A new year means lots of articles looking back at the past year and about what to expect in 2015. A new month means another giveaway: enter the UX Book Giveaway contest for a chance to win a book from the good folks at Rosenfeld Media. Congrats to Shane Gryzko, who made a UX resolution for 2015 to do more user testing, for winning the December book giveaway. On to the week’s best UX links…
— Kenny
Articles
Designing the Lyft Split Payment Experience Using Pixate and Framer
This is a great look from Patrick Wong, digital Product Designer at Lyft, about how they used Pixate and Framer to prototype, design, test, and communicate the details of their split payment feature.
In detail: Square’s email receipt and feedback flow
The receipt emails from Square have lots of nice details including embedded feedback, friendly copy, and actually looking like a receipt as described by Joshua Porter.
Embrace failure - or how to get over your first usability test
Watching real users use your product can be a real eye opener so learn to embrace failure when watching people struggle with your product.
This Years 8 Smartest UI Design Ideas
A list of awesome, smart UI ideas we saw in 2014.
2014 UX Reprise & 2015 Thoughts
A look back on what was UX design over the past year and some thoughts on what’s next.
The Big Future: What does the future of interaction look like?
The rise of smartphones has gotten everyone to tap but but will the future of interaction be voice, augmented reality, Minority Report type of gestures or something else?
How designing an invisible app almost killed us
A good reminder to make sure you design experiences and interactions that you remind users your site or app exists.
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Tools & Resources
Screen Sizes
Quickly find the screen specifications of the most popular devices and monitors currently on the market.
Personapp
Create and share quick, lightweight personas using a simple lean framework.
re:splashed
Over 550 free hi-resolution images for your web and design projects.
Media
User Onboarding: The Canary in the Coal Mine (Podcast)
Samuel Hulick, creator of UserOnboard, takes us through the most common misconceptions about onboarding, highlighting some of the folks in the industry who are really getting it right.
Practical Empathy (Book)
A new book by Indi Young that will show you how to gather and compare people’s thinking patterns to make better decisions, improve your strategy, and collaborate successfully.
Portfolios
Andrew Doherty
Andrew Doherty, a User Experience Designer and Interface Specialist, takes you through each step of his process, provides examples of deliverables, and even a case study.
Matt Soave
Matt Soave’s portfolio looks simple and plain at first glance but he not only shows off a lot of his projects but adds some delightful interaction to his own site.
Last But Not Least
UX Drinking Game
A great reason to drink at conferences, client meetings, and at 9pm at night on a Sunday when deliverables are due Monday Morning.
“If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design.”
— Dr. Ralf Speth, CEO Jaguar
