What image comes to your mind when you think ‘Luxury’? If you are thinking about your last luxury good purchases or luxury vacation experience, you might associate luxury with timelessness, grandeur, aesthetics, personalization, exclusivity etc. Now, for a moment consider experiencing the same in your next digital purchase, as you maneuver through your next digital application. Does this even qualify to exist?...
Icons have always been found highly useful in limited digital environments and in diagrams, maps and other forms of visual communication. As a visual shorthand, it can label, inform, and aid navigation quickly and effectively in minimal space. At Think Design, we stepped back to discover how icons have been used from the earliest desktop days – in a pursuit to build on our current understanding, looking to appreciate and learn from the past, and look at the future informed by a lens of insights....
As a User Researcher at ekino, I have often started a UX design project with an immersion phase with our clients. This first step allows our teams to fully understand the objectives, the players, the stakes and the constraints underlying their mission. To do this, we take part in stakeholder interviews....
A user-focused approach to design research has always aided the process of product development through creating objective results based on understanding how users think, interact and engage with a product or service....
Data has a lot of untapped potential. However, a dataset that is not classified or grouped does not create meaning for the users. The most important thing to make the data meaningful is to organize the information in a way that the user will easily access and understand. We explore the value of clustering data and how it can unfold patterns that hold a promising key to solving our most complex problems – from the prediction of dangerous earthquake zones to identifying frauds....
As companies continue to bring unique and innovative digital solutions to the market, it’s imperative they take the necessary steps to become WCAG 2.0 compliant. With 1 in 4 adults living with a disability in the US, companies have an opportunity to be proactive in their approach and execution of accessibility as opposed to reactive. The benefits in doing so include; cost savings, avoiding discrimination and lawsuits, targeting a wider audience, and improving SEO (Search Engine Optimization), to name a few. ...
We use personas to guide the designing of websites, marketing campaigns, mobile apps, and many other contemporary experiences. Once we launch, we gauge the success of our creations for these archetype user groups. And eventually, we create feedback loops that allow us to improve our creations using the perspective of real users. ...
Data visualizations are required to make complex information easier to understand and effectuate intuitive actions as responses ....
All interactions that a person has with a brand, makes for the experience a customer relates to the brand with. In times when a customers’ journey is encompassing several touchpoints and interactions, with an ever-increasing demand for personalization across, customer behavioral data is becoming an asset to form a basis for gaining clear customer knowledge. ...
Understanding human behavior has been of crucial importance to developmental, organizational and social psychologists to share important insights while we live and work with humans in different social contexts. However behavioral analysis has recently forayed as an advancement into business analytics revealing pertinent business insights regarding consumers and users. ...
An important element of a designer’s life is to constantly think about innovative workarounds to challenges their customers face. Design thinking here is not just a methodology but an entire attitude of shifting our focus from reacting to constructive and collaborative responsiveness. ...
We are at the threshold of a culture where data-driven decision making and data-driven organizations will become a common phenomenon. But how reliable, expedient and impactful are these decisions? As we explore the promise of data storytelling, we also inquire how critical can this be in helping us make decisions, which are both meaningful and actionable. ...
Workshops remove participants from their everyday contexts and place them in a context that provokes reflection and innovation. But how to promote this evocation in the context where all participants have joined in virtually, separated by physical distances? ...
It is often thought that once a good design is made it needs to be learned by the user. The digital age is posing an opportunity for the existence of a different kind of design – where the design learns about the user behavior and modifies itself....
The last decade saw an emergence of data-management functions and chief data officers (CDOs) finding ground – spelling out a clear urgency of managing and discovering through data, as a vital to any company’s success. Executive data dashboards inundated the market with a promise of providing business intelligence to the C-suite executives. Leaders no longer simply gathered a rearview-mirror look at company data but were also offered a window into the future. ...
Dashboards are a display of essential, actionable information. Dashboard users perform tasks and make decisions based on this information. A dashboard should display the data it contains appropriately in order to support the user in doing the right action at the right time. Oftentimes the space on a dashboard is limited and the data it displays is complex. So how to design a dashboard that allows users to quickly understand all the necessary information? In this article we will list a few best practices to keep in mind when designing dashboards. ...
Over the past years concepts like Customer Experience Design (CX) and User Experience Design (UX) have become increasingly relevant. Oftentimes CX design and UX design are used as interchangeable concepts, which can be confusing and lead to misunderstandings. So what are we talking about when we are talking about UX and CX? Are the two concepts worlds apart or are UX and CX more like synonyms? Tomato tomato? Let’s clarify! ...
We are living in times where we are increasingly surrounded by voice assistants, voice ads, voice notifications, voice search and voice messaging to name a few. But we know that the time for voice has come when we see toddlers and teenagers picking up our phones and saying: ‘OK Google’ what is lego, really? ...
In the last two decades, the power of interconnectivity has spawned many innovations with it. In this article, we explore the concept of interconnectivity as a precursor to connect the world better in the near future. ...
Thinking critically and the approach of reasoning itself, can become a precursor to an innovative solution for the problem proposed at hand. Designers have long employed different methods of reasoning to create the most relevant and innovative solution for their customers. ...
For centuries, humans have pondered upon the mysteries of time. Philosophers, scientists, artists have postulated theories, designed experiments and created art to explain the eternal conundrum of time. But beyond the various theories that lie before us, have we ever stepped out to understand how to leverage time and its various properties to influence our day to day life and experiences? ...
As users are increasingly consuming entertainment on the go, it is of no doubt that designing a good media player ensures a good user experience. In this article, we explore the history of media players over time and our recommendations to design a good media player. ...
Is there anything called broadcast UX (at all)? I had been meaning to talk about it for a while now; and I got an opportunity to capture comparable images last weekend (while all top 5 news channels were showing exactly the same content)....
Businesses, governments, educational and social institutions alike are asking some common big questions today. How can we navigate the disruptive forces of technology and globalism and create viable solutions which allow us to respond to rapid change? How can these solutions cater to the development of both individuals and societies in general? ...
KPI’s help one measure their progress towards goals and navigate their journey. As an organization, envisioning to drive impact through your work and growing your business, KPI’s can be your ready reckoner to enable the right checks and balances in place. ...
It’s true that you have to keep in mind a wide range of characteristics that impact the design of all educational products, but it is inevitable for companies to have a key focus on the importance of the blend of design and digital trends to create products with an edge. ...
There is no doubt that gamification is a concept that has quite penetrated the education industry. In this article, you will read why, what and how about gamification in education and some fundamental concepts. ...
Types of dashboards: Is it possible to classify dashboards into their types?
The turn of the decade has shown a change in how people and institutions are interacting with money. With an advent of rapidly advancing technologies in the fray, an era of the informed consumer has been embarked, with evolving expectations and a changing regulatory landscape, also clawing its way to disrupt the most traditional sector of our economy. ...
What if you designed a set of KPI’s to track your product’s performance and instead of giving you insights to improve, it turned out to be a mindless chase of numbers without giving a clear understanding of your product’s performance? Read on to discover our 20 Product performance metrics that will help you to assess how your product based business is doing. ...
At OSRAM’s Berlin plant of manufacturing xenon lamps, more and more employees are sharing about their improved abilities to carry out their tasks faster and more efficiently with greater precision using an app on their mobile devices. The ticket manager (this new-digital application), which gives them their work assignments and keeps them constantly up to date on the status of their machines, is moving the industry towards creating an ecosystem of enhanced communication, collaboration and mobility. ...
In the last few months, I had travelled extensively and the memories I have are those of my connections with the people I met. I’m very lucky to have met entrepreneurs, executives, designers, thinkers, friends, family and many of those who were part of my journeys. Manifestations of my thoughts on meeting these people would be in the form of several notes, blogs and articles (published and unpublished). This is one such manifestation. ...
So, you heard about data-driven design somewhere or you’re already practicing it? This too, is a rather newer practice much like UX design itself and has evolved only during the last 5 years. I for one, do not rely totally on it and I rely on many other research methods in addition to this. I’d rather say, I don’t place my bet totally on it because it could be dangerous. Here’s why. ...
What a stupid question! Can there be an objective answer to it?
I was asking myself this question and I went into reflection and introspection modes and there came a few answers. Ofcourse, there can’t be a definite/ specific number that can magically be applied to all projects, but there could be methods to arrive at this number. I went on my quest to find out a framework that could help. Let’s explore that here… ...
Minimum Viable Product: Does it ring a bell? A decade ago, I didn’t hear this as much in my circles… fast forward by a decade and we seem to be living in a MVP world, literally. But before we jump and conclude that MVP is the future of ‘whatever’, let’s understand a bit about the origins and a few fundamental concepts of MVP. ...
In this article, I’ll be speaking about how to run a service design workshop and a few tips and tricks to make it successful. You can read about the concept of service design and why you should practice service design here. ...
Services have come a long way in the last two decades: From human enabled, personal and intelligent to what we know as services today: self-serviced, cloud hosted and technology powered services. The question I want to raise here is: With the penetration of AI, will those services become bot enabled, personal and intelligent?...
There has been significant change in the way enterprises work in the past decade, while digital technologies that power these enterprises are yet to keep pace with it. Are we now at a point of inflection? ...
Once upon a time, life insurance policies were sold only through agents. I bought my first policy eight years ago on 31st March. I needed a tax-saving investment; my trusted advisor sold me insurance. It took me a few years to realize that there were better options. ...
This post is a sequel to an earlier one titled ‘UX in the times of AI: Designing with Bots’. In this post, we will look at a few philosophical aspects of cyber consciousness, collective intelligence or machine intelligence and the design considerations that must be looked at in conjunction with trusting this technology. ...
A friend recently asked me what my most used app was. It was an interesting question to ponder. I use Slack, Google News, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook everyday, but none of them come close to how much time is spent using Spotify. I like to use it in the morning along side my Ultimate Ears (UE) wireless speaker to get the family up and running and somedays we can even squeeze in a mini dance session. If I am not binging on a podcast, it’s very likely I get in my car, tap the Spotify logo and select a band or a playlist I made ( or even my 5yo helped create). I’ve had a premium account ($10/per month) for a few years now and haven’t been disappointed. ...
This is Part 1 of my series on How AI would impact UX and vice versa. This write up covers different facets of chat bots and the resulting experiences. ...
“How can I log into a loan app through Facebook? My friends will know I applied for a loan.” ...
In terms ease of creating digital innovation, Pharma & Life sciences industry would perhaps figure among the last few. The reason for this is the exposure of the industry to regulations, sensitivity of information and its perceived importance to life, among others. That said there is no reason why this industry will be safeguarded from disruptions by new entrants. ...
I came across the concept of failing early a few years back when I understood the several facets of Design Thinking. A decade later, today, this is catching up like wildfire across established technology companies and start-ups alike. Let us get an understanding of why and how. ...
In terms of ease of creating digital innovations, Pharma & Life sciences industry would perhaps figure among the last few. The reason for this is the exposure of the industry to regulations, sensitivity of information and its perceived importance to life, among others. That said there is no reason why this industry will be safeguarded from disruptions by new entrants. ...
IT powered enterprises have come a long way, from digitizing operations and streamlining processes in the last decade to automation, data intelligence and resource optimization today. In this context; and being at the helm of affairs strategizing enterprise UX work at my company, I have a few insights to share. ...
Hari Nallan, Cofounder and CEO, Think Design Collaborative Pvt Ltd in an interaction with Ekta Srivastava, HealthTechnology magazine. This interview appeared in Health Technology magazine, in May 2016. ...
