Articles

Maria Rosala

Maria Rosala is a User Experience Specialist with Nielsen Norman Group. She plans and executes independent research for NN/g and leads UX training courses. Her strength in various research methodologies enables Maria to derive in-depth insight and guide clients as they improve the UX of products and services.

 

@maria_rosala

Articles and Videos

  • Using “How Might We” Questions to Ideate on the Right Problems

    Constructing how-might-we questions generates creative solutions while keeping teams focused on the right problems to solve.

  • User Control and Freedom (Usability Heuristic #3)

    Users often make mistakes or change their minds. Allow them to exit a flow or undo their last action and go back to the system’s previous state.

  • Task Analysis: Support Users in Achieving Their Goals

    Task analysis is the systematic study of how users complete tasks to achieve their goals. This knowledge ensures products and services are designed to efficiently and appropriately support those goals.

  • UX Portfolios: What Hiring Managers Look For

    We asked over 200 hiring managers who hire for UX jobs what they look for in candidates' portfolios. The expectations are different for people looking to be hired as designers vs. as researchers, and also different for junior vs. senior positions.

  • Crafting Product-Specific Design Principles to Support Better Decision Making

    Product design principles (or, in short, design principles) are value statements that frame design decisions and support consistency in decision making across teams working on the same product or service.

  • Rating Scales in UX Research: Likert or Semantic Differential?

    Likert and semantic differential are instruments used to determine attitudes to products, services, and experiences, but depending on your situation, one may work better than the other.

  • Design Principles 101

    Design principles are value statements that guide designers in making the right tradeoff-type decisions in UX design contexts.

  • How Well Discovery Phases Are Performed in UX Projects

    Our survey results reveal that many UX practitioners perform discoveries in some shape and form, although many are on the short side, lack user research and don’t involve the right people.

  • Are You Doing Real Discoveries?

    Discoveries are a powerful part of the UX design process, but unfortunately many teams are not doing true discovery. Here are 5 main ways to go wrong.

  • What a UX Career Looks Like Today

    Our latest research on UX careers looks into specialization, explores unique backgrounds of practitioners entering the field, and details the skills and responsibilities needed to work in UX today.