Articles

Kathryn Whitenton

Kathryn Whitenton is Nielsen Norman Group's Director of Digital Strategy. She works with clients to evaluate the user experience and information architecture of websites in a variety of industries including technology, telecommunications, and media, as well as corporate intranets. She has conducted usability research, eyetracking user research, and studies of users on mobile devices in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Her user studies have included general audiences as well as specific consumer types, business segments, children, and seniors.

@kwhitenton

Articles and Videos

How to use Screening Questions to Select the Right Participants for User Research
July 14, 2019Jul 14, 2019 | Article: 5 minutemins to read
To recruit appropriate UX research participants, assess people’s characteristics without giving away the purpose of the study.
Macro & Microconversions as Metrics in Analytics
May 24, 2019May 24, 2019 | 2 minutemin video
The most desired user actions (macroconversions) may be too rare to generate enough analytics data for fast design iteration, so we can also analyze smaller user actions (microconversions) that are more frequent and are connected to bigger goals.
‘Our Users Are Everyone’: Designing Mass-Market Products for Large User Audiences
May 12, 2019May 12, 2019 | Article: 6 minutemins to read
Even if your target demographics are very broad, you should still identify specific groups of users within that audience to use for UX research and design.
‘But You Tested with Only 5 Users!’: Responding to Skepticism About Findings From Small Studies
February 24, 2019Feb 24, 2019 | Article: 7 minutemins to read
“That’s just one person” and “Our real users aren’t like that” are common objections to findings from qualitative usability testing. Address these concerns proactively to ensure your research is effective.
Variable Fonts and Wide-Screen Layouts: Adopting Data-Driven Progressive Enhancements
November 25, 2018Nov 25, 2018 | Article: 4 minutemins to read
The NN/g website homepage now incorporates variable fonts and a wide-screen layout — 2 technical adjustments which improve the user experience for a subset of users on supported devices.
How to Test Visual Design
November 9, 2018Nov 9, 2018 | 2 minutemin video
Visual design details like fonts and colors can have subtle but important effects on the overall user experience. Use research methods that are sensitive to these effects to test your visual design.
What Could an Intelligent Assistant Do for You? A Diary Study of User Needs
October 21, 2018Oct 21, 2018 | Article: 18 minutemins to read
There are big gaps between what users need to do, what they actually do, and what is possible to do with today’s intelligent assistants.
Why You Need a Home Link
October 5, 2018Oct 5, 2018 | 2 minutemin video
Websites which provide a "home" link on every page make it easy for new visitors and users who are lost to get oriented.
The Paradox of Intelligent Assistants: Poor Usability, High Adoption
September 16, 2018Sep 16, 2018 | Article: 7 minutemins to read
Frequent users of Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant report attempting low-complexity tasks such as simple fact retrievals, weather forecast, navigation, playing music, setting timers.
Open vs. Closed Card Sorting
September 7, 2018Sep 7, 2018 | 2 minutemin video
There are two types of card sorting, which measure different aspects of users' mental models for information architecture.
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