The reality of startup design work is far from the idealized process taught in design programs. Having worked with fintech, sustainability, and real-estate startups, I’ve experienced how traditional design processes often falter under the constraints and challenges of design for a startup. Startup designers must deliver comprehensive research and polished solutions with limited resources, compressed timelines, and while wearing multiple hats.

Therefore, the startup environment demands a different approach. The adoption of AI tools—not as replacements for design thinking, but as practical extensions of the startup designer’s capabilities—can help these designers deliver better work in less time. A variety of AI tools excel at specific design tasks. Read More

Despite the UX design industry’s growing emphasis on inclusivity, digital user experiences still often fail to reflect the full spectrum of human diversity. Traditional UX design frameworks prioritize generalized user personas, leaving behind those whose cognitive, sensory, or physical differences don’t fit neatly into the typical mold. What happens when shifting our focus from the average user to the marginalized and neurodiverse? In this article, I’ll explore how neuroadaptive design can move beyond the user interface toward user experiences that are not just usable, but meaningfully accessible for all.

Technological advancements and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) are changing the way people interact with products and services. Unfortunately, because of these changes, we’re also leaving a huge chunk of users behind. Read More

Personalized digital greeting cards capture the essence of the traditional, physical cards that convey tangible sentiments. When someone chooses to send a personalized card, they’re not just sending a message; they’re crafting an experience, a moment of connection through a carefully designed package. Therefore, the user experience of personalized greeting-card platforms must go beyond that of the typical digital product by translating heartfelt intentions into visual artifacts that create genuine emotional impact.

This article explores how thoughtful UX design can transform personalized greeting-card platforms into powerful tools for emotional expression by balancing technology with the human touch. Read More

15 seconds. That’s how long 55% of users stay on an unfamiliar Web site before bouncing. Think about that—you spend time, money, and effort to bring people to your site, only for them to vanish in less than a minute. What makes new users leave? What makes other users stay longer? And, most importantly, how can you increase the duration of visits?

The answer to all these questions lies in understanding what users actually do when they land on your Web site. The discipline that lets you gain this understanding is user-behavior tracking, which enables you to figure out what users click, how far they scroll down pages, and the exact point at which they lose interest. Read More

As a product designer, I’ve experienced firsthand how rigid design systems can impede innovation and limit creative problem-solving. In this article, I’ll explore how rethinking design systems as evolving products—rather than fixed libraries—can transform the way designers work. When designers take ownership of a design system, they become active contributors to its growth. By validating new design ideas through experimentation and partnering closely with cross-functional teams, designers can ensure that the system continues to serve both business objectives and customers’ needs. This shift in mindset reduces bottlenecks, fosters innovation, and enables the creation of user experiences that truly adapt to an ever-changing technology industry.

Working as a product designer in technology requires that I interact with design systems daily. Early in my career, I viewed a design system as a static library—a convenient collection of components to drag into my design file and use as necessary. Similarly, when I needed design guidance, I treated the system as a reference book, consulting it for rules to ensure that I adhered to established standards. While this approach often worked, it wasn’t foolproof. There were moments of frustration when I wasn’t able to find the component I needed or the guidance necessary to meet my design objectives. Such moments of anxiety often led to compromises—either I would abandon my original idea and look for alternative solutions within the system or I would find myself limited by the system’s constraints, unable to craft something unique and truly user centered. Read More

People generally believe that they make logical, well-informed choices. But user behaviors are rarely as rational as traditional economics suggests. Emotions, the environment, and social expectations often influence behaviors in ways that people do not immediately recognize. This is where behavioral economics really matters. Behavioral economics helps us understand the gap between what people believe they will do and what they actually do. The Internet of Behavior (IoB) takes this understanding further, bridging the gap between psychology and technology, powering businesses with experiences that are personalized in real time.

Let me tell you a story about Steve, a 35-year-old marketing professional who prides himself on making well-informed decisions. However, unseen influences often affect his choices. Today, he’s facing what seems like a simple decision to make: choosing between two shirts his wife has presented to him. Traditionally, his decision would be simple: He would choose based on which color, pattern, or material he preferred. According to traditional economics, Steve would make a rational, straightforward decision that is based solely on these factors. Read More

When Microsoft launched Windows 8 in 2012, I installed it on my computer and used it for a while, then spent the next three days trying to revert back to Windows 7. Windows 8 boldly did the unthinkable: it removed the Start button from the Windows desktop after it had been a fixture for nearly two decades. The Start menu and button had been mainstays since Windows 95 in the ’90s. Despite that, Microsoft’s design leads decided to retire them in favor of a new approach.

Windows 8 greeted users with a full-screen Start screen, comprising colorful, dynamic tiles, as shown in Figure 1, instead of the familiar Start menu. Microsoft believed a touch-first, mobile-inspired user interface (UI) was the future and, thus, made a huge gamble. Internal telemetry data had suggested that users were relying less on the old Start menu, which emboldened the design team to scrap the traditional Start button in hopes of streamlining navigation with a modern user experience across the desktop and tablets, even if it meant breaking one of computing’s most ingrained visual conventions. Read More

You may already have a mountain of qualitative data on your product’s audience. But many UX designers aren’t quite sure how to turn this information into tangible insights that they can use to improve their Web site or product. Being in this position can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. There are plenty of great methods for pulling insights from your data and using them to build a better product and, ultimately, a better brand.

In this article, you’ll learn about several effective ways of extracting valuable insights from your UX research data. Let’s get started. Once you’ve read this article, you’ll know exactly what you need to do to get more value from your data. Read More

In today’s design-driven world, while several UX roles overlap, they serve distinct purposes. People often use such terms as UX research, UX design, interaction design, product design, visual design, and graphic design interchangeably, adding to the confusion. While all of these roles contribute to creating meaningful and even delightful user experiences, each discipline has its own focus, scope, and deliverables. Read More