SEP Blog

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 Named a Winning Company in the 2022 Powderkeg Unvalley Awards

Westfield, IN - January 2022, SEP, a software product design and development firm has been announced as a winning company in the 2022 Powderkeg Unvalley Awards. This recognizes SEP as one of the best tech companies to work for in…

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Circumventing The Dark Side of Design

A Tale Old As Time Humans have had the tendency to be deceptive to one another for longer than any existing historical document can recall. One of the most infamous examples of this act being used as a literary device is the myth of the Trojan Horse in Homer’s Odyssey. This victory trophy, given to […]

A sign reading "Accessible Entry" near a colorful mural in Chicago. Photo by Daniel Ali on Unsplash

Why Software Accessibility Matters

I’m a designer with Color Vision Deficiency (CVD). A lot of people, myself included, refer to CVD as “color blindness.” The term “color blind” can be a bit misleading and gives rise to all kinds of funny questions like, “What color is my shirt?” or, “How do you dress yourself?” The reality is, I do […]

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, […]

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 […]

Product Engineering is like road construction…

Product Engineering is like road construction. You have to satisfy the utility. The utility of a road is pretty straight forward – I have to be able to drive my car from point A, to point B, without causing significant damage to my vehicle. Utility is your table stake. Without utility, you don’t have a product worth […]

Story first, then design…

I had my first opportunity to apply some of my recent training on discovery and usability. I had a very short stint on an internal project, where I got the chance to perform some design work on a new calendar integration feature that was going to be implemented. The feature was so new, and so undefined, […]

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 losing most of the negatives […]

Are UX/UI “standards” lacking???

Jared Spool has reported that only about 10% of the user interface design questions raised by developers over the course of a typical project can be answered by reference to platform-based published guides. Does this mean that the standards are lacking? Or does this mean that we can’t categorize UX/UI (User Experience / User Interface) […]

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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In the lab, on the runway, and by the hospital bed, clients trust us to craft reliable desktop software.

Embedded

We have the know-how to build secure embedded systems – whether it’s custom hardware, bare metal, or embedded Linux.

Mobile

Tackle any challenge in your app’s journey with our expertise in building cross-platform and native apps.

Web

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