Some Things You Oughta Know When Working with Viewport Units

David Chanin has a quickie article summarizing a problem with setting an element's height to 100vh in mobile browsers and then also positioning something on the bottom of that. Summarized in this graphic: The trouble is that Chrome isn't taking the address bar (browser chrome) into acco..

Can you judge a book by its creative director?

Like a duet or dance, it’s about making your creative partner succeedThe co-authors of Two Beats Ahead, Panos A. Panay and R. Michael Hendrix; photo: Kimberly Panay, 2018In 2016 I was approached to write a book. I turned it down, only to find myself working on it a year later. The reason was that al..

How to build tech that does things differently

Data ethics principles and processes are useful, but they are often of limited use when it comes to addressing the social and environmental harms of the data economy. This post is about using creative R&D to build data technologies that embed a different set of values from the ground up, balancing e..

The UX of deadnaming

What happens when systems don’t know the difference between a legal name and a chosen name (and how can designers care about trans people) Continue reading on UX Collective »

If you fail, I fail

How lockdown has taught designers to truly understand their clients.Image by Rikki StoreyAs the UK passes a sobering milestone marking a year since the first lockdown was announced, I have realised two truths: As designers, we don’t truly understand the impact our clients experience during periods o..

Design for trust

Trust is a powerful force for driving user action. And since aesthetics is a dimension of trust, every designer should try to understand… Continue reading on UX Collective »

Beyond the buzzword: Gamification done right

Gamification can make a good product better if done right, but it’s not a magic potion Continue reading on UX Collective »

The interface effect

An interface is not something projected on a screen, it is a mediation technique between interrelated levels and layers.No one knows for sure, how Gyges came to the throne of Lydia (680 BC), which led to countless stories and legends about it. At that time, Lydia was ruled by Candaules, a man who ac..

Accessibility vs Design trends

Neumorphism? Glassmorphism? Material Design? All design trends can be accessible. Continue reading on UX Collective »

The problem with underspecified notifications

We often fear giving our users too much information. But doing so comes with a cost and the check engine light is a prime example. Continue reading on UX Collective »