#31875
Over the past three decades of computer/human interaction, we’ve seen digital technology evolve from a curiosity to a convenience to an integral part of our everyday lives. For UX professionals, the demand for our skill sets and the opportunities to practice seem only to grow, whether we be designers or developers, usability specialists or information architects, working in fields as diverse as Web, mobile, desktop, and embedded software systems. The UX professions are at a stage that could very well be a tipping point—where the rapid rise of digital devices, services, and connectivity converge to create a massive need for UX professionals. The mobile space alone could generate demand that we can only begin to imagine.
Follett, Jonathan. UXmatters (2008). Articles>User Experience>Human Computer Interaction>Community
#27962
Stories are the Human Experience
Usability through storytelling, the theme for the UPA 2006 conference, was examined from many angles. Presenters looked at how stories fit into our work, throughout the entire user-centered design process.
Quesenbery, Whitney. uiGarden (2006). Articles>User Experience>Rhetoric
#27954
Story telling has been going on for millennium; it is a wonderful way to entertain and to engage others. Stories are not direct or personal, but they convey a message that can be interpreted by other world views. Various story-telling devices, such as films, novels and plays have become part of a vast entertainment industry that often reflects cultural ideals. Religions often use a book of stories, such as the bible, to convey moral beliefs. So it is perhaps not surprising that HCI has developed forms of narrative to convey stories and messages about people's lives that it wants other world views to hear.
Jones, Rachel. uiGarden (2006). Articles>Rhetoric>User Experience
#26085
How valid is the assertion that 'attractive things work better'? This article explores the association, if any, between user's perceptions of usability and aesthetics for developed systems.
Chawda, Bejal. System Concepts (2005). Articles>Usability>User Experience>User Experience
#29457
Technical Communicators as Potential Usability Reviewers 
This article defines the niche for Technical Communicators / Writers in Usability Engineering. It makes an important observation "Technical Communicator explains the product to users and Usability Engineer attempts to design self-explanatory products. If the design doesn't speak up, Technical Communicators have to overwork." Technical communicators can serve as the 'barometer' of user interface design.
Katre, Dinesh S. Journal of HCI Vistas (2007). Articles>Usability>Technical Writing>User Experience
#29697
Theoretical Approaches to Designing Experiences with Technology 
This paper examines various theoretical approaches on designing the user experience with technology and argues that a humanistic, conceptual framework augment current design industry practice. Taking into account psychological approaches and traditional narrative theory, this paper presents a theory for the human experience and applies this theory to "experience design," or the design of the human experience with technology. Guiding principles for the experience designer based on the paper's theoretical underpinnings are proposed.
Fukumoto, Dane K.T. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Technology>User Experience>Theory
#27008
I lost my address book recently. It was one of those near-death computer experiences where you see your data pass before your eyes and start searching through the trash, then the Web, hoping to find the information you need right now. The experience made me think about blame--and trust.
Quesenbery, Whitney. UXmatters (2006). Articles>User Experience>Technology
#27311
Universal Access: Computers That Everyone Can Use
Apple has been working hard on Universal Access and it's time for you, the developer, to incorporate Universal Access into your application if you haven't done so already. This article guides you through the reasons you will want to provide Universal Access, the architecture underlying the technology, and how to get started incorporating these features into your application.
Apple Inc. (2006). Articles>User Experience>Programming>Macintosh
#24920
Usability, User Experience, Or Both?
Explains how the new name of the former STC Usability SIG better serves the growing number of technical communicators whose work encompasses the overall product--not just usability or documentation.
Bachmann, Karen L. Intercom (2005). Articles>Usability>Community Building>User Experience
#27359
'User Experience', often abbreviated 'UX', is the quality of experience a person has when interacting with a specific design.
Knemeyer, Dirk and Eric Svoboda. Interaction-Design.org (2006). Articles>User Experience>Usability
#28532
User Experience in a Software Development Team
User Experience (UX) design is traditionally seen as the domain of user interface (UI) design, but within a software development team it should mean so much more! UX should permeate through the whole development team. It should influence the way middle tier developers' craft their components and the way database administrators create their tables, stored procedures and views.
Goddard, Matthew. uiGarden (2007). Articles>User Centered Design>User Experience
#29448
Review: User Experience in Brazil - USIHC 2007
Brazil was the site of the seventh International Conference of Ergonomics and Usability, Interface Design, and Human Computer Interaction. Held in the seaside city of Balneario Camboriu in the southern Brazil state of Santa Caterina, the conference was hosted by the Universidade do Valle do Itajai (UNIVALI). I was fortunate to be invited to participate in the conference.
Sherman, Paul J. Usability Professionals Association (2007). Articles>Reviews>User Experience
#30819
The usability and user experience communities of practice are experiencing great growth and have emerged in countries throughout the world. These developing practices have brought about a huge economic boom in the UX market as both customers and clients are beginning to understand the business benefits they bring. In India, we have undoubtedly seen the growth of these practices. Indian UX companies are delivering designs that satisfy users' needs to their clients.
Kirmani, Afshan. UXmatters (2008). Articles>User Experience>Regional>India
#30640
Using Comics in Technical Documentation
This article is based on the research and feedback I received from a number of user experience designers, usability specialists, product developers and writers, which led me to engage in a dialogue with the users.
Gupta, Rajeep. Usability Interface (2007). Articles>Documentation>Technical Illustration>User Experience
#28926
Using Technical Communication Skills in User Experience
Sometimes User Experience Design is chosen; sometimes it is thrust upon us. Putkey explains how technical communications was a natural path to a career in design.
Putkey, Theresa. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Articles>TC>User Experience
#30639
Using Technical Communication Skills in User Experience
User experience professionals can also learn some lessons from and find potential recruits in technical communicators as they have skills that can be applied directly to the design process.
Putkey, Theresa. Usability Interface (2007). Articles>TC>User Experience
#27020
To all of the bloggers who have written about UXmatters and people who have sent email messages and comments, thank you for warmly welcoming UXmatters to the UX community. We've been gratified by the high level of interest in and enthusiastic response to this Web magazine. There seems to have been some pent up demand for a publication that covers the breadth of user experience for digital products!
Gabriel-Petit, Pabini. UXmatters (2005). Articles>User Experience>Collaboration
#31629
UX Design-Planning Not One-Man Show
Suppliers sell. Customers buy. Various people discuss UX, but don’t really identify what it is. Agencies search for ways to offer this line of work to clients and seek best practises to develop UX. Holger Maassen posits his ideas about the process of planning and designing for User Experience Design-Planning (UXD-P) as Expectation Design.
Maassen, Holger. Boxes and Arrows (2008). Articles>User Experience>Planning
#29291
What Puts the Design in Interaction Design
Interaction design lies at the junction of several design disciplines. The resulting crossover between various specialties and issues is often muddled, understandably. There is no doubt that interaction design, as a design discipline, differs from applied human-computer interaction and cognitive psychology. These distinctions are omnipresent in the current literature.
Silver, Kevin. UXmatters (2007). Articles>User Experience>Interaction Design
#29503
A solo usability consultant who focuses on user research and strategy, Whitney thinks and writes about the role of storytelling in user experience design.
Adlin, Tamara and Whitney Quesenbery. UX Pioneers (2007). Articles>Interviews>User Experience
#22309
Why Consumer Products Have Inferior User Experience
Physical products, from consumer electronics to cars, are needlessly complex because they're developed by insular companies that continue to ignore the growing usability trend.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2004). Articles>Usability>User Experience>User Centered Design
#25076
Why Game Documentation is Essential to a Satisfying User Experience
Documentation and information organization are an integral part of video game construction. The video game industry may be one of the directions technical communicators will move toward in the near future.
Peterson, Martin. Usability Interface (2004). Articles>Documentation>User Experience>User Centered Design
#32039
I hate user manuals that are distributed as PDFs. They are mainly used online so why the artificial page constraints? I'm in the middle of a topic and all of a sudden there is a page break--not because of a topical shift but because had it been printed on 8.5 x 11 we would have run out of paper. News flash: I didn't print it and I was not running out of paper.
Hughes, Michael A. User Assistance (2008). Articles>Documentation>User Experience>Adobe Acrobat
#27023
I view a user experience as a conversation between people separated over the distance of time. At one end of that conversation are those who create the product; at the other, the people who use it. In between is the product itself--with a design that either helps or hinders; creates a barrier-free interaction or shouts in an unfamiliar language. Because this conversation does not happen in real time, we are not there to smooth over the rough spots and make sure that we have spoken clearly. Instead, we have to build our understanding of those users into every aspect of the design, by putting people--users--at the center of the design process.
Quesenbery, Whitney. UXmatters (2005). Articles>User Experience>Communication>User Centered Design
#27007
Why UX Should Matter to Software Companies
A good--even great--user experience is an essential component of a quality software product and provides a sustainable strategic advantage that differentiates a product from those of a company's competitors. Thus, user experience is a core competency within today's software companies, and an expert in UX strategy and design is an indispensable part of a software product team--just as the product manager and software architect are--particularly if a team is working on a new product.
Gabriel-Petit, Pabini. UXmatters (2006). Articles>User Experience
