Category Archives: UX

Mute or unmute?

UX, , , , , , , , ,

The biggest dilemma of the ‘work from home’ era

Muting and unmuting the mic is the most frequent feature that people uses during a video conference call.

“Do you want to view Peppa Pig? Or is it Doraemon that you want?”

“Peppa Pig, Peppa Pig…”

“Here. Let me help you with the TV remote control.”

This conversation with my younger kid was telecasted to a dozen people in three continents because I forgot to mute! A Microsoft Teams conference call was going on while I was working from home. But I’m lucky compared with some souls who became the subject of viral ‘Zoom Fails’ during this Covid 19 lockdown.

Why are we finding it difficult to determine whether the video feed is ON or OFF? Mic mute or unmute? How hard can it be?

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Making search easier to access on mobile screens

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Where do I search? Help me…

Search on mobile screens

I was flipping through some hand-drawn low fidelity screens of a bill payment mobile app (Yes, some of us still prefer the old-fashioned way of drawing on paper first, than a pixel perfect, auto aligned digital version on Adobe XD). Then I saw it on the bottom tab bar.

“No, no, no. I believe we cannot do this.”

“What, the ‘Search’ function? Why?”

“Well. ‘Search’ is an action — much like ‘compose an email’ or ‘delete.’ An action shouldn’t be placed on a tab bar because tab bars are for navigation. Do you know what Apple Human Interface Guidelines (iOS) talk about tab bar?”

“Enlighten me!”

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10 Mobile Apps We Love!

Mobile Apps, Review, UX, , , , ,

10 Mobile Apps
“I will email you the links of some mobile apps we love. Study them and all the very best!”
This is my standard closing line to a majority of job seekers who end up before me to be interviewed for a post of mobile UX designers in my organization. Good talent is very rare. But I sincerely hope that more and more people will sensitize themselves about the amazing and complex arena of user experience design.
Here are the 10 mobile apps we love for the user experience and ‘Wow!’ factors, in no particular order.
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Don’t ƨɘlʇiɘ my selfie, please!

Mobile Apps, UX, , , ,

A selfie taken during a recent conference. Wait… what happened to all those text in the background? Why are they mirrored?
A selfie taken during a recent conference. Wait… what happened to all those text in the background? Why are they mirrored?

Hey, what happened to all those text in the background? Why are they mirrored?

Who doesn’t want to take a selfie and broadcast it to the world? We all love to capture the moment, the place and the fact that we are present in the scene of action. we use the mobile front camera for taking selfies and video calls.

Depending on the social media app that you use to take a selfie, the transmitted image can be a ‘lateral inverted’ version as shown above.
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Who moved my hamburger?

Mobile Apps, UX, ,

hamburger menu-apps
Hamburger Menu (Side Drawer Menu) of Evernote, Gmail, VLC Player and Yahoo! Weather apps. All are Android versions.

You are not considered as a ‘complete’ UX designer till you publish your views on the “≡” alias “hamburger menu,” alias Side Drawer Menu!

The recent update of the YouTube Android app by Google prompted me to jump on the bandwagon and express my thoughts on this interesting UI pattern.

“≡” is called a “hamburger menu” for its resemblance to a hamburger, the top and bottom lines representing the bun and its middle line representing the hamburger filling.
– Wikipedia

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How to Design Intuitive Mobile Apps

Mobile Apps, UX, , , ,

vimeo-1
Vimeo iPhone app

“The UI should be intuitive” is the topmost item in the requirement brief from clients for a mobile app design.

Intuitive [in-too-i-tiv, -tyoo-] (adjective):
Easy to understand or operate without explicit instruction.
– Dictionary.com

So, ‘Intuitive’ means ‘no surprises,’ right?
It is difficult to bring novel interactive elements or ‘pleasant surprises’ or ‘Wow! factors’ in a completely intuitive UI.
What can we do to have the best of both worlds?
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Decoding the Elusive 'Wow! Factor' in Mobile Apps

Mobile Apps, UX, , , ,

Making
As a UX designer, I have been told umpteen times by clients or stakeholders to add some ‘Wow! factors’ in the design. There is nothing wrong in this request. But if you ask them to define this ‘Wow! factors,’ probably you will get some fumbling or vague answers. Or, they will mention the name of a recent eye candy app followed by the question, “Why don’t you design our app like that?”
If you identify with my situation, let us try to decode the ‘Wow! Factors’ and publish the results for the greater good of all app designers!

Wow [wou] (noun):
Excitement, interest, great pleasure, or the like
– Dictionary.com

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Why I'm Uninstalling a Great Mobile App from Yahoo!

Mobile Apps, Review, UX, , , , , ,

YahooNewsDigest-Android-Phone
Yahoo! News Digest mobile app is a gem. The experience is awesome. The news digest gets published twice a day at 08:00 AM and 06:00 PM. Simply consume the news as a healthy nine/ten/eleven nibbles. “Did you know?” at the end of each digest is always a good read. The subtle dots animations and parallax transitions are awesome.
But today, probably around 06:30 PM IST, with a heavy heart, I uninstalled this wonderful app.
Why, you ask?
Continue reading Why I'm Uninstalling a Great Mobile App from Yahoo! →