs of Product (!) at Reddit. There’s a lot of information elegantly packed into the mobile screenshot above: this approach provides an outcome-focused frame for feature decisions. Instagram …
Friday 5 — 9.9.2016
I hope you spent a good bit of summer staring at the sun-soaked scenery rather than a screen. Product Hunt can catch you up on what you’ve missed, with the 44 most loved products of the summer. Try Duolingo Tinycards for learning made fun, Snappa for crafting great graphics easily, or Great Apps Timeline for a nostalgic look at popular …
Friday 5 — 8.19.2016
Google Duo, a clean, simple mobile video calling (and soon, audio calling) app launched this week to take on Facetime. The jury is still out whether its simplicity will carry the day, or it will become the latest failed Google social tool (Buzz, Wave, Plus). Here’s a UX secret that will ruin apps for you: artificial …
Friday 5 — 8.12.2016
Jasmine Friedl suggests how to make your not-so-great visual design better. More importantly, she shares the process that can help a designer get better: asking questions and guiding rather than issuing prescriptive statements. Connie Chan explains why stickers are more than just a frivolous gimmick: they are an emerging visual digital language. In messaging platforms like WeChat and Line, stickers …
Friday 5 — 8.5.2016
Consider optimizing your analytics implementation for more lightweight use cases — e.g., monitoring and reporting, rather than exploration and data mining . Alex Couch captures a frustration I’ve experienced with all kinds of software projects—a great deal of energy is expended designing for what might end up being the rarest and most involved use case, neglecting the lighter weight, most common use cases. …
Friday 5 — 6.17.2016
Mary Meeker’s annual internet trends report reveals that internet growth is finally losing its mojo, but certain behaviors, like photo sharing and voice, continue to rise. Read the slide deck (or just the analysis.) Pleased to see Candace Payne, aka Chewbacca mask lady, made slide 85! The New York Times explains dark patterns, websites that turn persuasive user experience design into a dark …
Friday 5 — 5.27.2016
Friday 5 is taking a break to go peer at people’s internet-enabled devices in 三门峡 and 西安 — neither of which I can pronounce, but Wikipedia can teach you. Back in time for Lionel Messi’s birthday, Friday, June 24. This UX reality check presents 14 hard truths about users. Most common mistakes I’ve seen (and committed) are ignoring the fact that …
Friday 5 — 3.25.2016
Scott Brinker has released the 2016 marketing technology landscape diagram, mapping 3,874 solutions into six capability categories (shows above). The slide shows that “one platform to rule them all” has not yet emerged — middleware is enabling greater integration among them. When building a digital product, it’s easy for teams from marketing to development to get atomized and …
Friday 5 — 1.22.2016
Messaging is the next big platform, and Facebook gets it. With 800 million Messenger users, Facebook is looking at the rise of messaging globally, and doubling down with new features. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is Google’s solution to slow-loading web pages on mobile devices. AMP goes live in a few weeks, and this post explains how publishers are coming …
Friday 5 — 1.15.2016
Mobile apps versus native web is a false dichotomy, per Luke Wroblewski. Brands need both: the former offers rich experiences, while the latter provides greater reach (including in-app browser views). We have a longstanding, love-hate relationship with email, where gratifying immediacy for the sender often means notification hell for the recipient. The Atlantic explains how we got here, why email …