Katie Sherwin is a Senior User Experience Specialist with Nielsen Norman Group. She specializes in helping organizations utilize principles of user-centered design and strategic communication to achieve their goals.
The Halo Effect says that any one element in a user's experience with a company will rub off on their interpretation of other elements and their feelings about the company as a whole. Good design in one part of a website will make people like other parts better (and like the company better), but the opposite is also true.
Data-entry form fields on websites are crucial for ecommerce and many other applications. Fields need labels and (sometimes) instructions, but placing this text inside the field lowers usability and accessibility and should be avoided.
No. 5 of the top 10 UX design heuristics is to prevent interaction problems from occurring in the first place: either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation dialog.
By understanding customers’ payment preferences and offering options that people are used to in their own country, sites can improve the checkout experience for international purchasers.
Flip-charts, post-its, markers, stickers, and even fake coins are common ingredients in a UX toolkit. Though they may appear to be frivolous art supplies, these materials serve a crucial role in supporting team engagement, creativity, and focus.
Parallax-scrolling effects add visual interest, but they often create usability issues, such as content that is slow to load or hard to read. Consider if the benefits are worth the cost.
New research with users aged 3–12 shows that children have gained substantial proficiency in using websites and apps since our last studies, though many designs are still not optimized for younger users. Designing for children requires distinct usability approaches, including targeting content narrowly for children of different ages.
When UX is new to a team, you’ll have to spend time building support for UX initiatives. Make a strong case by understanding your audience, speaking their language, and calculating potential savings wherever possible.
Analytics data are only as valuable as the insights derived from them. Some figures can stand on their own while others need further research to be interpreted. To use analytics data confidently and accurately, teams must understand the difference.
Designs that quickly convey relationships between the user input and the result often use natural mappings or have a high stimulus–response compatibility.
