Search this Blog
Pages
Categories
- Accessibility
- Application Usability
- Healthcare Usability
- Information Visualization
- Marketing Usability
- Mobile Usability
- Product Design
- Product Development
- Prototyping
- Real-World Usability
- Search Engine Optimization
- Social Networking
- Technology
- Uncategorized
- Usability Bloopers
- Usability Consulting
- Usability Humor
- Usability Testing
- User Centered Design (UCD)
- User Experience
- Users
- Web 2.0
- Web Content
- Web Usability
- Welcome
- World Usability Day
Archives
Author Archives: Theo Mandel, Ph.D.
Finally! Microsoft celebrates IE6 death!
As a user experience designer and prototyper, one of the painful aspects of creating websites is checking browser compatability. With the demise of IE6, there’s one less browser version we have to worry about! Hooray! Check out the article on … Continue reading
Phoenix World Usability Day Celebration 2011
“To the heart of design” is a phrase that best describes the largest and most successful World Usability Day (WUD) event produced in Phoenix, Arizona, since its first event in 2007. PayPal hosted and sponsored the event, kicked off with … Continue reading
Information Visualization (and some whiskey, too!!)
Very nice example of the discipline called “information visualization.” This is the field best represented by Edward Tufte’s amazing books and courses. On one small notebook page, the complex distinction between the different varieties of scotch whiskey is beautifully displayed. Read the … Continue reading
User Experience Experts are in Demand
As an independent user experience (UX) consultant, this year has been very busy, with more and more companies and clients realizing that user experience and usability is a critical component of any product or device’s design and and development process. … Continue reading
What Facebook Can Learn From Netflix When Disrupting the User Experience
I love it when journalists don’t let big companies get away abusing their customer’s experience. Here’s the latest user experience blooper, pointed out by Scott Davis at Forbes Magazine: Any time you mess with the user experience, you’re going to … Continue reading
Design Tools Get the Human Touch
I was recently interviewed by Beth Stackpole for DesignNews magazine on how traditional CAD and design tool software is being made over to deliver a more natural and compelling user experience for engineers and designers. Here’s my section of the … Continue reading
Perfecting Military Medical Solutions
View an amazing collection of new military healthcare devices in the battlefield! “With the growing swiftness and capability of today’s technology, medical tools are increasing in their specificity to meet military healthcare needs. The combat environment calls for particular solutions; … Continue reading
EMR Vendors Stress Usability to Attract Physicians
Going back to my beginnings in the new field of building “user-friendly” software in the early 1980′s, usability began a long history as a potential product differentiator in a competitive field. Now, with the onset of a multitude of EMR … Continue reading
EMR Usability – Standardization vs Usability and Innovation
This is a classic debate – whether it is nobler to be consistent or to be usable! EMRs have notoriously been both inconsistent and also very unusable. So, what to do – fix the inconsistencies or fix the usability issues? … Continue reading
“In Google we trust” – Students poorly advised?
It has become part of the internet vernacular to “Google” something to find out more about it. Once googled, how reliable are the results listed? Are featured listings more truthful or informative than lower-ranked listings? A new study coming out … Continue reading
Posted in User Experience, Web 2.0, Web Usability
Leave a comment
NIST, ONC plan measures, testing to improve health IT usability
I’ve worked in healthcare usability for a long time and with the impetus to move all of healthcare to electronic platforms, there have been many, many unusable implementations of EHRs and EMRs. The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) … Continue reading
You’re not a user experience designer if…
It is very comforting that the “User Experience” field has become more popular and well-respected over the years. That makes me, as a UX professional, feel good about the work we do. However, as Whitney Hess points out in her … Continue reading
Charlie Chaplin: Google Doodle celebrates 122 years since his birth!
Friday post – Google Doodle celebrates Charlie Chaplin’s birth with an original video celebrating Chaplin. Google, the world’s most popular and most visited website is known for its celebration of special days and occasions but has only rarely featured a … Continue reading
Posted in Usability Humor, User Experience, Web 2.0
Leave a comment
Walmart’s $1.85 billon dollar mistake
Good companies listen to their customers – better customers figure out the appropriate questions to ask BEFORE they ask for feedback from their users! There may be other factors (economic factors, for example) that may be involved, but this case … Continue reading
User Experience Myths
Similar to the “Golden Rules” of user experience design that I have written about and cover in my presentations and seminars, there are many common myths about users and the user experience. Some myths have been around for many years, … Continue reading
Healthcare Experience Design Conference – Boston, Mass – April 11, 2011
As a user experience professional designing EMR, EHR and case management software in the healthcare industry, there are few opportunities to educate, learn, network and focus on UX in healthcare. Well, look no longer!! I’m excited to hear about the … Continue reading
How one UI button change ruined the taxi ride!
Mark Hurst of Good Experience recently wrote on How one button changed the customer experience of New York City taxis Installed a few years ago, a touch-screen user interface allowed customers to choose a tip of 15%, 20%, or 25%. … Continue reading
Why are User Experience (UX) and User-Centered Design (UCD) getting a bad rap?
There have been a number of recent articles, blog posts and list comments trashing user experience design (UX) as unneeded, misguided and counter-productive to good product design and development. As a long-time user experience practitioner, I was taken aback by these … Continue reading
12 of the Year’s Best Ideas in Interface Design [Slideshow]
Fast Company‘s Co.Design did their research and came up with 12 very cool UI ideas. Here’s what they say: This past year, we brought you stories on everything from tweeting toddler toys and streamlined ATMs to news-reading apps and remote … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
UX Storytellers Tell Their Stories – FREE eBook
Very good reading! User Experience stories from UX experts! From the IxDA website: In this free eBook, ‘UX Storytellers – Connecting the Dots’, 42 UX masterminds tell personal stories of their exciting lives as User Experience professionals. The book brings … Continue reading