Quickly shipping core functionality often seems wise, but without a user-centered foundation, this strategy can cause long-lasting damage to digital products. The Limits of a “Ship It Fast” Mentality Creating digital products often feels like a race against budget and time. To meet these constraints, development teams often create and release a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), a version…

What can you do when your product suffers from a lack of coherent, consistent design? Inconsistent Design Hurts You and Your Users Consistent, well-thought-out design is crucial for digital products. But often, design is perceived as mere decoration or aesthetics. …

Nothing replaces an expert review by accessibility pros, but these accessibility tools can help you understand what needs to be fixed and how to maintain an inclusive online experience. Take Proactive Steps Toward Accessibility You’re familiar with the importance of accessibility and the impact it has on the user experience of your site or app…

Forms Are the Hardest Thing to Get Right Digital forms are pivotal to many of the digital products out there. People use them daily to make appointments, pay bills, and apply for a job, just to name a few. For a business, they are integral for internal day-to-day work, and they can be the difference between making a…

You’ve seen first-hand how users interact with your site or app. They’ve told you what they don’t like. But what do you do with this knowledge? You Have User Feedback. Now What? Congrats! You’ve completed a vital part of creating easy-to-use digital products — you observed and interviewed real people who use your site or app…

Some issues are all too common in the increasingly online world of healthcare, but they don’t have to be. Gain a competitive edge by sidestepping these common UX pitfalls. What Hospital Sites Get Wrong Your hospital’s web team probably struggles to keep up with emerging technology, community needs, and the latest public health campaigns. Site…

Over the next decade, healthcare needs will change alongside advancing technology and societal shifts. To remain competitive, hospitals must offer excellent digital experiences rooted in real-world behavior. Evolving Hospital Sites for Future Healthcare Needs The healthcare industry is experiencing an explosion of digital tools. This innovation is driven by new technologies, fervent competition, and growing patient expectations…

Patient portals could be game-changing tools to help people better understand and manage their health — if people used them more. — People Don’t Like Patient Portals A patient portal is a healthcare tool (mobile app or website) that allows people to track, understand, and manage their health. These tools also streamline administrative tasks for doctor’s offices and help facilitate better communication between doctors and patients. Sounds like a win-win situation for everyone.

Whether you’re designing a complex digital product or operating a simple manual tool, some things never change. Take these essential user traits into account to avoid roadblocks and surprises. — User Lessons from the Humble Can Opener You probably keep a few canned items in your pantry: beans, tomatoes, soup, maybe some pumpkin pie filling this time of year. Non-perishable, ready-to-eat food is convenient; it helps us get dinner on the table (and pies in the oven) exponentially faster. However, cans are metal. …