Designers and developers collaborate for a common cause–to build products and experiences their customers want or need. Their shared purpose is to serve their users. To achieve this common purpose and collaborate effectively, designers and developers should understand the other’s discipline. Designers don’t have to become coders, but understanding the basics of code and its limitations is incredibly beneficial. Just like an architect must understand building materials to design a structure, UX designers need foundational knowledge of front-end code like HTML, CSS, and a little bit of Javascript–the building blocks of product design! Benefits for Designers Knowing Code Designers who learn code have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The benefits far outweigh the time it’ll take to put your head down and learn a new skill. Better Collaboration With Developers When designers have a fundamental understanding of code, they can communicate with developers significantly better. They’ll also earn developers’ respect, who in turn might make more of an effort to understand design. Design handoffs are always sticky between designers, product teams, and engineers. Why? Because they speak different languages with different constraints. By learning to code, or at least the basics, designers can better understand code constraints and limitations, making it easier to solve problems collaboratively with engineers. Understanding Development Limitations When designers know how to code, it’s easier to understand the limitations and fix problems, especially during quality assurance (QA) after the handoff. For example, designers can use the browser’s developer tools to inspect an element’s HTML and CSS if something doesn’t look right in the browser. Understanding technical limitations can also save designers significant time during the design process because they know what is and isn’t possible-avoiding design decisions that exceed technical constraints. Improve Prototyping Image-based design and prototyping tools don’t offer the fidelity or functionality of a coded product. Limiting the testing and problem-solving designers can do during the design process. Designers who know HTML and CSS can build functioning prototypes that outperform image-based design tools. Increase Your Value The tech industry is an exciting landscape with new roles and opportunities constantly emerging. By learning to code, UX designers can take on bigger roles, transition to new careers, and increase their value to prospective clients or employers. Conclusion Coding is an essential part of the design process, a launchpad to modular and scalable thinking, or a valuable design tool. To ensure that code-thinking is part of the design process, consider the following: Include a developer or two at different checkpoints during the project planning and design activities. Collaborate with a developer about prototyping techniques that will benefit the project at hand. Discuss a modular approach with the development team to understand how the bits and pieces of information can positively influence the design. Photo by Alexandru Acea on Unsplash

Nowadays, pretty much everyone knows what content writing is. But the same can’t be said about UX writing. And yet this new role within the product design team has become ever so important. So, what is UX writing, how does it fit into the design and product teams and what are the key principles of good UX writing? Read on to find out. What is UX writing UX writing – or user experience writing – is the process of creating user-friendly copy for all user-facing touchpoints, including user interface. And this is not just a decorative text. UX copy informs, guides, urges and helps users take action – and this only works effectively when it is created as a part of a formal product design process. As great copy within an interactive UX design helps to create a great user experience – one of the keys for a successful product – no wonder it has become an important role on its own. What does a UX writer do UX writers write microcopy used throughout digital products – whether it is a piece of software, a web application, or a mobile app. These pieces of copy are menu labels, buttons, calls-to-action, confirmation and error messages, security notes, etc. UX writers create a copy in such a way that users understand what and why they should do in order to achieve a certain result. To create a great UX copy, UX writers not only need to create consistent, error- and typos-free copy but also have a thorough understanding of the end-user experience of the product they’re writing for. They need to make it easy for users to take the path that leads towards a particular outcome in a logical, intuitive manner. For a very long time, it was software developers and graphic designers who would write the microcopy for digital products. Back then UX writing was underestimated and considered a luxury. As a result, the microcopy within the product was often inconsistent and confusing for the user, not to mention that it was sometimes filled with grammar errors and spelling mistakes. And that’s understandable – nobody can excel at everything, and software developers or designers aren’t an exception to this rule. Especially that they know the product inside out and it’s hard for them to empathize with users. …and what does UX writer not do The role of UX writer should not be confused with that of a technical writer (who does the technical writing and focuses on clarity and accuracy, not on user experience), content strategist (who plans content strategy, i.e. content on a bigger scale, and doesn’t necessarily write copy), information architect (who works on, well, information architecture, meaning that (s)he builds sustainable information structures and taxonomies) or content marketing copywriter (who writes marketing copy that attracts leads, converts them into customers and helps to retain them). UX writing in a design and product team UX writers are members of UX teams, and as such they’re expected to conduct or collaborate on conducting the UX research. UX copy and UX design teams work together to discover options that improve the functionality, usability, and accessibility of the final product. As a result, they’re able to both streamline the design process and develop better digital experiences that attract more users. UX writers also work closely with product developers, focusing on missing logic or a confusing interface, thus influencing the final product that is being developed. UX writers also collaborate with other teams within the organization, such as marketing, legal, and business development, in order to ensure that copy is aligned to brand voice, strengthens product’s UVP, and doesn’t get the company in trouble. Types of UX content The specific types of UX content vary depending on the digital product, but generally speaking the most common types of UX content include: First-time users onboarding Menu labels, form field labels and lists Buttons and call-to-actions (CTAs) Settings labels Contextual help and tooltips Confirmation messages Error messages Security notes In-product marketing (e.g. pop-up ads) Chatbot conversation scenarios Legal notices and disclaimers UX copywriting principles Great UX writing is all about clean, purposeful lines, making each word count. Superfluity and redundancy are its enemies. That’s why some people compare UX writing to… writing poetry! But great UX writers must also: Know not only what the product does but also how it improves the end user’s life and makes it easier. Having empathy for the end user and his or her needs and wants is the key to successful UX writing. Inform about what the product is capable of doing and guide users on how to do it in a logical, easy-to-follow manner. Look critically at the product flows, anticipate user questions, preempt their frustrations with proactive help and guide them through tasks. Be clear, concise, unambiguous, and – whenever necessary – break down complicated processes into easy to do steps. UX copy should only give the necessary or requested information at any given time. Use brand voice and, whenever possible, reinforce the product’s Unique Value Proposition (UVP) to help it stand out from the competition. Incorporate best content design principles based on research and always create copy in context, directly in a wireframing tool, that shows it with all the fonts, images, buttons etc. UX writers shouldn’t use Word documents or Excel sheets for their copywriting. Conclusion As you can see, having an experienced UX writer on board is the key to improve the overall quality of your product design. Remember that your user interface microcopy is there to help users accomplish their goals. And this is what ultimately will bring more customers to your digital product. Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

The design handoff is a critical part of any project. For many designers and engineers, the design handoff is a stressful experience. If either team misses something, it could result in product defects and delays. While it’s primarily the responsibility of the UX team to produce prototypes, assets, and documentation, the design handoff process is a collaborative effort—starting in the early design stages. There are three stages to a successful design handoff: During Design (before the handoff) During Handoff After Handoff During Design (before the handoff) A design handoff is not a single event in the design and development of a digital product. Instead, it’s a process that starts during the early design stages and ends after designers have completed the final product. Designers and engineers must communicate and collaborate to streamline the design handoff process, mitigating costly errors. During the early stages, designers and engineers should meet to discuss technical constraints concerning design ideas. While innovation is essential to build a competitive advantage, designers must work within the company’s resources and technical constraints. A development team representative should attend user research to learn the “WHY” behind design decisions. By doing so, developers will better understand the user’s needs and the problems UX designers are trying to solve. During Handoff If design and development teams communicate and collaborate effectively during the design process, the handoff should be a smooth process of double-checking and organizing. How designers present a design handoff is as important as the documentation, files, and assets themselves. Firstly, UX teams should delete unused layers and guides to avoid confusion. Designers must also double-check they have grouped and labeled components correctly. Using a consistent naming convention will help developers quickly locate files, assets, components, and elements. Engineers might advise on a preferred file structure that aligns with an efficient development workflow. Explicit annotations are essential for developers to understand mockups and interactive prototypes. These annotations provide context or describe functionality that might be beyond the design tool’s capabilities. Lastly, designers must walk through the product with the documentation to ensure developers receive a comprehensive design handoff. After Handoff UX teams play a vital role in the implementation’s quality assurance (QA)—testing the final product against interactive prototypes and mockups. Once the final product is complete, designers and engineers should meet to discuss improving the design handoff process for future products and features. Photo by Efe Kurnaz on Unsplash

In this article, I'll share my personal advice for those struggling to land their first UX role. Landing your first role as a designer can be challenging, but in this article I’ll give you the best advice I can about how to kick-start your UX design career. I’ve made a list of five essential areas that are invaluable to propelling your career forwards. Get out there If you take nothing else away from this article, don’t ignore this: you need to be the first name on someone’s brain list when an opportunity explodes. And there are specific ways to worm your way into people’s brains. First things first, get on board with the User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA) and Interaction Design Association (IxDA). They’ve got countless resources, reading materials and up-to-date job listings on their sites. They also hold regular careers events, which you need to be at. I’ve employed people directly from those events. There are countless events like this throughout the year, so make sure you identify them. Try Eventbrite and Meetup. Studiously trawl job listings. Also invest in researching company, brand and business websites – make notes and take names. Having an order of preference is also useful – think about who you’d like to work for and why. LinkedIn is your friend, as is social media generally. LinkedIn is a professional network so it carries some weight if you connect politely and have a story to tell. Use Twitter to demonstrate you are a decent human with opinions and ideas. If I meet you at a careers fair, I’ll subsequently find you on Twitter, because that’s where I begin to understand you personally. Follow big names in design, share and comment on their content; the same applies to prospective employers. Don’t send generic applications & tailor your CV You can create more specified applications by examining your own career goals. Consider what industry you’d like to work in, who you’d like to work for, and if your application is setting you up to achieve these goals. If you want to work in design, an active, demonstrable interest in the field is essential. Align your skill set with what the company you’re applying to is looking for – this means tailoring your CV. Drawing out particular aspects guides the reader and offers a hierarchy to the information you’re presenting. Companies often want to know what you can bring to the team. Being hired is down to the balance of your skills and who you are as an individual, combined with how you can enhance or build on existing company culture. Show your work Always have a design portfolio on hand. This should be a showcase of the work you’re proudest of and most confident about, whether that’s evidencing your university projects’ design and process, your designs that have made it into the real world or work you’ve done in your own time just for fun. The most important thing, however, is that you demonstrate how you respond to a brief, consider outcomes and iterate on ideas. Community platforms such as Dribbble or Instagram can help you gain a following, are great for amplifying your voice and are often the best way for you to collect evidence and showcase your designs. Wrapping up your degree show? Capture that. Working for a couple of weeks at an agency? Capture that. Work experience or training course? Capture that. Capture everything. Know your limitations There are many full-stack UX design roles advertised that require UX, visual design and coding skills. The truth is that UX professionals don’t have a deep knowledge of all of these areas. Don’t be afraid to tell interviewers if you need to work on a particular area either, “give them an idea of what they can expect from you but also say how you’re trying to improve.” The important thing is to find an employer who’ll help you learn and reach career goals. Use rejection as a motivator Many people give up when they get bad news or if they’re feeling frustrated with the process. Dealing with ‘failure’ is an important life lesson and it’s a normal part of the job hunting process. Take ‘no’ as a driver to get that ‘yes’. Criticism is good for you, not bad. Keep looking forward to the next interview and application. It’s fantastic how you can get up every time.” View each job application and interview as a learning curve. Photo by Yoav Hornung on Unsplash

UX Design is a vast field, and each organization has its own set of requirements and expectations from incoming designers. Based on my own experience from multiple interviews and feedback from numerous UX leaders, here are some vitally common traits which managers look for when they evaluate candidates. The typical hiring process Portfolio – A candidate’s portfolio is used to gauge their understanding of UX. In this stage, candidates who talk about UX processes rather than showing finished UI designs usually will proceed to the second phase. First round interview – This will be the ‘getting-to-know-you’ conversation, seeing how you approach professional scenarios and probing your understanding of UX. This first round is trying to work out where you might fit in an organisation and what support you would need to grow into the role. A good attitude and the ability to explain your work is most important in this round. Task – There is some controversy about interview tasks being used as free labour. But when used right, tasks are a valuable way to get a sense of a candidate’s practical skills. Final round interview – This will include the boss and another representative of the product or technical team. They will review your task and have a more technical conversation about your abilities and how well you collaborate. They will ask you to play out some scenarios to see how you would approach specific challenges relevant to the business. And can also ask you what questions you have for them. This is where you can really impress them. During an interview, never say that you have no questions, unless you’ve already decided you don’t want the job. Ask probing questions that show you have a critical business mind. Make hiring managers persuade you to come work for them. Other good examples are: “Can you tell me how UX typically works in your organisation?” “What made you choose to work for this organisation?” And if you’re feeling cocky: “What question are you scared I will ask right now?” The Craft of Execution The hard skills of UX design include a sound understanding of the UX design process, the ability to deliver results and an eye for detail. Hiring managers want results-oriented people who can execute, and create user flows, wireframes, prototypes and interfaces. Ability to Work in a Team There may be times when you put in a lot of effort, only for your work to be set aside. For example, you may create a set of pixel-perfect interfaces for a product feature. But then the entire workflow ends up getting scrapped because someone else discovered a new, simpler way to get the job done. Portfolio The portfolio is the most visible and tangible proof of all your skills and abilities. Use your portfolio to show how deep you can dive into a problem, present your grasp over the design process and showcase your ability to craft experiences. Hiring managers want to see stories about your process and understanding and how you made a difference in the users’ lives. Certificate, unnecessary If there’s one thing that does not matter to hiring managers, it’s a certificate. When asked about the importance of UX certificates, the design leaders we approached replied with a resounding “Meh!”. A certificate can serve as a tool to help recruiters figure out if you have the minimum skills required for a job, or that you value continued education. However, it does not influence the hiring manager’s decision to hire you. Conclusion Every organization has different requirements and expectations from UX designers. While most prefer some level of work experience, what matters most are problem-solving and communication skills along with an ability to deliver results within a team. Work samples or portfolios that demonstrate your skills and abilities can help overcome the lack of experience. Photo by Floriane Vita on Unsplash

Seeking user experience-related tips, updates and inspiration? Head to Twitter and follow these UX-centric accounts. In the world of user experience, there's no shortage of fresh design inspiration and new techniques to get your creative juices flowing. But where do you find it? Twitter is a good place to keep on top of new developments, but the social media site can often be an overwhelming experience if you don't know where to look. So to help you out, we've rounded up this list of the top accounts for user experience. Liz Danzico A user experience consultant, Liz Danzico has worked for many leading companies, including holding the role of director of experience strategy for AIGA for a time. Numerous daily tweets include many useful links, tips and insight into the world of UX. Aarron Walter Author of Designing for Emotion and director of user experience for The Rocket Science Group, Aarron Walter's Twitter feed is full of helpful insights and design inspiration. He also follows and supports fellow designers and regularly retweets useful and relevant information. Jared M Spool As founding principal of User Interface Engineering and with more than 15 years experience in his field, Jared M Spool is a highly recognised authority on user interface design. If you're looking for regular interaction you should definitely follow his account as there's always plenty of sharing and debate throughout his feed. Joshua Porter Joshua Porter is a busy guy as director of UX at Hubspot, co-founder of 52 weeks of UX and writer of the Bokardo Blog. But, somehow, he still manages to find the time to tweet useful UX tips and insights on a daily basis. Jesse James Garrett If it's UX information you're after then you should definitely follow experience design consultancy Adaptive Path co-founder Jesse James Garrett. Working with the web since 1995, Garrett has a wealth of experience in interface design and development, much of which he shares through his Twitter feed. Whitney Hess Whitney Hess is an independent user experience strategist. She runs a regular blog on the subject, Pleasure and Pain, and shares new posts, as well as opinion and insights, via her Twitter feed. Alex Morris Alex Morris is user experience director for Web design and user experience consultancy Mark Boulton Design. Morris has over 15 years experience designing and building websites, games and applications and shares much of his knowledge through his very honest and opinionated Twitter feed. Stu Collett Super insightful and resourceful Twitter feed here from Stu Collett, co-founder and design director of user experience design consultancy, Super User Studio Ltd. If you don't follow him already, you should do it immediately. Kevin Hoffman This regularly updated Twitter feed belongs to Kevin Hoffman, user experience director at design studio Happy Cog. He regularly designs cool stuff plus he continually shares his inspirations via Twitter. Josh Brewer As principal designer at Twitter and co-creator of 52 weeks of UX, Josh Brewer knows more than a thing or two about user experience. In amongst his appreciative, complimentary and chatty Tweets are many useful links and insights into the world of UX. Have we missed anyone out? Tell us in the comments below! Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

Running a design thinking workshop is one of the best ways to spark creativity and nurture a user-centric mindset within your design team. As a designer, you will encounter situations where you need to run design thinking workshops either with your team, your clients, or other departments in your organization. This article will give you a step by step guide on how to run design thinking workshops that come up with innovative solutions to user problems. What is a design thinking workshop? A design thinking workshop is a creative problem-solving session that is based on the principles of design thinking. These workshops are activity-based and they are often done in person but they can also be done remotely. The activities of a design thinking workshop are organized according to the three phases of the design thinking process: empathy, ideation, and prototyping. Empathy: Developing a deep understanding of the problem that users face and empathizing with them. Ideation: Coming up with many ideas on how the user problem can be solved. Prototyping: Creating a prototype of potential solutions and then testing it with real users. A workshop can last for a few hours long, a whole day, or even a week. What are the goals of a design thinking workshop? Design thinking workshops help design teams to create feasible and user-focused solutions to design problems. This helps the team to design better products faster, reduce costs, and increase profits. Other goals include: Improving the problem-solving skills of the team. These skills are transferable to other design problems within the team. Creating a sense of community in the design team because workshop participants have to collaborate in order to get a solution. Giving the team a competitive edge by producing innovative and industry-leading ideas. Who should run a design thinking workshop? A design thinking workshop should be run by a designer who understands the design thinking process. The facilitator should also have presentation skills and the ability to keep the group engaged throughout the workshop. Photo by Jason Goodman on Unsplash How to run a design thinking workshop: a step-by-step guide The design thinking process is made up of activities that are done before the workshop and during the workshop. Step 1: Planning and preparation Before you can run a design thinking workshop, there are some things that need to be in place first, they include: Workshop objectives: This is a clear definition of the goals that the workshop should achieve. Is it to generate new ideas or to improve on an existing design product? This is also a good time to define the challenge or question that the workshop will answer. It might be “how can we improve the user experience of our website users?” Workshop location: Choose a suitable location for your design thinking workshop. If the workshop is happening physically, choose a location that has enough space for your design team. If the workshop is happening online, decide on the meeting and presentation tools that you are going to use. Workshop agenda: This is a plan of how and when the different activities are going to happen. Do not overschedule the workshop and be sure to include a lot of activities in your design thinking workshop agenda. Workshop materials: Ensure that all the necessary design thinking workshop materials such as paper, marker pens, sticky notes, whiteboards, and props are in place. After making all the necessary preparations as outlined above, the next steps will be the execution of your workshop agenda. Step 2: Introduction Welcome all the participants to the workshop and brief them on what they should expect during the workshop. Share the following information: The main objective of the workshop and the problem that it is going to solve. A schedule of the workshop activities. Step 3: Kick off the meeting using an icebreaker Use fun icebreaker activities to help your team loosen up before the workshop begins. This will make it easy for them to collaborate and share their ideas. Step 4: Introduce design thinking Make a brief presentation on what design thinking is, the phases of design thinking, and its benefits. This presentation is useful even for designers who are already familiar with the design thinking philosophy because it brings everyone up to speed and ensures that you are all on the same page. Step 5: Empathizing with the user This is the first step in the design thinking process where you encourage the workshop participants to put themselves in the shoes of the user. This will help them to start generating ideas on what the user needs from the product. You can use activities such as role-playing and creating an empathy map to help the participants really understand the needs, wants, feelings, and language of the user. After these activities, give the participants a chance to share their findings and ask questions, if any. Step 6: Get more specific on the problem After the empathy exercise, participants are better placed to really narrow down on the problem that the user faces. Ask your team to create a problem statement that will guide the rest of the design thinking workshop. Step 7: Come up with ideas and possible solutions The next design thinking step is ideation where your team suggests possible solutions to the problem that they identified in step 6. Use techniques such as brainstorming to come up with a list of potential solutions. Give the participants a chance to discuss their solutions and then come up with one refined solution. Step 8: Create a user journey map After settling on one solution, get your team to map out the steps that users will take so that they can solve the problem. These steps can be downloading an application, setting up an account, adding their bank details, and then sending money. Give them enough space and sticky notes to create a step by step representation of the user journey. Step 9: Prototyping and testing This is the final step in the design thinking process where participants will create low fidelity prototypes of their solution. Ask the users to create screens for each step of the user journey and then ask them to add functionality to their screens in the form of buttons. Once again, give your team some time to compare their prototypes and then ask them to vote for the best prototype. Step 10: Describe the next steps and close the workshop Close the workshop by explaining to your team the next steps such as turning their prototypes into wireframes, high fidelity prototypes, and actual user testing. This is also a good time to ask your design team what they learned from the design thinking workshop. Don’t forget to ask for feedback so that you can improve your design thinking workshop facilitation skills. Solve design challenges with the best design tools Design thinking workshops help your design team to come up with innovative and user-centered solutions to design problems. Use UXPin to design, wireframe, and prototype the innovative ideas that you come up with during your design thinking workshop. Photo by Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash

As user experience and related fields mature, so does the terminology, tools, processes, and roles involved in the process. But trends change over time. The number and types of roles expand or specialize, and then contract, favoring generalists with unicorn status. Different businesses and industries use different names for the same roles. It can be confusing for everyone involved, from HR departments and (potential) employees to leaders trying to build a great team with the right mix of skills and a limited headcount. Once you’ve got the team built out, you then have to make sure that everyone knows what their responsibilities are as well as who to collaborate with and when to do so. One role that is often misunderstood is the UX Engineer (UXE). So what exactly is a UXE? What do these professionals do, and why does your team need one? Overview of the UX Design and Development Team According to the Interaction Design Foundation, there are six essential roles within a user experience team. These roles are tailored a bit to the Design Thinking process but translate well into any methodology a team may use. UI Designer – aka interaction designer. UX and UI are sometimes used interchangeably, and while they have similar skills, there are differences. These team members own the overall design of a product or feature. UI designers can be more focused on individual screens and functionality, even overlapping with visual design such as color or layout. Product Designer – aka UX Designer. As with a UI Designer, the skills are similar, and the focus is on designing a user interface that people like using and can easily learn. THe product or UX designer looks at the bigger picture, considering the strategy of the product and it’s future road map or vision. Visual Designer – aka graphic designer. This role is specialized to visuals and graphics. These professionals work closely with the UX or UI designers to achieve interactions while creating attractive, usable graphical themes and assets. UX Researcher – aka usability tester. While designers handle their own research and user testing from time to time, this role is focused on conducting all types of research and testing to advocate for the users, and ensure that the designs are geared toward the best user experience possible. Content Strategist – aka UX writer or information architect. These roles can also be highly specialized. The content strategist uses user research and UX principles to determine what content is needed and when to deploy it throughout a design. UX writers create the content while tailoring it to the audience and context of the product. UX Engineer – aka UX unicorn. The UXE takes the designs and develops the code for the front end elements. They are skilled in both design and development, and can help design and development teams communicate to achieve the best UI possible. From those basic categories the roles can still be combined, or further refined, depending on the size and needs of the team. A designer who is particularly skilled with both interaction and visual aspects may fill both roles. A product designer who enjoys CSS and building widgets could handle the UXE roles as well. Whatever the names of the roles, each team needs a unique mix of skills based on the products and channels they work in. The number of team members can be scaled based on the budget and skill set of the individual members, as well as the overall workload. What is a UX Engineer Specifically Google defines a UX Engineer as someone who can, “weave together strong design aesthetics with technical know-how.” “UX unicorns [UX Engineers] are a rare and special breed of people who can not only contribute to all phases of the design process; they can also take charge of frontend development.” - Teo Yu Siang and the Interaction Design Foundation. Skills Core skills of a UXE include: Coding (HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc.) Human Computer Interaction User Centered Design Prototyping Visual Design Educational Background There is no one “right” path to becoming a UXE. UXEs may come from an HCI or User Experience background, then learn that they enjoy actually building the interfaces and take steps to learn programming. Or they may come from a computer science background, and find that they enjoy figuring out what makes a particular widget or toggle work well for their users. A UXE does need a good mix of education and experience to be knowledgeable about UX concepts and design. He or she needs to be able to participate in user research, ideation, and iterative development, as well as having the ability to build the components needed for a design system, and actual end product. What Does the UX Engineer Actually Do? The specific responsibilities of a User Experience Engineer may look a little different depending on the design and development methodologies and process in place. Essentially though, they are involved in the entire process. Conclusion User Experience Engineers are not the same as User Experience Designers. Adding a User Experience Engineer to your team could be a great way to help your design team bring their vision to life, particularly if the front end development team is not closely connected to them organizationally, or functionally. User Experience Engineers understand user needs and know how to build components that serve their needs, while knowing how to talk to developers and testers to ensure the tech works seamlessly. Photo by Veronica Benavides on Unsplash

Most UX and UI designers already understand the nuts and bolts of typography. They can tell you the difference between ‘font’ and ‘typeface’, between ‘mean line’ and ‘baseline’. They might fret over the tracking of a particular font, or cringe at subtle kerning miscues that an untrained eye would gloss over. However, fewer designers grasp how these mechanics translate to the business decision of selecting a typeface. It is more than opting for a font family that is inoffensive to the reader’s eyes – you are choosing a fundamental unit of the user interface, the vehicle for a company’s voice. How do you capture a mission, a style, a business’s entire essence within a set of characters? Of course, if you are working for an enterprise UX design agency you might not need to grapple with the answer very often as your clientele will consist of businesses who already have standardised fonts in their branding or style guides. However, when you are tasked to select a typeface yourself, or even design one from scratch, your client will not care about your knowledge of serifs and ligatures. They will want to know the typeface’s impact on their website, why this specific typeface was chosen, and how it will help further their business goals. Here is how you can answer. Understand The Broader Strategy Before you can begin scanning font libraries, you need a complete grasp of the larger purpose and mission of the experience you are crafting. The message you are conveying should inform the typeface you select, not the other way around. Often, clients will offer this information upfront or at least a vague idea of it. “We want something that commands attention, that screams hip, unique, original – unmistakable from anything out there!”. Whether your client offers something as unformed as that or provides a detailed outline of their company’s voice, it is not a bad idea to jot down a few descriptors that summarise their vision to act as a guideline when selecting a typeface. Is the company’s ethos playful? Luxurious? Brash and bold? Identifying these characteristics will help you intuit which typeface matches the overarching aesthetic. For example, an ornamented serif typeface might exude elegance and class, whereas a sans option could elicit a more casual and accessible feel. Consider The Environment After identifying the characteristics your typeface should embody, the next step is to consider the environ your typeface will exist in. We know we are dealing with digital experience here, not print, so we need to consider the likelihood that your reader will be browsing on a mobile device. That means choosing a typeface that will remain legible on smaller screen sizes, without imposing a strain on the user’s eyes. I highly recommend testing on a variety of mobile devices to ensure the font is suitable for all displays. One oft-forgotten consideration when selecting a typeface is how the text may look when translated to a different language. If your website will be available across the globe and localised, you want to ensure your typeface looks just as good in French, German, Swahili and Russian as it does in English. Image source: Google Design That is why your font selection should include characters that exist outside most Western alphabets. This probably will not limit the scope of your options as many typefaces support multilingual text, but it is essential to double check. If you do not, it is likely the translator will take over, and replace your precious font with a particular character of its own choice. Legibility, Readability, Versatility These are the three key criteria your typeface must meet, and all of them add up to a single dogma you should be familiar with: usability. Set aside the aesthetic, the voice, the style of the typeface for just a moment, and examine it purely from a utility perspective. Legibility Legibility and readability are likely interchangeable to the layperson, but for UI designers and typographers they represent two distinctly different properties of text. I like Userzoom’s definition of legibility the best: a measure of how easily a reader can distinguish individual characters of text. A line of text’s legibility is determined by a slew of different factors – contrast, kerning, uppercase or lowercase – but there are a few general guidelines as well. As a distinguishing character feature, serif typefaces are often considered more legible than sans serif, and UX designer Becca Kennedy cites a Carnegie Mellon University study to argue that upright fonts, rather than italic or slanted ones, are usually more legible. Again, these are rules of thumbs, not commandments. If you would like a more accurate legibility barometer, I would recommend the I/l/1 test. Just type a capital I, a lowercase l, and the number one. If you cannot tell the difference between the three, you may have a problem. Readability Like legibility, readability is a measure of how well a user can discern the text on the screen. However, readability describes the overall digestibility and comprehension of the content, rather than the individual elements of that text. Essentially, legibility is more granular, whereas readability is a big picture. Choosing a readable font has its own set of considerations – unjustified is more readable than justified, and research suggests that users prefer line lengths of about four inches – but you do not need an analogue of the I/I/1 litmus test to determine readability. It is likely you can conduct some guerilla usability testing, pulling subjects from the hallway or conference room to see if they can read your typeface without strain. Versatility Typefaces are often referred to as a family of fonts, and some families are larger and more diverse than others. The website you are designing will have a visual hierarchy, and your typeface needs to be able to match it with different weights and styles. You are probably already familiar with the most versatile typefaces out there. Sometimes referred to as ‘workhorse fonts’, these include Georgia, Arial, Franklin Gothic, Roboto, and more. They are useful for experiences that are heavy in content but are not going to win your web design any awards for creativity. If you are already stuck in a situation where you have to use a less flexible typeface, you can experiment with combining different ones in your experience. Melding different typefaces can produce some interesting and unique aesthetics, but you should exercise caution to avoid a clashing or incongruous look. Without hard and fast rules, you will have to rely on your instinct and experience to pull it off. Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

The word “free” is often music to our ears. Free trial, free download, free music, we will take it all as long as there are no strings attached. This tangled web of strings, however, is what puts the sceptic in us, and we start to believe that nothing is free. Mobile app strategies left free trials in the dust and created a new tactic: the freemium. A crossbreed of “free” and “premium”, the freemium tactic encompasses (you guessed it) both free and premium services. This may seem like a great idea at first, but lest we remember: there is no such thing as a free lunch. Not to mention, freemiums can also damage your mobile app’s UX. So, why are apps here in the first place? Apps are here to solve a need(s) and make us happy, excite us and motivate us. Ultimately, apps are a business, and what do companies need to stay alive? Money. This can entail any money-making tactic, from in-app ads, payment when downloading, subscriptions, and … freemiums. Is It Really Free? A freemium and a free trial are not one in the same. The concept of a free trial is an oldie, but not always a goodie. Trying something out before you buy seems like the greatest thing since sliced bread, but over time, mobile users have been groomed to sniff out a scam, and they know that there are often contingencies linked with a free trial. Limited freemiums can also have certain restrictions, such as limiting services that a user will receive in the free account. Alternatively, these restrictions could be seen through abolishing all commercialisation if you upgrade to a premium account. Regardless of the type of freemium (or free trial) that you are employing, there will be consequences affecting your onboarding process, user retention, and churn rates. So let us dive right in and assess the positives and negatives of freemiums and how you can implement the best approach into your app’s strategy. Your App Has Been Launched In the App Store/Google Play, your app is listed as free, even if it is 100% freemium. Well done, you got users to download your “free” app, but now let us hope they get past the onboarding process that comes with your freemium experience. Many apps (free, freemium, and paid) require a painless sign-up process that entails inputting your email and name, or even more uncomplicated, connecting to the app via one of your social media accounts. While some users may even think this is too much personal info to be handing over, most people will see it as a quick course of action needed to join. Blinkist, although technically a “free forever” app, is still based on the freemium model because it limits what users can access with their Free Account (one Blinkist-chosen book summary per day). Otherwise, the Premium Account is a whopping $79.99. The onboarding UX is seamless, enticing users to download the app, sign up, and probably return a few times due to the novelty. It is also a fantastic choice to allow the user to sign up and connect via a Facebook account quickly. However, there are still going to be hurdles because the user is not able to enjoy the non-fiction literature of his/her choosing. Ultimately, the user will have to choose to continue with the daily surprise of Blinkist choosing for them, upgrade to Premium, or abandon the app entirely. While the app succeeded in piquing user interest and getting them to download it (and inevitably getting a fair amount of users to upgrade to Premium), this can still be a tricky choice. Why? Because only two options are available: a) the free version does not give enough of a “worth it” element for users to stay engaged in the app, and b) the premium account is quite a steep price. Should I Pay Or Should I Go? Perhaps it is clear from the get-go that an app is limited based on whether or not payment is requested (Sign Up For Free vs Subscribe Now). In this case, many users will be deterred from signing up entirely because they know that they will not receive the full benefits of the app. A good example is Headspace, which clearly indicates that there is a paid option (by mentioning the opposite, the “free” option). Users know that based on this sign-up process, there will be limitations within the Free Account, and to unlock the full Headspace Library, a user must subscribe. There is a decent amount of free sessions available to get started in various categories (Mindful Eating, Managing Anxiety, Sadness, Anger and the like), but without a subscription, it is impossible to progress through a category. For some users, a quick taster of these sessions is sufficient to get the mindfulness ball rolling. For others, the beautiful UI of Headspace is convincing enough that subscribing will be the best choice. Need More Storage Space? In some apps, the product’s infrastructure and the app’s UI are excellent enough that most users will not “need” to pay for extra costs. However, depending on increased usage or need, longtime customers might end up becoming premium users because they want to, and not because they were “pressured”. Some apps, like Evernote, are 100% free, but to upgrade storage space or add additional minor features, users must pay. However mobile users are always on the lookout to avoid being scammed. So any small thing can set a user off, resulting in leaving the app forever. For example, many apps, although technically free, still have pesky in-app messaging that would drive anyone crazy. If you are bombarding users with in-app messaging and pop-ups as soon as they begin a free trial, or as soon as they sign up and you want them to upgrade, this is the wrong time. The Freemium Of All Freemiums Pay money and get rid of any advertisements! This is a classic tactic for convincing users to pay money, and plenty of apps, like Spotify, provide the straightforward process of paying a monthly fee to sign up and/or upgrade to a Premium account. Here, you can still listen to loads of music, but essentially Spotify controls your playback: You cannot repeat songs (unless they are on one of the 15 Spotify playlists created for you by algorithms) You are limited to the number of songs you can skip on a playlist (again, limited to the 15 Spotify-created playlists) You definitely have to listen to advertisements On other apps, like Duolingo, you do have full access to everything on the app – if you are learning Dutch, you can indeed access all of the levels. Even though at the end of every lesson there is an ad that pops up, Duolingo remains utterly transparent with users that these ads exist to support free education. However, is users want, they can still opt to upgrade to Premium and get rid of ads forever. For the majority of users, there will be an appealing solution available. The fact that Duolingo creates an honest and authentic user experience, they are able to amass more and more users for free language learning successfully. The real beauty lies in monitoring the UX. In the end, you will see what success in your app is and what ultimately does not succeed in your efforts. What Are Your Users Doing In The Free Account? When new users enter your app, presumably they are going straight to the free features, but are they also poking around at the paid/locked features? What about returning/loyal users – what are they doing? If you want to understand how your users are navigating your app, the best tools to analyse would be user flows and user recordings. These features help you understand your users better via their behaviour and their journeys and enables you to optimise your app based on their needs and wants. Your app will stay fresh for old users, who will subsequently recommend your app as well. Conclusions Let me recap. There are pros and cons to freemiums, and certain apps are utilising specific freemium tactics to achieve their goals. However, if not used smartly, freemiums can be perilous to your mobile app and its future. Also, maybe, just maybe, you will realize that freemiums are not your users’ jam. Alternatively, maybe they are. However, to receive a bonafide answer, testing and tracking your freemium plan(s) with user behaviour analytics is a solid way to understand the effects. This is how you will be sure to feed your users’ app-etites. Photo by Mike Kononov on Unsplash

Struggling to ensure consistency in your experiences? You’re not alone. Here’s how to decide if you’re ready for a design system. Picture this. You’re a moderately successful designer at a large business with lots of digital products. Your boss comes up to you one day and says, “We have a problem. It’s taking our engineers way too much time to build new features. And our products are all over the place with consistency.” So you say, “I hear designs systems will solve all our problems” and start plugging away at a new Sketch or Figma file to tackle the issue. Or, if you’re part of a very small team trying to triage a deluge of User Experience (UX) requests, you might turn to a canned solution like Material UI or Cabana. Not so fast. Mature design systems can take years to build and entire teams to maintain. Before committing to such a large endeavor, it’s important to know the difference between a design system and other, equally valid artifacts such as sticker sheets, style guides, and component/pattern libraries: Sticker sheet: The most rudimentary design library. These pages of reusable symbols are quite easy to generate out of modern design software. Style guides: Here, designers have started to capture rules around usage and behavior. The tooltip only triggers on click. We only use teal as an accent color. Component/pattern library: Building in complexity, a pattern library has actual code associated with the majority of its reusable design patterns. Design system: Principles drive a mature design system, and capture a point of view (POV) that is unique to an organization’s designers and engineers. Much more than best practices, these rules and documentation exist to imbue a consistent experience strategy into the business’s ecosystem. Image from uxdesign.cc Design systems have a point of view Much like guidance for a team of illustrators helps them all keep a consistent style despite each working on different parts of a show, design systems aid in creating consistent experiences across distributed product teams (consider how 18F developed their design system for the U.S. government). They can even capture the full-service design behind the system itself — defining the rules of collaboration between various parts of the organization as well as governance for contribution to the design system. If you’re seeking mostly to ensure consistency on known UX problems, that is an indicator of low UX maturity. (Known UX problems meaning: “I’m building an eCommerce site and I need a way to display top-level navigation to my users”. It’s a problem we’ve solved many times before in the UX discipline.) Conversely, an organization’s ability to create and maintain a design system is an indicator of high UX maturity. It requires allocating resources that otherwise used to further more-easily-tracked business goals towards building a foundation for consistent, truly great experiences. It means someone very high up bought into UX as a differentiator for the business, and that there is broad grassroots support for great experience design. And, of course, it requires having a perspective on building experiences that are repeatable, scaleable, and that your team can articulate. But can’t I just use Material? Material Design is designed to solve Google’s problems. Not yours. It’s all well and good to use Material Design, Cabana, etc. if you are a small team starting out without a strong POV. But know that they were not solving the same problems as you. They have a different brand strategy and different experience strategy than you. This is why it’s so key to start from design principles with a design system. Put them in order of priority, and make clear what the tradeoff is. It’s the hardest, most important part of a true design system. Principles should show compromise and encourage a consistent voice. “Simple” is not a good design principle. You haven’t taken a stance on anything. “Clarity over efficiency” is much better. You’ve stated that your team prioritizes understanding over simplifying workflows. If it takes longer, but more people get it, that’s worth it to your team. Baking those perspectives, those compromises, into your design system is critical to longevity and adoption. Otherwise, all you’ve built is a sticker sheet or component library without much use outside its original intended product. You’ll end up with Frankenstein interfaces that potentially do users a huge disservice because they look similar, but behave in vastly different ways. So when do I need a design system? Design systems work best with larger teams inside organizations with higher UX maturity. For smaller design teams that find themselves frequently outsourcing work to other partners (potentially without much oversight), energy would be better spent on developing a sticker sheet or style guide first. Consider how Atlassian started by doing things that don’t scale, and the key role that understanding governance played in their overall strategy. For larger teams with collaboration-minded engineering partners, but who face low UX maturity, a pattern library is a logical next step towards accelerating work without the challenge of getting buy-in from on high. Such teams can still work on defining their principles, but may encounter challenges with maintaining their burgeoning system, getting buy-in to build consistent experiences, or wrangling external designers into designing in their “voice”. What we name things matters. Sticker sheets, style guides, pattern libraries, and design systems all have their uses in an organization’s journey towards high UX maturity. It’s important to recognize where you, your team, and your business are at so that you can take the approach that’s right for you. Photo by UX Store on Unsplash

Due to its subjective nature, UX design is not simple to quantify and measure. UX also indirectly affects other areas of the business, namely sales, marketing, support, and engineering. But, for UX design to succeed within an organization, design leadership must demonstrate the value of its design investments. What is ROI of Design? In business, ROI is a performance measurement usually presented as a percentage. It calculates the direct return relating to an investment – hence the acronym return on investment. You calculate ROI as follows: ROI = (gain from investment – cost of investment) / cost of investment While you measure the ROI of design similarly, it’s a little more complex than the standard measurement. You must financially separate: The gain from UX. The gain from all other efforts – for example, the development of new features. One of the challenges when calculating these gains is that stakeholders might perceive these calculations as biased or that you’re cherry-picking the most favorable results. ROI of Design Examples Here are some ROI of design examples: Increase sales/conversions Reduced tech support calls Customer loyalty Customer satisfaction Customer retention Reduced time-to-market (how this impacts design & development) Reduced rework or errors Employee retention Labor cost savings Choosing a KPI When talking about ROI, another acronym we often see is KPI (key performance indicators). KPI is also a performance measurement but relates to the benchmarks or milestones that track progress towards the desired goal. Examples of KPIs include: Profit Cost Time Customer Lifetime Value (CLU) Employee-Turnover Rate (ETR) Employee productivity How to estimate the ROI of design work Designers are biased towards actions, and it makes sense for us to do the latter. However, there’s a hurdle designers face: We try to explain design’s impact through qualitative thinking: empathy, aesthetics, and user experience, for example. While these are important factors, they’re not what business people understand, nor are they what drives business people towards action. Instead, we need to be able to speak the language of business—or quantitative thinking—and help translate design’s impact through numbers, metrics, and strategic arguments. So, how can we start speaking the language of business? Start with quantifying your design work. The three step method for quantifying design work Whenever I mention “quantifying” to our designers at the d.MBA, I hear them say: “I am not a numbers person.” Luckily, you don’t have to be. For estimating design’s business impact, you just need basic math. The whole process comes down to three simple steps: Define a business lever. Estimate the financial impact. Communicate with hypotheses. Conclusion If you want to convince a business leader, figure out where the potential business value is. Draw a profit tree and identify which lever will improve. Once you identify the impact, figure out which other teams would also benefit. Go talk to them and make them your project partners. They can help you find the right metrics and assumptions. For example, Hannah found a strong ally in the CTO who leads a development team. He saw a great benefit to streamline his team’s process, so he advocated for her. Using hypotheses and numbers is a great way to demonstrate design’s business value. But don’t forget who we are. As designers, we should still focus on user experience, brand, and empathy. But tying our work to four fundamental business levers can elevate our conversation with business people and improve our positions within companies. Photo by Visual Stories || Micheile on Unsplash