Articles

Sarah Gibbons

Sarah Gibbons is Nielsen Norman Group's Chief Designer. She works at the intersection of design research, strategy, and user experience design.

Articles and Videos

  • A Model for Conducting UX Workshops and Exercises

    To ensure activity participants get the most out of UX activities, use a three-step process to conduct them: explain, execute, and examine.

  • Using Prioritization Matrices to Inform UX Decisions

    Visuals such as charts and matrices can help practitioners base important decisions on objective, relevant criteria instead of subjective opinions.

  • 4 Key Components of Service Blueprints

    A service blueprint visualizes the relationships between different service components — people, props, and processes. Four key elements comprise a framework for service blueprinting that can be scaled to any scope or timeline.

  • Service Design 101

    Service design is the activity of planning and organizing a business’s resources in order to (1) directly improve the employee’s experience, and (2) indirectly, the customer’s experience.

  • In Defense of Post-its

    Sticky notes strengthen team dynamics and represent an egalitarian, concise means for expressing ideas in UX design projects.

  • UX Mapping Methods: When to Use Which

    UX mappings are visual representations that depict different processes and have different goals, yet they all build common ground within an organization.

  • The 5 Steps to Service Blueprinting

    Five key steps comprise a framework for service blueprinting that can be scaled to any scope or timeline.

  • Empathy Mapping: The First Step in Design Thinking

    Visualizing user attitudes and behaviors in an empathy map helps UX teams align on a deep understanding of end users. The mapping process also reveals any holes in existing user data.

  • UX Mapping Methods Compared: A Cheat Sheet

    Empathy maps, customer journey maps, experience maps, and service blueprints depict different processes and have different goals, yet they all build common ground within an organization.

  • 5 Strategies for Presenting UX Remotely

    Master remote presentations by creating the right environment, being human, reducing distractions, taking control, and telling a story.