Get my secrets to successful products, less project stress and practical, powerful UX.
My latest book, Think First, contains proven principles, step-by-step methods and straightforward, jargon-free advice that applies to anything you’re designing or building. You’ll find:
Practical & realistic scenarios. I give you real-world examples of how to create UX strategies for digital products that ensure success (along with what not to do).
Foundational UX ideas. I explain core concepts and timeless principles of UX in a conversational and easy-to-read style.
Patterns, approaches and tools. I share the tools and methods I’ve used with Fortune 500 and 100 companies for nearly three decades.
Available in paperback and Kindle versions. Also available at iTunes (digital ebook only).
FREE books + cheat sheets to sharpen your UX + design skills.
THE WAY IT IS: 10 Powerful UX Career Tips *FREE*
My latest e-book offers 10 crucial strategies for dealing with the seemingly endless challenges you’ll face in your career…many of which are far outside what most people think of — or talk about — when they think of UX.
These are 10 unassailable, powerful truths that I’ve learned over the years — sometimes the hard way, as you’ll see. I carry them with me every day, to every gig and every client. I lean hard on them when things get challenging, and after almost three decades, they have yet to let me down.
Advice that works with where you are and what you’ve got, right here, right now.
I have no doubt they will help you weather — and in some cases tame — the rough waters we all have chosen to sail.
UX Audit Workbook: a guide for evaluating sites, apps + systems *FREE*
When a product already exists and needs to be updated or reimagined, the UX Audit is your best friend in the world.
Casting a critical eye to everything from content to labeling to navigation to layout and well beyond is always the first thing you should do.
Before anyone comes up with a wish list of new features and functions. Before any design or prototyping exploration happens.
Think first. Design next.
This workbook is a ready guide to evaluating the User Experience of any digital product that’ll help light the way to UX improvement.
User Interview Cheat Sheet: questions to ask B2B and B2C users *FREE*
Asking the right questions starts with the actual form of the questions you ask. Along with having good reasons for asking them in the first place.
Are there other questions you can ask? Sure — hundreds, in fact. But in the majority of circumstances, no one has the time (or the budget) to ask or answer all of them.
So I’ve learned to focus on the questions that deliver the most valuable information back to the team. Questions that focus on the underlying causes of most UX problems. That’s what you’ll find in this cheat sheet.
I hope this helps you uncover great insights.
Value Made Visible: timeless principles for great UI design *FREE*
I was first exposed to the principles you’ll find here more than 30 years ago. We didn’t even call it UX then, by the way — the term didn’t exist. We just called it design.
I started out as a print-based designer, and all I really did when I moved to UI design and UX work a few years later was to apply these same principles of good design that I was taught, and which I used for print work.
These same rules governed every design project I’ve ever undertaken — and that’s thousands of them.
As I think you’ll see here, trends come and go — but anything that’s worthwhile has a very long shelf life.
UI FAIL: 14 mobile UI design mistakes to avoid at all costs *FREE*
If you’re building an app, you’re standing shoulder-to-shoulder with approximately 4 million-plus apps competing for users’ hearts, minds and wallets.
If you’re developing a mobile site, approximately 80% of your user base will form their first impression of you there.
Poor design affects usability; poor performance affects popularity. And the majority of those failures fall under one of the 14 categories covered here.
I hope these examples make it easier for you to spot these issues for your clients and employers — and help you avoid making these same mistakes in your own work.
Simple Steps to Reduce Visual Clutter: a 4-step checklist for UI redesign projects *FREE*
Every element a user sees onscreen either (1) illuminates the path to their desired outcome and helps them get there easily, or (2) serves as an obstacle standing between them and what they hope to find and accomplish.
The difference between these two outcomes is heavily dependent on the amount of visual clutter the person has to contend with at each step.
What I offer you here is a series of small adjustments that — when combined — clear the path for clarity, understanding and action — and make a monstrous improvement in usability and UX.
Give Good Mobile: 21 surefire UI design rules for instant mobile UX improvement *FREE*
There are hundreds of useful guidelines for mobile UI design. And when you consider multiple devices, operating systems and app types, that number multiples pretty quickly.
However, a select few hold the key to positive UX on a small screen, and they apply to every device, every platform, every app.
These are the design rules you’ll find here.
This is the stuff that matters most, the things that make an app or a mobile website the answer to someone’s prayer.
Or cause it to become their worst nightmare.
Voices of UXperience: illuminating + inspiring quotes on UX + design *FREE*
Many people will tell you to beware the seductiveness of a soundbyte, but there’s a reason we all love them:
In the best quotes, there is an undeniable kernel of truth.
In those short bursts of expression, there is a piece of something that serves as a reference point. One that we instinctively know we need and can use.
So we read it, internalize it and then apply it — hundreds of thousands of times throughout our lives — in the things that we do. Many of the approaches I now adopt as my own grew from the seeds of a few words from some truly inspiring people. I’ve collected my favorites here.
Guide to Data Visualization Formats: what to use (and when to use it) *FREE*
The purpose of data visualization is to bring order to chaos, to allow a user to quickly read and understand multiple attributes of a particular issue, topic or data point.
However, the majority of data visualizations I see do the exact opposite; the UI design styling adds complexity instead of simplifying it.
If you’ve ever wondered what the best way to visually represent a specific data set might be, look no further.
This guide walks you through 18 different data visualization formats — from bar graphs to tree diagrams — and explains when (and why) to use each format.
Icons Cheat Sheet: what to use (and when to use it) *FREE*
Icons can contribute greatly, speeding comprehension and understanding, when their form is recognizable and builds on a user’s past experience.
In the immortal words from Bruce Tognazzini, one of the forefathers of Interaction Design, “a word is worth a thousand pictures.”
But knowing when to use an icon, or an icon with a label, or just a label — can be tricky.
My FREE When to Use Icons’ Cheat Sheet is a simple series of Yes/No questions that will help you determine when (and when not) to use an icon.
Progressive Disclosure Cheat Sheet: what to use (and when to use it) *FREE*
Progressive disclosure helps people manage complexity without becoming overwhelmed, confused or frustrated.
Information presented to someone who isn’t interested in it — or isn’t ready to process it — is noise. It’s background stuff. It’s not what we want. It’s in the way. It’s distracting us.
If you’ve ever wondered how to decide what’s really needed onscreen at any point in the user’s journey, download my FREE Progressive Disclosure Cheat Sheet.
It’s a simple series of Yes/No questions that will help you determine when to keep something onscreen, when to hide it for later or when to delete it altogether.
Got a topic you’d like me to tackle?
Let me know here.
Your information is confidential — I will never share it with anyone, for any reason.