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Master the Techniques Required to be a Successful UX Designer

The Four Pillars of UX Mastery

I recently wrote about the biggest mistake new UX designers make, and in it reflected on some of the design faux pas I made prior to discovering a more objective, user-centered approach.

Back then, when it first dawned on me that the process I was using to design websites wasn’t what many of the industry thought leaders I admired and respected would refer to as “best practice”, I sought out help. I knew I wanted to learn more about this thing called “user-centered design”, but I didn’t know where to start.

Fast forward to the present day, and I feel like I have a pretty good handle on a range of techniques, and a good understanding of when to apply them. By no means would I count myself as an expert, or suggest that I’ve mastered everything there is to know about UX design. The goal posts in this industry are constantly changing, meaning there is always something new to learn—but I certainly consider myself to be competent and experienced. But this reflection begs the question: what is required for rapid learning? And would would it take to master the techniques required to be a successful UX designer? What is the path to UX Mastery?

I’m going to posit that there are four pillars of UX Mastery. Jared Spool has written previously that he’d identified 5 skills that were common across accomplished UX designers. To complement that list here are the four pillars that I would consider crucial for UX Mastery:

Theory
There is a wealth of content out there to guide the aspiring student: books, video training, blogs, online magazines and more … there are even some universities that offer courses in Interaction Design. Add it all up and it’s an almost intimidating body of knowledge for a field that is itself considered an umbrella term for a collection of other disciplines. Getting your head around the key elements can be a struggle, but is crucial for laying a solid foundation of learning.

Hands-on Experience
The techniques required to be a good UX designer are best learned by doing. Card sorting, user testing, drawing wireframes—the more you perform these activities, the better you become at them. Real on-the-job experience, whether paid or volunteer, is always the best way to gain the confidence to apply the theory.

Tools
The tools of the UX trade, both digital and physical, are indispensable. Luckily, they’re also largely inexpensive: post it notes, whiteboard markers. Digital tools that I rely on heavily are a wireframing tool and a utility for recording user testing sessions. More sophisticated tools such as eye-trackers may be appropriate in larger projects, and online tools like Google’s Content Experiments are useful when performing A/B and multivariate tests of your website copy. Knowing which tools to use when is fundamental to a good outcome.

Mentorship
I was (and still am) very fortunate to have found a mentor. He is experienced and well-respected as a fellow UX designer, and donates his time to guide me on anything from how best to raise a sensitive topic for discussion with a client, to giving me career advice. Similarly, the support I get from online discussions and attending events such as UX Bookclub all contribute to creating a positive learning environment for myself.

If I look back over that list, it becomes clear that these are actually four pillars for learning anything that is skill-based. It also highlights the fact that any one of them on their own is not enough. These pillars may seem obvious to some, but the realisation that they were the foundation upon which I learned my craft was quite profound, so I thought I’d share.

The shift from web 2.0 to 3.0

About how technology changes will transform advertising

Yes, it’s fair to say that Web 2.0 has gone mainstream. The term itself has been overused in the last few years. It’s meant to signify the shift from web1.0 where information becomes democratized, consumers become players in the marketing game, and technology became an essential part of the creative process. Web 2.0 changed the way brands and consumers communicate. No longer is it about out bounded messages; instead, it’s about engaging consumers in a participatory environment and creating rich user experiences through applications the forge long-lasting relationships

L’Oreal Paris R/GA created an application that helps customers find the perfect hair color through an interactive feature offering personalized recommendations in more than 25000 combinations. Instead of going to the hairdresser, they can receive a virtual consultation in the privacy of their homes. Nike+ reinvented the running category, making it a fun, digitally enhanced sport while creating a robust community of runners worldwide. Not just a one of campaign, this interactive program paved the way for the Nike+ human race, a 10k run that like the virtual and the physical world like no other race before So what’s we next as we begin the shift from We2.0 to 3.0?

Increasssingly, the web will anticipate consumer’s needs. Applications will be community based and delevedeeper into experiences. Social net working will become more intrinsic to how we communicate. Data visualization will make it easier to understand the value of information. GPS will create more opportunities to connect people with others in novel ways, as well as to deliver location specific information and promotional offers to consumers. Outdoor digital signage will have more engagement components that invite interactivity with the public. And all these technologies will converge, creating an on demand world where everything and everyone are interconnected. Taking into account this innovation in the digital sector, I believe that most exciting area is mobile. Thinking about the web today without thinking also of mobile would be mistake for marketers. Perhaps no other information area offers so much potential to dramatically impact consumer’s lives. After all, there are more than three billion users of mobile phones, compared to one billion for TVs and one and have and half billion for PCs.

R/GA recently launched campaign for Nokia’s N82, called “Urbanista Diaries”,(www.nseries.com/urbanistadiries ), Which allow people to use the smart phone to share their travel experiences via geo tagged photos uploaded in real time over variety of social platform and blogs.

For Nike, we launched Ballers Net work (www.ballersnetwork .com), an online global community for basket ball player s, with an application on faces book it’s a players anywhere in the world can find pickup games and new courts connect with friends and competitors. A mobile application for ballers net work will launch soon. Each of these campaigns integrates the web, mobile GPS, and social net working

To deliver a holistic user experience.

Mobile is especially important in countries like India where on a personal level, it can influence more consumers than PCs can. Can India currently has 290 million mobile subscribers, and that number is expected to grow to 560 million mobile subscribers, and that number is expected to grow to 560 million by 2012, according to emarketer.com and although SMS is still the most widely used application, mobile’s potential is already evident in consumers’ voracious appetites for downloading ringtones and music directly to handsets (outpacing physical CD sales). As well as television shows and movie clips.

What’s most remarkable is how profoundly the mobile phone has already changed people live around the world, but especially in emerging markets where telephone landlines and internet connection are not widely available, and the cost is cheaper than a pc. A New York time article earlier this year featured Nokia’s quest to understand how people in emerging markets are utilizing mobile phones. The article he necessity asserted that a mobile phone was a gateway into the global economy. Owning one provides news and information to those who wouldn’t otherwise have access to such information to those who wouldn’t otherwise have access to such information. A mobile phone significantly increases productivity and salaries for workers ranging from farmers to entrepreneurs. It promotes icro financing. It enables

The transfer of funds without the necessity of brick-and-mortar banks and, by doing so, underscores the magnitude of mobile banking. And the list goes on.

I believe we are seeing just the beginning of mobile’s potential. As brands continue to respond to the needs and wants of consumers, they will propel the evolution of the mobile category. Yet currently, while there’s been an abundance of talk about the infinite possibilities in this space ,there been an abundance of talk about the infinite possibilities in this space, there hasn’t been groundbreaking campaign that’s grabbed the industry’s attention in the same way the Nike+,sega’s “Beta-7”, and burger king’s “subservient Chicken “ have in the last several years.

In large part, the reason lies in the fact that, in the U.S., budgets are still quite small and mobile is a nascent same way than other formats that requires a different model than other formats. in the same way that TV spots are unsuccessful when marketers try to retrofit them for the internet, content for mobile phones must be custom created for the medium .the three main items that should be taken Into account when developing for the mobile format include content. Navigation and finding information should be easy. And messages must be more personalized, relevant, and location based than those on bigger screens. With the right content, mobile is remarkably powerful, creating the opportunity for 3-D

Branding: targeting individual consumers with the right time in the right place.

As smart phones continue to become more available and more mainstream, features like 3G, GPS, and advanced applications will make them the most useful tool in a person’s life. Essentially, it will become the mobile Pc, and people will become the mobile PC, and people will use it to manage all aspect of their day: shopping for clothes and groceries, paying bills and managing credit cards, connected to family and friends via social networking, texting, and, of course, phone calls.

Mobility will have the same transformative effect on the advertising industry as Web2.0. It will change all the rules. Some brands are still trying to catch up and will be further behind once mobile marketing fully takes off. Others are adapting to the changes by understanding consumers’ motivations and behaviors and responding appropriately. Either way, a new World is taking shape that will redefine what it means to reconnected.

La última Photoshop de alta fidelidad de armas