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Ask HN: How did you increase your UX skills?
81–90 of 127 posts
Re: Ask HN: How did you increase your UX skills?
#82UX is very much rooted in both industrial design and psychology. I would highly recommend taking design courses in college, it will help hone your eye for how to perceive a task through a given experience.
Contrary to popular belief, UX has nothing to do with software: UX is just the sexy new term. It all stems from design, and was studied heavily in the early 20th century onwards. Look at a can-opener, for example, or the classic Jerry-can from WW2. It is about how humans interact with the world through design.
Re: Ask HN: How did you increase your UX skills?
#83Simply getting annoyed by websites I've browsed over the years.
Re: Ask HN: How did you increase your UX skills?
#84Ooh, I’ve been doing nothing but this for 30 years. There’s other good advice in this thread, but my main advice is to pay close attention to people. UX is just applied psychology. If you understand humans well enough then you can create good solutions for them. It’s not surprising — you won’t create a good cat toy if you don’t understand cats. 1. Keep learning how humans use software. This is rooted in our physiolog…
This is a great post.
You could write a dedicated blog post (or something) with your insights. (It would be easier for me to bookmark, from a pure selfish perspective). I would love a ping if you do so.
Re: Ask HN: How did you increase your UX skills?
#85In case no one said it yet, take your ui and perform every sensible action path one hundred times. Most of the fancy animations, drawers, pickers and beauty-based designs get old long before you’re halfway there.
Re: Ask HN: How did you increase your UX skills?
#86I think that using systems with bad UX teaches you a lot on what not to do.
I was unlucky/lucky to use Lotus Notes for about 4 years, and that changed my perception on how much suffering software can inflict on its users. If you have a friend/relative that happens to work with it, try interviewing them.
Re: Ask HN: How did you increase your UX skills?
#87Read a lot of sketches from this brilliant woman: https://uxknowledgebase.com/
Re: Ask HN: How did you increase your UX skills?
#88Ooh, I’ve been doing nothing but this for 30 years. There’s other good advice in this thread, but my main advice is to pay close attention to people. UX is just applied psychology. If you understand humans well enough then you can create good solutions for them. It’s not surprising — you won’t create a good cat toy if you don’t understand cats. 1. Keep learning how humans use software. This is rooted in our physiolog…
This. Well, minus point 3 or include the user feedback in your goals. Also keep in mind that most people cannot articulate what they really want but most of the time they will complain about a bad solution. Also try to mimic the other applications your clients are using regularly - even when the UX is bad. It’s easier for them to remember one broken workflow than multiple.
I disagree in general with your second point. Yeah, sure, this could make sense in some situations, but many tools and products exist for the sole reason that they offer a superior workflow and smoother experience than their existing counterparts.
Wasn't there that classic HN post about users not needing Dropbox because any Linux user could do the same with rsync?
Re: Ask HN: How did you increase your UX skills?
#89Ooh, I’ve been doing nothing but this for 30 years. There’s other good advice in this thread, but my main advice is to pay close attention to people. UX is just applied psychology. If you understand humans well enough then you can create good solutions for them. It’s not surprising — you won’t create a good cat toy if you don’t understand cats. 1. Keep learning how humans use software. This is rooted in our physiolog…
> 4. Check your ego, and learn to love being wrong. Put unfinished work in front of people. Cheerfully accept all feedback without explaining or defending.
Love this so much. As dev we often positioning ourself as user, cut it off by wireframe simulation. The things is, we are not the real user. We are not the person who will use the product. And we conclude the ideal design by fantasize it.
Re: Ask HN: How did you increase your UX skills?
#90I consider usability to be a critical component of "UX." I started by reading The Design of Everyday Things . It's a book that changed my life. There was just a thread, hereabouts, about the book[0]. I also took a few classes with the company that Don Norman co-owns (NNG)[1]. These are useful, but not a "philosopher's stone." They tend to push user group testing a lot, and I'm not a huge fan of UG testing. I tend to…
What in your opinion doesn't work with UG testing?