Visual appearance is important. Studies have shown that if your product appears professional, customers are more likely to fault themselves for usability issues versus the product. Visual appearance also contributes to the overall aesthetics of your product that create that important emotional connection. It is important to get your visual appearance right. But your brand … Read more
I was having coffee with my good friend, Mark Tomaszewicz, Chief Experience Officer at Bulldog Drummond. Mark was sharing with me this idea that at the intersection of brand promise and brand experience is authenticity. Mark recently wrote a blog about it. What I like about this Venn diagram Mark shared in his blog is how … Read more
Mental models are psychological representations of real, hypothetical, or imaginary situations. They were first postulated in the late 1800’s by the American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce but it was the Scottish psychologist, Kenneth Craik, in 1943, who describes mental models as the mind constructs “small-scale models” of reality that it uses to anticipate events, to … Read more
Humans are irrational. We think we make rational decisions but science tells us we are incapable of making rational decisions. We cannot make a decision without emotions. It is the emotional part of our brain that informs our rational part to make a decision. And if the feeling is strong enough, we will justify our decisions to … Read more
My wife called from the garden to my daughter asking for the time. My daughter replied three fifty (3:50). I immediately thought “why didn’t she say ten to four?” Then I realized that she rarely looks at an analog clock – she probably doesn’t even know what “ten to four” means. Or how about “half … Read more
Empathy is the tool that we use to gain understanding. Understanding leads to insights. Insight is what informs experiments. Experimentation results in innovation. Empathy is the experience of understanding another person’s thoughts, feelings, and condition from their point of view, rather than from your own. You try to imagine yourself in their place in order to understand what … Read more
A recent Forrester Total Economic Impact Study found that Design Thinking practiced across diverse portfolios of products and services helped clients reduce costs, increase speed, and design better solutions. The purpose of the study was to evaluate design thinking’s financial impact for both individual projects and a grander organizational transformation. Forrester interviewed over 60 executives … Read more
Design Thinking is a discipline – a mindset. A way of thinking – not a process. Thinking like a designer, Design Thinking applies the designer’s sensibility and methods to match people’s needs with what is technologically feasible and a viable business strategy. The process follows the designer’s methodology from vision to implementation. Starting with understanding … Read more
One question I consistently get is “Are all Designers like this?” This is usually in the context of the challenge to management them. The answer is, “only the good ones.” The Designer’s job is to make things better… better for the people that experience what they design. To do this well, they must be adept … Read more
A mission statement is a written declaration of an organization’s core purpose. Properly crafted mission statements: serve as filters to separate what is important from what is not clearly state which markets will be served and how communicate a sense of intended direction to the entire organization A mission is different from a vision – … Read more
In UX Stories Communicate Designs, Sarah Gibbons shares with us: Stories are a natural part of our lives. We tell, read, and listen to stories every day — from listening to the news to recounting the events of the day. These stories are our way of remembering and communicating experiences. Studies have shown that people’s … Read more
Your products and services are delivering an experience to your customers regardless if you are consciously managing them. A good experience delights customers and generates a steady revenue stream while a poor experience sends customers to the competition and can be the demise of an organization. Savvy organizations understand their experience design maturity, invest in … Read more