Why We Critique: How to Make Peace with Your Fear of Design Critique
Designers, no matter their practice, have gone through some form of design critique in the past. Someone had to critically point out how the work needed to improve during the educational years. University programs are specifically structured with formal critiques in their curriculum; these help students get critical feedback to expand their thinking and learn […]
Types of Design Research: 8 Ways to Get to Know Your Users
Research is a critical step in the product development process. It ensures we’re solving the right problems for users and finding the right, viable product opportunity for a business. Understanding the humans who will use the product and the business’s investing needs is critical to a successful product outcome. And it will come as no surprise […]
How Interaction Design Changes Our World, One Interaction at a Time
I walk into the kitchen for coffee, and my Google Home says, “Good morning!” My schedule for the day pops up on the screen. The assistant tells me how long it will take to get to work now that I have started driving my son to school. In the car, the map and arrival estimates […]
Is going back to the office really worth it?
Travel back in time with me to November 2021… SEP executives felt that we do our best work together, in person. We had a date set – December 6, 2021. The opening of our new headquarters in Westfield, IN. This was happening. After almost two years of working from home, we are returning to the […]
A Pandemic Isn’t a Reason to Stop Researching (but… It Might Be a Good Reason to Start)
When it comes to doing user research, I’m always going to recommend learning with someone in their own space. Seeing someone use your product in their environment will always add more context to your investigation. Generally, research falls into these categories: exploratory/generative research (looking to understand problems, needs, goals, etc.) evaluative research (benchmarking your understanding, […]
WFH: Using Zoom Meetings to Get Things Done
One week into working from home I learned real quick that “what was” couldn’t continue. Suddenly my family became my co-workers. We were thrust into a new life and all we had was old mental models to draw from on how we lived life up until that moment. The life we had built and the […]
Building a Circle of Support: Letting others in, being vulnerable, and gaining self – awareness
Cue the “Meet the Parents” meme… We’ve all seen it, the awkward moment where Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro are in the dressing room and good ol’ future father-in-law is accusing Ben Stiller’s character of nefarious acts: CIRCLE OF TRUST The thing I love about that scene is someone caring about another person enough […]
So a UX Architect and a Software Engineer Had a Baby
On St. Patrick’s day this year, life forever changed for me and my husband, Aaron. A baby arrived in the world after months of planning. But nothing could have prepared me for the joy my heart would feel for our Little Man. Oh, we got this. We’re gonna nail this parenting thing. I’m an Experience […]
From Jokes to Critiques: Feedback the Way You Want It
Unintentional Metaphors So I had this ah-ha moment yesterday while sitting on my couch with my fiancé. He was reading to me what I think was a ridiculous thread of Reddit Dad Jokes, and we just couldn’t stop laughing. I was trying to work on a lightning talk for our SEP Product Guild and he kept refocusing me […]
