As you walk the halls of User Centric it's likely you will hear rants or raves about the latest tech gadget, mobile device, application, or Web site. Our passion for improving the user experience cannot be turned off and inevitably sparks lively debates over lunch, during meetings, and after hours.
We invite you to become part of our discussion and dig into our UX Nuggets! These thoughts about usability and the user experience are our way of asking you to grab a white board marker and "Think Users"!
Blog posts written with the assistance of Beth Bengtson.
by Bob Schumacher and Gavin Lew
This is the first in a series of posts discussing electronic health record (EHR) systems. Why a series? There’s a lot to talk about, including many myths and misunderstandings about EHRs. These are a few of our thoughts; do you agree? Disagree? Have other ideas? Let us know what you think.
By Martin Ho
by Gavin Lew
I’m often asked to define just what User Centric does. It’s an understandable question, since we don’t sell a tangible product. What we do involves enhancing each consumer’s experience with the products and services of our clients. What we deliver is, essentially, a method to improve the experience for customers.
By Jessica Buttimer
Any time I read one of Malcolm Gladwell’s books, I think of how his writing applies to user research. Outliers is the latest example. Almost every chapter in the book can apply to User Centric, how we work, or the kinds of participants we recruit.
by Robert Schumacher
By Kirsten Peters, User Experience Specialist
I’ve had a Netflix account for years, so when I heard that Netflix was going to have the ability to stream, my fiancé and I wanted to be in on it as soon as possible. We thought it would be very convenient. Since we don’t watch movies frequently, a movie might be in our queue for months. We figured the streaming option would be great, because when we want to watch a particular movie, we’d have access to it right away.
by Gavin Lew
We have a lot of experience with banks, and we’ve worked on even more mobile devices (175 studies in the past five years, with six of the top seven manufacturers). These two come together with mobile banking, and in my mind, there are three major things to consider with regards to design for mobile banking.
by Robert Schumacher
As user experience people, we often use the words that describe what we do casually or imprecisely. This confuses people who don't eat, sleep and breathe usability. I know people who say “I do usability” or “I need some usability testing.” What they’re really saying is “I specialize in making things more usable” and “I have to figure out what’s wrong with this application and fix it so my customers can complete their orders.”
by Heather Rakauskas
I recently discovered a clever iPhone application called Touch Mouse by Logitech that turns an iPhone or iPod Touch into a wireless mouse and keyboard for any computer on your wireless network. At the office, I can earn some geek points by using this application to control PowerPoint presentations. At home, I no longer have to get up from the couch to navigate Hulu and Netflix even though my TV and computer are across the room. This is a great example of how technology can be used to both support productivity and laziness!
by Shelley Myers
The Handbook of Global User Research collects insight from user experience professionals in over 20 countries. This book is a must-read for professionals working on global research projects. More Info
