UX West LLC

29/02/2024

Need a solution for regularly going over budget on web design projects? Here's a twist on the answer: ask architect Dermot Bannon. Have you ever seen his Irish TV series, "Room to Improve"? As I watched Bannon work with clients to renovate their homes, I was struck once again how similar home building is to making websites. It’s an entertaining show and it was great fodder for lessons that can be applied to web design and development. In addition to a technique for better budget management, there are other lessons learned. Read the article here: https://uxwest.com/five-web-design-lessons-from-an-irish-architects-tv-series/

10/02/2024

When creating websites, wireframes are an ounce of planning prevention worth a pound of coding cure. My latest article https://uxwest.com/wireframes-what-they-are-and-why-they-matter/ covers why wireframes matter and how to make them.

06/12/2023

My latest article https://uxwest.com/website-accessibility-what-why-how-and-how-not/ on the topic of website accessibility discusses why it matters, as well as what to do and what NOT to do to achieve WCAG compliance. It's a deep dive, broken into bite-size sections:

• Why is accessibility important?
• Types of disabilities and the barriers they present
• How is accessibility achieved?
• How NOT to make a website accessible
• Testing for accessibility compliance
• Helpful resources

Even if you're well-versed in accessibility, I hope you'll discover some valuable insights. (For example, did you know that alt text should NOT always be used, and "all-in-one" accessibility widgets may cause more HARM than good?)

19/09/2023

Digital ad clicks are extremely rare (online display ads average 0.1%). Many of those rare clicks are wasted due to bad UX. In this article https://uxwest.com/ux-is-critical-to-improve-poor-digital-ad-performance/ I offer solutions for how to make digital ads more effective at converting clicks into business results. For each of those scarce clicks, you would think advertisers and agencies would do everything possible to turn it into a positive business outcome, but from what I observe that isn't always the case.

23/08/2023

Context matters. So when Joshua Bell played in the DC metro, almost no one paid attention. This story is infamous – it's been blogged about as a metaphor for countless topics. In this article https://lnkd.in/evXesTeB I explore what it teaches us about UX design.

01/08/2023

Navigation...it's not as easy as it looks. Many website menus don't work the way they should. It this post https://uxwest.com/desktop-and-mobile-navigation-menus-dos-and-donts/ I explain why some common issues on nav menus are problematic and how to fix them.

27/06/2023

In my latest post https://uxwest.com/how-to-design-a-website-hero-and-carousel-if-you-must/ I offer some guidance for designing better hero images...and carousels (if you must). Website hero image carousels present unique design challenges. First, most people scroll right past them without seeing anything but the first image in the carousel series. Second, they often don’t translate well to mobile.

31/05/2023

The new AI-powered Photoshop is scary good. I take it for a spin here: https://uxwest.com/photoshop-ai-generative-fill-beta-is-scary-good/

From the daily news to the latest tech world announcements, everyone’s saying something about how AI is either the greatest thing ever — or the end of civilization as we know it. Check out my latest blog post and let me know which you think it is.

02/05/2023

Debating how to improve a website or app can consume a lot of meeting time. In this article, https://uxwest.com/a-prototype-is-worth-a-thousand-meetings/ I explore the implications of IDEO's famous quote "A prototype is worth a thousand meetings." To avoid endless debates, try creating prototypes of different design options and testing them. My post has a sample you can try yourself.

I’m often in meetings where people are planning a change to a particular feature or making an enhancement to a website or app. Naturally there are sometimes differences of opinion about the best approach to take. That’s good because exploring ... Read more

21/01/2023

Will 2023 be the tipping point when AI starts making a serious impact on how marketing communications content is created? Thoughts and examples in my latest post: https://uxwest.com/is-2023-the-year-that-artificial-intelligence-gets-real-for-content-creators/

15/11/2022

During some recent usability testing, I was reminded of the importance of convention in design. Creativity with content is great, but innovation with the UI may not be. Read 3 brief examples in this post:

There’s a reason “don’t reinvent the wheel” is truth. Despite many centuries of science, technology and innovation, mankind just hasn’t come up with anything that works better than a wheel. In web design there are also things that shouldn’t be ... Read more

01/10/2022

Does your website have too many words? I offer three tips to say more with less in my latest post: https://uxwest.com/get-rid-of-half-the-words-on-each-page-then-get-rid-of-half-of-whats-left/ When people read websites, they generally don’t read, they scan. Wordy copy can get in the way of what they're trying to accomplish. Cutting copy improves and makes visitors happy.

23/08/2022

The KC Airport, once touted as "the ultimate in airport convenience," is now being torn down. What does that say about design? Read my post: https://uxwest.com/kc-airport-teaches-valuable-lessons-about-ux-design/

12/07/2022

I hear things when I do website usability testing...things that users say. Check out my latest post: https://uxwest.com/many-web-designers-dont-believe-these-3-things-are-true/ ...they're things that web designers don't always believe. It’s understandable — we don’t easily see things from other's POV.

20/05/2022

In real estate, it’s location, location, location. In , the location is mobile, mobile, mobile. Mobile devices account for over half of all visits to most websites. But are agencies and brands thinking enough about mobile when they create their content? Most would say yes, but what I often see in practice says something else. Check out my latest post for insights into mistakes that I see over, and over, and over. https://uxwest.com/three-easy-to-fix-ux-mistakes-that-i-see-over-and-over-and-over/

29/03/2022

https://uxwest.com/how-to-uncover-known-unknowns-and-unknown-unknowns-on-your-website-or-app/ In the infamous words of Donald Rumsfeld, there are known unknowns and unknown unknowns. When it comes to website or app design, usability testing can uncover both. But what's the best way to uncover the unknown unknowns? Find out in my latest post.