UX & IA Design Thinking

Ok, I finally did it! I did my first live stream on youtube and people actually showed up! Yeah it was not millions of designers looking for help but its a start. It was not promoted, and kinda a last minute thing on my part. I had a few request from some people to do one so I figured why not. If you want to get alerted about my next one please subscribe to my youtube channel here: Subscribe to my Channel I hope to do more steams soon. Please comment on this post on what types of things you want me to cover and I will try my best to fit them all in.

I have recently had the need to create some different data visualizations for recent clients. I really enjoy the challenge on how to create new design elements that are both visually compelling but also provide really valuable data to the user. The need was to create some conceptual examples of different data visualzations to compare local wifi usages. I usually start out by sketching a few ideas out and here is an example of that. After I have a pretty good idea of what it should look like based on the user needs identified I then jump into either Sketch or Axure. I found a really easy way to create donut charts in Axure by converting a ellipse shape to a dynamic shape that you can adjust the handles to resize the size of the pie. This shape will be your variable percentage. This is really great because it is super easy for you to change the size of the pie without having to re-draw the circle. The next step is to create a light gray fill circle the same height/width as your other obj

Wow, look at me go! A blog and two video posts all in one day… I just wanted to put out this quick video to showcase some of the core UI controls within Sketch. I have to be honest for the longest time I did not give Sketch the credit it deserves because I was so focused on Axure. However Sketch is so simple and easy to use that I now use for almost all of my projects. It is really basic but provides all the right things to quickly throw together some concepts or designs.

This video is the first of many tutorials that will get you started with learning a new tool for your designer toolbox. Take a moment to check it out and subscribe to my channel .

Over the last 15 years I have used many different tools to help me create great design experiences. One of the largest changes I have seen is the shift to using one tool that basically does it all. I have sort of come full circle when it comes to software / hardware within my design career. I first started off in school using a Mac to create digital art using Adobe Photoshop and Freehand from 1998-2001. My first job out of college I was producing illustrations for a publishing company and I used Photoshop, freehand, and illustrator exclusively. Then came 2003 and what I call my era of SharePoint where I ditched the Mac, grabbed a Windows Laptop and started doing all my wireframes in Visio. It was not until 10 years later (2013) that I came back full circle. I jumped back on the Mac Powerbook bandwagon and started using Axure. Axure for me has been amazing but I am starting to see another shift where Sketch has become that next best thing. Sketch by itself is pretty limiting, however wh

You may say that Modal windows are what pop up were 10 years ago. Like them or hate them they have become an essential UI design element for almost any website or application. Recently I have started to see a transition of how these screens are being used. We first started seeing modals about 8 years ago when a developer named Lokesh Dhakar created a Javascript Library called “Light Box”. It was a very simple way of putting focus on one image at a time and graying out everything else. This became so popular that many people starting to throw anything and everything in these smaller focused screens. Some people call them Dialog boxes, others call them Modals but they really all mean the same thing. The main purpose is to present the user with additional information while putting the main parent page on hold until they are done. Of course with any UI design element they have been misused and abused in many different ways. I have seen some applications that have more than 3 levels of moda