At Blink our clients often ask for advice on the number of participants needed for a usability study. For simple studies, those that test a single design with one group of users, we typically recommend recruiting 8 – 10 users. Client projects are often more complex, however, and additional factors often come into play that necessitate raising the number of study participants. Because adding participants can significantly increase the cost of a study, finding a way to balance those factors can be a challenge. With this in mind, we developed a tool to make it easy to adjust different factors and “what if” scenarios to see how they impact the number of participants needed for testing. Read More »
Thursday, December 1st, 4-8pm
Join us in the Seattle Waterfront area for two lively presentations and an artist's gallery opening. The winter theme of the evening is Live for Today. Stories on how to attain your goals, stay focused and motivated.
I am always saying “think about it from the client’s perspective”. That’s what I call Client UX. At Blink, we think a great deal about designing and evaluating things from the end-user’s perspective, but what about thinking about our services from our clients’ perspective? What is their user experience like when they get our emails, meeting invites, invoices and deliverables? Read More »
Near Field Communication technology promises some amazing user experiences in the future. In this blog post I present some thoughts from my presentation at the MIT Enterprise Forum's NFC panel. The spread of this technology will allow the UX design and development community to create experiences beyond the device's UI, and integrate digital experiences within the world around them. Read More »
We are increasingly using smartphones, tablets, and music players in our work and lives, and there are hundreds of thousands of applications currently available for download. At Blink, we regularly conduct mobile application testing for different clients who are optimizing their websites for mobile use or designing new apps. We are often asked two questions: Is mobile testing different from testing websites or desktop applications? And, what types of things do you uncover during usability testing? Read More »
Stakeholder interviews, user research, user testing--all are integral to our approach on a Blink design engagement--and all require superior note-taking skills. Enter the Livescribe Smartpen. I've found the Smartpen to be an invaluable tool for note taking of all kinds, but particularly for note taking during research. Read More »
Just like web sites and desktop applications, mobile applications benefit greatly from being evaluated via usability testing with target users. Mobile usability testing allows you to learn about your users’ expectations and prior experience with mobile interfaces and illustrates how they will use your application in real-time. Further, mobile testing enables development and product teams to identify and prioritize pain points that must be addressed prior to launch or future releases. Read More »
People bring a history of well-established routines when they use websites, desktop applications, and mobile apps. These expectations influence their experiences. For example, taking an image control as a credit card payment option can lead a customer to call customer service. This is just one example from the hundreds of usability studies that Blink has conducted. Understanding user expectations has enabled us to make detailed recommendations and help clients deliver great user experiences. Read More »
Thanks to everyone who attended last Thursday's open house, gallery opening and speaker series event. It was a huge success, with over 300 people attending throughout the evening... Read More »
Blink Open House, Spring Speaker Series & Gallery Opening. Join us in the Seattle Waterfront area for a tour of Blink's new office space with panoramic views of Puget Sound. Blink will be hosting two lively presentations and an artist's reception for our new art gallery, Blink Space. Appetizers, Beer & Wine will be served. Read More »
Blink's new office space had many requirements; workstations, client meeting rooms, project collaboration rooms, training and event space and most importantly, state-of-the-art usability labs with adjoining client observation rooms. All this, plus it had to be a highly usable space, comfortable to work in and look good. Read More »
Users are scrolling more than they have in the past. It is still important to place critical page elements high on the page, but it is no longer necessary to show all page content as high on the page as possible. Instead, entice users to read further down the page by showing content spanning the fold zone. Lastly, when displaying content on a long scrolling page, it is important to include anchor points such as section headings, which allow users to keep track of their location. Users are evolving, thus page design must evolve with them. Read More »
When Blink conducts usability evaluations, we seek to do more than simply identify the pain points of a web site or application. Our goal is to uncover users' honest impressions and the impact of these impressions on the overall user experience. Read More »
Blink once evaluated an in-flight email application for a client. It had already been in use as a beta and the client was aware of a few wrinkles in the UI. So it came as a shock when not a single participant in the study could figure out how to open an email in the application. All the while, a feedback option had been available. Read More »
For many companies, designing for mobile simply translates to migrating information available on web to the mobile platform. In a few cases, mobile design may even be tackled as a starting point for building more complex web design. In both scenarios a unified, holistic user experience with the company services and brand may not be supported because the two platforms are likely to develop in separate silos. Understanding and attending to the user experience, in addition to the end product, across platforms as a guiding focus for design, can encourage greater customer satisfaction and minimize user confusion. Read More »
Great websites guide users to content with elegance and ease, through usable information architecture and a pleasing visual design. But, user experience doesn’t stop there. Users spend more time engaging with your site’s content than using its navigation or admiring its style. Once on the right page, it’s the quality of writing that delivers the value. Read More »