Color in Culture

I have had a fascination with color and culture for most of my life. From color theory to ethnography, it is all so interesting! And important when you are designing anything for people! They are both complex and the intersection can be integrate. Here is one of the best data visualizations that I have ever seen on this. … Read more

Accessibility

Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible. Accessibility can be viewed as the “ability to access” and possible benefit of some system or entity. Accessibility is often used to focus on people with disabilities or special … Read more

Order is Everything when Designing Experiences

When iteratively designing and evaluating experiences, the order in which you do this is very important. It starts with content – you must have the content to design the information architecture. I remember learning this lesson when, at one company, Marketing was looking for our Art Director to start creating comps for our next generation … Read more

My New Favorite Quote

“Most regrets, by the way, are acts of omission and not commission. If you do bad things, if you go murder somebody, that would be bad and that would be an act of commission that you would regret. But most everyday, ordinary non-murderers, when they’re 80 years old, their big regrets are omissions.” – Jeff … Read more

Value, Satisfaction, and Where to Spend Your Money

Satisfaction/Value – this charts what customers’ ranked as most valued and most dissatisfied. Items that are most valued and most dissatisfied are where we should concentrate our time fixing. On the contrary, items that our customers don’t value but are satisfied with we should stop spending time on. Items that our customers don’t value and … Read more

Skinit Customizer Increases Conversion by 350%

Overview Skinit is the global leader in consumer electronic device personalization. In 2007 Skinit was preparing to enhance the previously successful Photo Uploader, a web-based application that allows consumers to upload their own photos and manipulate designs for their personal electronic devices. Darryl Kuhn, Skinit CTO, reached out to me to help with the redesign … Read more

Beyond SEO: Case Study

message in a bottle on the beach shore

In pursuit of new business, a small consulting firm was frequently asked if they had a website. Based on the demand-side information and needs of the business, the three missions of the website were to: Establish company credibility Be an easy-to-use networking tool Provide those working at the company with an easy-to-access, anywhere sales presentation … Read more

Measure the Design

Validate that customers’ needs are met and tasks are easy to do. Putting your solution in context for your customers and users, is a key to validating that the solution meets their needs and is easy to use. You need to work with people who fit the profile of your target customers and conduct design … Read more

Beyond SEO: Develop the User Experience

The user experience encompasses all aspects of a visitor’s interaction with the company’s services, products, and website. It is critical to the company’s success to provide excellent prospect and customer experiences. This objective puts the user at the center of the design process—incorporating user concerns and advocacy from the beginning—and dictates that the needs of … Read more