Design Articles

We’re curious people by nature. And we love to teach others what we’ve learned. So explore our blog to gain fresh insights from our expertise in areas ranging from culture to AI.

SEP Wins TechPoint’s 2024 Innovation Service Partner of the Year Mira Award

SEP Recognized as Indiana’s Top Innovation Service Partner, Winning TechPoint’s Prestigious Mira Award Westfield, Indiana - SEP has been named the Innovation Service Partner of the Year by TechPoint at the 25th annual Mira Awards. The Mira Awards, Indiana’s largest…
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Why I Like Being An Interaction Designer

You know when people say, “I can see you as a (insert career title, oftentimes a common one and easy to define, here).”? Well, I never got Interaction Designer in that insertion. I discovered that I wanted to be a interaction designer not because it was a choice in a career questionnaire test or looked […]
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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 […]
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Visual Design for Mobile Apps: meHive Case Study

I don’t often get to share a behind the scenes look at my visual designs, to walk others through the iterations leading up to the version that actually is used. But now that meHive, a relationship management app a team of SEPeers built, has been retired, I thought this would be a good time to […]
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Importance of User Research

Unfortunately, the word research has gotten a bad rep over the years. Someone hears research and suddenly they think high dollars and waste of resources. Most people think of it being a waste of time without understanding it’s value, importance, and outcomes. But it’s important. So important that it’s probably the reason the experience of […]
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The Design Eye — Tool of the Designer Trade

One of the innate talents of a good designer in any design industry is having a good eye for design. But what does it mean to have a good eye for design? It’s one of those things that is hard to put into words. It’s part instinct that has been developed based on years of […]
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Beware of Assumptions

We’ve all created a persona. We spend time empathizing with this future user of our product to ensure we see the product and experience through their eyes. We think through and focus on their skill sets, goals, opinions, biases, and limitations. We think though all the things a user might not even be aware they […]
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Lessons Learned in Automated UI Testing

Automated UI testing can be tricky and is very easy to do wrong.  At SEP we’ve done several projects using TestComplete; it is a nice tool, but the early days were painful.  We made every mistake in the book, and learned our lessons the hard way.  These days, our TestComplete testing efforts are pretty slick.  […]
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SEP Book Review of Rocket Surgery Made Easy

Rocket Surgery Really is Easy!

I just finished reading Rocket Surgery Made Easy by Steve Krug (perhaps you know him from his other book Don’t Make Me Think). Here’s what I thought. What’s the point? Learn how to do usability testing yourself to gain most of the benefits of hiring someone to do it and lose most of the negatives […]
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Usability, and more…

Last week, we had 3 days of training.  Jeff Patton came in to talk to us about usability, and how to work with our clients to make sure we produce something they actually need.  He introduced ideas and concepts that weren’t entirely new…he simply put the ideas and concepts together in a process that makes […]
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