“You are not the user” shaped how designers worked. It forced humility, removed ego, discouraged shortcuts, and drove us to research instead of assuming. It influenced how we reviewed work, planned research, and avoided designing for ourselves. But taken too literally, it can create distance from the product, so much that we stop experiencing it ourselves. Direct use can lead […]
“If you want to encourage a behaviour, make it the default.” We know this works in UX because we are wired to conserve mental energy. Defaults exploit our tendency to satisfice, to accept ‘good enough’ over ‘optimal’ when cognitive resources are low. That makes the default one of our most powerful tools in UX. When users don’t act, it becomes […]
Trust was always invisible. Until we lost it. It has always been present in UX. Just quiet. We relied on it without naming it. A login form looked secure. A progress bar meant something was happening. A CTA didn’t feel like a trap. But then the internet changed. Content became infinite. Outputs became automated. The authors disappeared. Now we’re designing […]
Trust was always invisible. Until we lost it… It has always been present in UX. Just quiet. We relied on it without naming it. A login form looked secure. A progress bar meant something was happening. A CTA didn’t feel like a trap. But then the internet changed. Content became infinite. Outputs became automated. The authors disappeared. Now we’re designing […]
UX research has never been a fixed discipline. But in 2025, it is being reshaped by simulation. Synthetic users, predictive journey modelling, and AI-based empathy mapping are present, functional, and, in some cases, already integrated into design cycles. Here’s everything you need to know about it: ⬇️ 📌 What’s Inside 🧠What synthetic users actually are and what they are not […]
If an AI tool can draft a full interface in 30 seconds, does that mean our design process should only take 30 seconds? The question is of course, rhetorical and the answer is a clear no. But let’s be honest: with AI tools now generating UIs faster than we can sip our morning coffee, there’s a lot to reflect on. […]
“When profit is at stake, content and interaction designers put ethics aside all too often. It’s time to say: enough.” We’ve all encountered them — some of us without even realising it. Dark patterns have long lurked within the digital spaces we navigate daily. In Part 1, we traced their origins, the psychological levers that make them effective, and the most […]
Let me begin by asking you this: Is a quick business win ever worth losing users’ trust? Before we even think about using dark patterns, this is the question we should sit with. Most of us have come across them. Some of us have been tricked by them, maybe without even knowing. Often called deceptive patterns, dark patterns are design […]
On an average web page, people read at most 28% of the words — 20% is more likely. Instead of consuming every line, users often scan in a pattern that resembles the letter “F.” This was first observed by the Nielsen Norman Group in eye-tracking studies back in 2006. If you design or write content for the web, it’s a peek into your […]
“To err is human; to forgive, design.” Destructive actions – those that delete data, erase progress, or have other irreversible consequences – require special care in design. When a user clicks a button that could cause data loss or a major change, the UX must prevent accidents and ensure intent. Two key principles come into play here: introducing friction for […]
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