This article explores how The Hawthorne Effect and Observer Bias impact user research and how to mitigate it. The Hawthorne Effect The Hawthorne Effect refers to the phenomenon when people change their behavior when they know they’re being observed. This effect was discovered after a series of studies were conducted to determine how…

13 issues design and engineering teams face — Over the last decade, design systems have gained popularity for their benefits, such as improving consistency, collaboration, and efficiency — they also come with some notable downsides. This article explores potential issues designers and teams face when building and maintaining design systems. 1. Initial Time Investment Building a comprehensive design system takes time. Before…

As a designer who works and invests in tech startups, I keep an eye on macroeconomic variables to understand some of the influencing factors of technological innovation. In the aftermath of the global pandemic, the world witnessed many shifts in economic paradigms. One such notable change has been the rise…

I’m creating a comprehensive series of educational videos on how to learn Figma quickly — I’m creating a series of videos on how to learn Figma fast. I’m starting with the basics and plan to get much more comprehensive. Below are the videos I’ve created so far. I’d love to know what you think and additional concepts you’d like me to cover. The basics of Figma in under 10 minutes Figma basics continued

In this article, we’ll explore three powerful psychological concepts related to memory and apply them to user experience to help you design better experiences. Anticipation Individuals feel more positive when looking forward to an event and recalling it than during the actual event. Humans have a natural tendency towards optimism and…

Memory plays a crucial role in user experience (UX) design, shaping how users interact with interfaces and remember their interactions. However, memory is not a flawless recording of events but rather a reconstructive process influenced by various cognitive factors. In this article, we explore the concept of reconstructive memory and how it impacts how users experience design. — Reconstructive Memory and UX Design

Variable reward is a powerful tool designers use to create habits and retain users — In this article, we will learn the basics of how variable rewards can be incorporated in a user’s experience to create habit forming designs. It’s important to use these techniques with great care. Understanding The Hook Model The Hook Model is a framework for designing habit-forming products and services. …

Easy-to-use design tool for non-designers — This write-up originally appeared in a HackerNews post that was featured on the front page last weekend. I added new images in this Medium post. I’m Andrew, a solo founder building a free, easy-to-use visual editing app called MockVisual.

No matter how user-centered a creator is, they interject some amount of bias when conducting and interpreting the research they use to inform what they build. Any flaws in understanding the needs and goals of the user will be reflected in the design of the product. The same people studied…