Articles

Kate Moran

Kate Moran is a Senior User Experience Specialist with Nielsen Norman Group. She conducts research and leads training seminars to help digital product teams expand and improve their UX practice. Her research findings and recommendations are informed by her background in information theory and design, as well as her development experience.

@kate__moran

Articles and Videos

The Pinball Pattern of Scanning Search Results Pages
March 6, 2020Mar 6, 2020 | 2 minutemin video
Today, a SERP (search engine results page) contains so many design elements that users don't have a simple way of picking out their preferred link. Eyetracking studies show that users' eyes bounce around the page between items in a scan pattern that resembles a pinball machine game.
Calculating ROI for Design Projects in 4 Steps
February 23, 2020Feb 23, 2020 | Article: 6 minutemins to read
Prove the value of your design efforts by estimating return on investment.
Qualitative vs. Quantitative UX Research
February 7, 2020Feb 7, 2020 | 4 minutemin video
Qualitative and quantitative methods both have their place in user research, but they address different issues in the UX design process. Understand the differences to pick the right method to learn what you need.
The Four Dimensions of Tone of Voice in UX Writing
January 10, 2020Jan 10, 2020 | 3 minutemin video
The words in your interface can help establish your product’s personality. The tone of any piece of content can be analyzed along 4 dimensions: humor, formality, respectfulness, and enthusiasm.
Remote Ideation: Synchronous or Asynchronous?
December 20, 2019Dec 20, 2019 | 4 minutemin video
Ideation in the UX design process can be conducted remotely: without having team members in the same room. This can be done synchronously (everybody participates at the same time) or asynchronously (people contribute at different times).
Usability Testing 101
December 1, 2019Dec 1, 2019 | Article: 6 minutemins to read
UX researchers use this popular observational methodology to uncover problems and opportunities in designs.
Complex Search-Results Pages Change Search Behavior: The Pinball Pattern
November 17, 2019Nov 17, 2019 | Article: 7 minutemins to read
Because today’s search-results pages have many possible complex layouts, users don’t always process search results sequentially. They distribute their attention more variably across the page than in the past.
Better Labels for Website Links: the 4 Ss for Encouraging Clicks
October 25, 2019Oct 25, 2019 | 2 minutemin video
4 guidelines for writing the link texts on websites to ensure users click the right options. Links should be Specific, Sincere, Substantial, and Succinct.
Usability Heuristic 9: Help Users Recognize, Diagnose, and Recover from Errors
September 27, 2019Sep 27, 2019 | 2 minutemin video
No. 9 of the top 10 UX design heuristics is to write error messages that help users understand the problem and to provide information that constructively teaches users how to recover from the error.
Usability Heuristic 8: Aesthetic and Minimalist Design
September 20, 2019Sep 20, 2019 | 1 minutemin video
No. 8 of the top 10 UX design heuristics is to remove unnecessary elements from the user interface and to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio of the design.
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