Author Archives: Rob Adams

The Context Scenario – Bridging Research and Design

Smart teams begin new design projects by getting to know their customers through design research. The best ones build models of those customers, their goals, their behaviors, and/or their environments. Models like personas do an awesome job of describing what … Continue reading

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The Five Whys

I recently finished reading “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries. If you haven’t read it already, I highly recommend it – the book is full of great insights on how to make new products, whether you’re a startup or a … Continue reading

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The Three Parts of a Successful Product Vision

During my time as a UX professional, I’ve worked on a number of new products. All of these products began with an idea, and when we were smart, we spent some time defining and refining that idea to build clarity … Continue reading

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Achieving Fit and Finish with Punch Lists

Hey designers. How often have you designed this… …and had it show up in the product looking like this? More often than you’d like, I’ll bet. It’s very frustrating, especially when you’ve spent days getting your comps pixel-perfect. What can … Continue reading

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Stop Giving Your Personas Stupid Names

Are you a design researcher, interaction designer, product owner, or other product-maker-type person? Have you used personas to represent your customers on at least one product you’ve been involved with? Then you may have run across personas with names like: … Continue reading

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Meaningful Transitions – A Motion Pattern Library

I came across this library of motion design patterns recently via my buddy Dan Saffer. I love the stylized vignettes paired with real-world examples. It reminds me of some of the work we did on the Flex Interface Guide, which … Continue reading

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Seven Questions to Ask Before You Design

All design projects start with an idea. Sometimes it’s a big idea – a new product, service, or business. Sometimes it’s a small idea – a minor tweak to something that already exists. But big or small, the quality and … Continue reading

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Nest and Human Attention

Some of you have probably seen Nest, the learning thermostat. For those who haven’t, I’d strongly recommend taking a look and watching their (short) intro video. I’m impressed by Nest, and not just by their elegant design and eco-friendly overtones. … Continue reading

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Hindsight Bias and $300 Million Buttons

This morning I came across Jared Spool’s article about the $300 Million Button. To summarize, Jared’s team worked on an ecommerce site that required a login/registration to complete the checkout process. They did some design research and found out this … Continue reading

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Minimum Viable Product? Try Simplest Possible Product

Business folks like to talk about the “Minimum Viable Product“, generally defined as the smallest product (in terms of functionality) that will still be accepted by the market. It’s an important concept – possibly the most important concept in new … Continue reading

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