Mike Oren, PhD

UX Design for Specialized Domains is something we at Boston UX know a lot about. Check out this great article from my co-worker Dorothy Shamonsky!

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I get asked pretty often what resources are out there that help people break into the UX field. Ryan's great and could offer some really good well informed insights. if you're curious about some interview prep, give this a look

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A new Studio Quick Fact is out. This article explores recent research investigating the elements that allow people to enter into a state where they're completely absorbed in what they're doing, to the point where everything else fades away (aka a flow state). Is mastery required? Is it intense critical thinking? Read on to find out!

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⏱ “Just in time accessibility docs” I think I’ve been doing it all wrong. As we build out our design system, we’ve been continuing to add lengthy accessibility documentation to each of our components, check. But is it actually helpful? → W3C Guidelines are verbose and many of the guidelines become redundant once the component has been built. → Text based documentation can be hard to visualize without examples or access to assistive technology. → While components may test accessible in isolation, new issues come up when components are used in context. ��� Some folks who are doing it right that we're trying to learn from at Exygy → Carbon design system from IBM provides context specific tips for both designers and developers. The guidelines they provide act as quick implementation checklists. https://lnkd.in/gbmeJe5F → GOLD Design System by Design System AU is really unique in the way that it provides accessibility previews of components. I really dig how they simulate keyboard navigation and color blindness! https://lnkd.in/gDBgUiyN → USWDS from GSA goes above and beyond any system that I have seen by providing accessibility testing documentation that can be used when doing QA of components in the wild. ...whoa https://lnkd.in/gYP2ptrR 💎 A couple of things our team has taken away from these amazing resources that might be helpful to others: → Focus component documentation on the most "actionable" implementation details for both designers and engineers. → Reserve verbose technical setup requirements for the initial component acceptance criteria. → Experiment with ways to easily preview accessibility options and outputs. → If possible, document how someone could test issues that could come up during ongoing product feature development and QA. 🧙‍♂️ This post was in part inspired by a talk from Dan Mall at the last Figma Config when he referenced "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" to describe the "notes in the margins that help Harry improve his potion skills" as a way to describe better "just in time" design system documentation. If you do actually need the verbose stuff for component acceptance criteria you can always get it here: → W3C Authoring practices guide https://lnkd.in/g_MUENbn #accessibility #designsystems #documentation #ui #uidesign

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With enough #compute, one could imagine a cloud-hosted UX research platforms like @UserTesting building specialized analytical models. But it's likely out of reach for most small UX research teams, and certainly for any #independent UXResearcher. https://lttr.ai/AR3uS #UXResearch #UXDesign #uxresearch #HundredThousandPounds #UXR #Freelance #LargeLanguageModel

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More UX and Product leaders need to hear Diana DeMarco Brown (she/her)'s wisdom. Diana is a pioneer in the UX field who takes a thoughtful and nuanced approach to assessing the current state of the tech industry. In our recent conversation, Diana shared many insights, including: - How to evaluate a company's culture during the hiring process - Why private equity ownership can result in design divestment - How Product and UX leaders can effectively influence business decisions - Why we don't need to panic with the rise of AI, but we need to think critically and prioritize regulation during this early stage Link to our full conversation: https://lnkd.in/eemDimVb

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✏ Here's a really rough map of Design-related career clusters that I've been sharing in some recent high school visits. Some of these students are aware of design, some are not. Most are wondering where art and design will take them. I'm trying to get across that there are a lot of design-related careers and interesting paths for them to follow. What would you add to this map? What would you change? - - - I zoomed in on the clusters in the comments below. - - - #designeducation #careerpaths #creativecareers #design #arteducation #artcareers

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Etsy was recently seen A/B testing AND eventually shipping a more visible search with the help of a higher contrast orange background button color (instead of a ghost-like icon only approach). Full screenshots: https://lnkd.in/gVJThW3W Now I don't work for Etsy (as much as I'd love to design some experiments for/with them) so we can't see the actual numbers beyond this feint probabilistic residue from the public domain. However, the amazing Andrey Andreev who runs experiments at Metro recently ran a very similar one and shared a solid result on GoodUI - with a positive impact to sales and searches. N = 896,009 SRM Check = Pass p-val on Increased Sales = 0.0139 (I know some people might like this to be even lower for a primary metric; but there is also reinforcing evidence on increased searches with an even lower p value at "ultra stat-sig" levels using Ron Kohavi's language; p < 0.00000001). I inverted the a/b test and categorized it under the Filled Vs Ghost Button pattern - further weakening the ghosts and strengthening the high contrast filled button styles on multiple metrics. https://lnkd.in/gmD8Exvc Thanks Andrey for a somewhat of an unintended replication, as I know your source of inspiration came from somewhere else on this one. :) Have you tested anything similar or different. If so, what did you discover? I'd be super curious to see more examples where increases to search have either ❌ failed or ✅ succeeded. Please share independent of outcome. ps. We also have a handful of similar "visible search" experiments where companies tested adding or hiding search: https://lnkd.in/gvWqzrK5 - further supporting this direction. [EDIT]: Note the additional confounders / variables in the Metro test - a stronger border, a change in background color of the search box as per Jakob Nielsen comment. They may be similar along the lines of the increased visibility theme - but possible additional variables nevertheless. #experimentation #ecommerce #replication #optimization #ui #ux

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Here's a great short read on some emerging science around intuitive thinking, a key for practitioners of #creativestrategy and #designthinking: https://lnkd.in/gWDjmf6M

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Most designers are trained to present work to our peers, but as your career matures, your audience expands to include many other departments who don’t speak “design”. This article resonated with me and offers some sage advice about the use of storytelling and a “business lens” to craft more compelling presentations. #ProductDesign #Storytelling #UserResearch #BusinessObjectives

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Like sellouts, many unemployable UX "thought leaders" prioritize telling businesses what they want to hear over what is best for the business, the product/service or customers. There's a significant shift away from focusing on quality in design and user experience, favoring quick production and fake testing instead. I argue that prioritizing profit over ethical considerations has led to serious societal harms, like; Boeing, Teflon scandal, Tesla and OxyContin. Individuals who challenge harmful business practices risk being marginalized or labeled as troublemakers, especially during periods of corporate restructuring or in a downturn. "If you stand in the gap between a business doing harm to the customer, you're going to be labeled as someone who's a problem and you're going to be on your way out. Especially when there's multiple rounds of layoffs. They identify the potential whistleblowers and they're like, okay, we got a boy scout over here on team X. We need to get rid of this guy. He's talking about people's feelings and, doing right by them 'n stuff. I don't know what all this empathy shit is, but we need to get rid of it post-haste because THAT doesn't sound like profit." —Me With Jennifer Blatz. #UXLeaders #Ethics #UserExperience #CX https://lnkd.in/gMFJxnaK

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Love this thoughtful and balanced argument for resetting expectations for what design (lowercase d intentional) and design leaders can and can't fix from Sarah Gallivan Mitchell. Andy Polaine, in his response (https://lnkd.in/eC959VEc) to the some of the same rhetoric Sarah responds to, has likened the growth of the design industry in the past 15-20 years to the Cambrian Explosion. It bears considering that the real Cambrian Explosion was followed in relatively short order by multiple mass extinction events. Some species that were less well adapted to the changing conditions for life on Earth didn't make it, but this allowed new forms of life to develop and flourish. My hope is that some evolutionary selection may take place over time in regards to which voices are anointed to speak for All of Design, so that voices like Sarah's may, too, be heard and flourish. #design #designleadership #futureofdesign https://lnkd.in/eQ-PGgBM

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When brainstorming design solutions, how you frame the problem influences the breadth of your solutions. Want to release your team from micro thinking? Need inspiration to think about how to deliver desired user outcomes?   Try using a technique called “Abstract Laddering.”    Ready to delve deeper?    Read our full article, “A Rational Guide to Brainstorming”: https://lnkd.in/gC4Ax8zd   –  Delve is a product innovation firm that helps companies bring bold ideas to market through human-centered expertise—strategy, design, engineering.    Learn more about product design and development services at Delve: https://lnkd.in/g7-jrXeU   #productdesign #productdevelopment #brainstorming

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Well that’s a wrap on Config! It was so great to see so many folks that I’ve worked with, admired, hired, managed, led, followed and best of all loved to work and be around in one place. Last year was epic but this year was sublime. And what a delight it was to see Figma’s new design magazine and little ole’ me playing a small part in this community publication! I’m talking about my favorite topic - data. With the pomp and circumstance of LLMs and “look what I can do,” brag of GenAI people are falling silent on the most important part of all this new technology - the data that fuels it. We’re forgetting the labor that goes into collecting, labeling and making data machine ready and the class of people who aren’t getting fairly compensated for this work. We’re forgetting that entire business models are being celebrated right now that use the stealing and appropriating of other’s creative content as their foundation. First there is awarness. Then anger. Now it’s time for advocacy. Here’s a question how can we make AI development for equitable overall all by fairly compensating those unseen data producers who make the AI tree grow? Check it out! I’m Proud to be part of The Prompt, a print and digital zine from @Figma’s Story & Brand Studios exploring the intersection of AI, design, and code, which launched at #Config2024. My Q&A on the power of input in AL and ML is here:

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Great reminder on looking out for more valuable folks when it comes to UX. There are so many great UX folks that are not just talking but also walking the walk and created more meaningful methods and frameworks. Which UX pros are you following or get inspiration from? https://lnkd.in/ggwcSgrJ

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A Product Narrative is a powerful tool for Product Managers and UX Designers. It is a great way to take your User Research and build consensus in your team around key takeaways. It is also a tool to help your stakeholders understand and remember the issues. In this particular example, I have focused on some issues related to nurses. Here the focus is more on the issues and less on the solutions. But, your needs will shape your narrative structure. If you have tried this tool or if you have questions, I would love to hear your feedback.

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With AI/LLMs advancing at a rapid rate it is important for those who offer services to customers/ patients/ citizens to take a step back and think long and hard about what kinds of capabilities are emerging and what new possibilities for value creation and relationships are made possible. As this excellent post from Daniel Fraga (+ linked article from Alex Klein) point out AI/LLMs are in the process of transforming from being excellent customisable task/ knowledge systems to being "agential" - i.e the ability to proactively solve problems that involve the intelligent analysis and coordination of multiple factors towards a desired outcome. UX reframed through this lens is not just about an interface into a predefined application/service logic.... but one in which a digital service is able to engage with people as an agent in its own right. This forces us to ask a more fundamental question about what are the real human problems/ opportunities/ experiences are we really here to assist with..... and how are these to be engaged with and supported in more human terms? The world of the UX designer just got reframed to a whole new level and made more important than ever... #UX #UI #digitaltransformation #AI #CX #health #nhs #digitalstrategy

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Have you thought about the physical accessibility of your digital designs? Getting physical controls right is really hard, and industrial designers spend a lot of time learning about how to use data as a starting point for making design decisions. As we create digital designs that we interact with using our bodies, it's going to become important for digital designers to understand physical ergonomics too.

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If you've ever done a usability test with fewer than 10 participants, you've probably asked whether you should report your insights with percentages (88% of participants were able to complete task 1), whole numbers (5 ppts could not complete task 3), or fractions (3/6 ppts completed task 4). Is it confusing to give fractions, misleading to use percentages and on and on and on. MeasuringU did some research about it and the conclusion is that if your aim is understandability, it's okay to use percentages. Read all about it here. https://lnkd.in/efDm8zd9

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