Dive into user experience topics, issues and discussions based on our usability consulting. Want to learn about Lean UX, Mobile UX or how Interaction Design can apply to your project? You're in the right place.

A piece of our mind / our blog

Accessibility focus: How to design so blind users are not left out of VR

By Frank Spillers

on August 15, 2018 - 2:33pm
Blind user walking down stairs

Summary: Designing for VR must include users with disabilities. If you are working on AR or VR content, the accessibility of your app or piece should be on your radar from design time through to implementation.

Designing for blind users in VR requires the use of spatial audio using tested 3D sound techniques. At Experience Dynamics we work on a lot of R&D projects that we end up publishing results to the wider UX/ HCI community. One of these projects is a Disability & VR project called SoundSpace. 

We include this case study/ demo (VIDEO) included below of how sound can aid navigation, information finding and social VR.

Recruiting Fake Users: Avoid them like the plague (if you want to be successful)

By Frank Spillers

on August 10, 2018 - 3:55pm
fake users- man with masks

Summary: UX efforts should improve their quality of data and informed decision-making by making sure feedback is coming from the right users. 

Let's talk about fake users

Fake users are the wrong people who will provide you biased, tainted or innacurate and imprecise feedback. Precision is everything if you want to be successful with UX. Getting the right users, priceless. 

At Experience Dynamics we learned this from doing it the other way (Hint: Your UX Agency does it this way most likely, ask them). Like many, we used to have a Market Research firm recruit for us, now we do it all meticulously in-house. 

Market research firms provide recruiting (focus groups are happening all the time). But it's also very common to have user no-shows, luke-warm relevant feedback or someone that feels like a badly hired actor. We have not experienced any of that for many years-- that's when you know you are doing it right. 

It's time to think about time in your UX Design

By Frank Spillers

on July 18, 2018 - 11:12pm
clock on table

Summary: Time is an important design variable to understand. Time or temporal aspects of tasks hide metaphors, flows or triggers that you can bring into your design. Designs that miss out on the time aspect of Interaction Design face a poor or failed user experience. 

Examples of Time in Design

1. Pizza ordering: Domino's uses the time tracker as a way to manage expecations. 

dominos delivery tracker

2. Ticket-ordering: TicketMaster and others use the countdown timer to secure the purchase (and refresh inventory). 

TicketMaster countdown UI

How compliant is 'good enough' for Web Accessibility?

By Frank Spillers

on July 6, 2018 - 1:39pm
accessibility compliance keyboard

Summary: Accessibility compliance is governed by laws (Section 508 of the ADA in the US and the soon to be ratified European Accessibility Act). Web developers look to WCAG 2.0 of the W3 standards organization and typically aim at "AA" compliance. This article explores quality from an accessibility standpoint and points to areas of better compliance that go beyond the "getting by" approach. 

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