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Top 10 Blogs For User Experience Designers

User experience is an industry that is constantly evolving. Whether you’re a new practitioner or a seasoned veteran it’s important stay up-to-date on the latest conversations and ideas happening in the industry. So how do you stay updated and relevant? Here’s a clue: you’re doing it right now. Reading blogs is a quick and easy way to remain current. Below you’ll find some of my all-time favorite user experience design blogs; including established industry leaders as well as niche blogs discussing innovative topics.

With no further ado and in no particular order, find our top 10 user experience design blogs: Continue reading →

What Makes for Great Product Design?

By General Assembly

User experience (UX) design separates a good product from a great product.

Harnessing skills like user research, wireframes, and prototyping, UX designers have a unique perspective when it comes to understanding the interactions between users, business goals, and visual and technology elements. For companies, their work fosters brand loyalty and repeat business. For consumers, it means frustration-free online experiences, intuitive mobile apps, efficient store layouts, and more.

Watch below, as design experts from The New York Times, PayPal, Zola, and other top companies share how they design simple, user-friendly, and beautiful products.

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4 Common User Interface Patterns You Should Be Using

By Hannah Atkin

“There are only patterns, patterns on top of patterns, patterns that affect other patterns. Patterns hidden by patterns. Patterns within patterns. If you watch close, history does nothing but repeat itself.” This quote comes from author Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Survivor, but it’s also a perfect summation of the world of user interfaces.

User Interface patterns (UI) are common best practices that serve as a reusable solution to a frequently occurring problems. Over time, users acclimate to these patterns and can even grow to expect them. Herein lies the issue. If a pattern becomes ubiquitous with a certain task, the user experience can be hindered if the pattern is not present or a suitable replacement is not offered.

As user experience designers, we need to keep up with these trends and patterns. However, it is not enough to just recognize and utilize them, but we must also understand the implications associated as well.

In this post, we will explore the following common UI patterns for further examples:

Input – Inline validation
Navigation – Infinite scroll
Content management – Hover controls
Data management – Draggable objects

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Disrupting the Construction Industry With Data Science

By General Assembly

Anson working at GA’s Hong Kong Campus.

By moving beyond analysis into prediction through data science, General Assembly Hong Kong’s DAT graduate Anson Au has brought unparalleled performance and efficiency to traditional practices in the construction industry.

Before coming to GA, Anson was already an avid learner, having completed both an MSc and MBA at HKUST. In his current role as head of IT projects at Alliance Construction Materials, he sought to use data and technology to improve the performance in the traditional construction materials industry.

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Essentials of Usability Testing

By Hannah Atkin

I’m sure you’ve heard that great web products have great usability. But what does that even mean?

Enter, LEMErS. No, not the monkeys; the mnemonic device.

Usability is determined and understood by testing the following criteria:

Learnability
Efficiency
Memorability
Error Management
Satisfaction

These elements can and should be tested using usability tests.

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7 User Experience Designers You Should Be Following on Twitter

By Meredith Allen

User experience design — the practice of enhancing the usability, functionality, and aesthetic value of a website or product — is a growing industry. And as such, the online community of user experience designers and those interested in UX design is growing too. A simple Twitter search for UX designers yields thousands of results, and while you might learn something from following a few at random, you’ll get the most out of following the designers who will keep your finger on the pulse with industry news and resources, informed insights, and thoughtful conversation.

So just who are those designers? We’ve chosen 7 of the best to follow now.

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Essential Reading: 5 Must-Read User Experience Design Books

By Meredith Allen

When you visit a website that is useful, intuitive, and easy-on-the-eyes, you have a user experience designer to thank. UX designers are the individuals behind the scenes making sure that your experience on a website is a good one — that you aren’t turned off by lack of accessibility, poor design, or functionality hiccups.

It’s a big job, and many rookie UX designers feel intimidated by all of the responsibility. But it’s also a fun and creative job, and with the right training and tools you’ll feel confident taking on any design challenge that comes your way.

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What does User Experience Design have to do with Architecture?

By Helena Lazaro

The fierce might of Chichen Itza’s Mayan pyramid, iconic arches of the Golden Gate Bridge, and enduring grandeur of Notre Dame are all testaments to the lasting power of humanity’s best architecture. They were created with superior materials, an eye to the future, and attention to detail (also, depending on who you ask, a little help from E.T.). For these reasons, they’ve stood the test of time and continue to inspire us with their presence.

User experience design (UX Design) is essentially what it sounds like—the art of creating a particular experience for the user of your service or product. Although it can technically encompass any part of a user experience from start to finish (delivery methods, packaging, aftercare), we most often associate the discipline with the development of interfaces for websites and applications.

#UX is the art of creating a particular experience for the user of your service or product.

Click To Tweet

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Market Hack: How much do Australian UX Designers earn?

By General Assembly Australia

The interest in User Experience Design has sparked, and is growing so rapidly that now industries such as Travel and Hospitality are jumping on board. It’s a very exciting time for the UX Community, and it’s also an industry with fairly lucrative earning potential. We’re often asked how much do Australian UX Designers earn? So thought we’d give you the low down.

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7 Essential Skills for the Full Stack Product Person

By Alex Cowan

Meet Alex Cowan, entrepreneur (5x), intrapreneur (1x), author, and instructor at General Assembly. He’s also the author of ‘Starting a Tech Business’. When he’s not teaching at GA, he’s often found advising companies and posting instructional materials for innovators and instructions on alexandercowan.com.

I’m always pushing myself to be the best possible product person I can be, and these days I tend to earn a lot through my work as an instructor. My classes are on the interdisciplinary topics of product design and venture creation, so I get to work with business people wanting to understand the technical side and engineers wanting to learn the business side.

Often times, students from the business side are thinking of learning to code and students from the engineering side are thinking of going to get an MBA. While both might be advisable in certain situations, I’ve found that there are a few simple foundation skills that drive the interdisciplinary cooperation at the heart of so many successful projects:

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