Week 55 @ KSU's UXD Program - Interactive Wireframes + Learnings

My strengths in UX (I feel anyway) are Strategy, Research, and IA... not really IxD which I feel like I really struggle with. But this week I had a couple of breakthrough moments after watching the week 5 debrief video sent out by Prof. Ralston.  The first was the seven principles of design and the "Signifiers" which I had always included as affordances. Getting that clarification stopped a lot confusion going on about IxD dead in its tracks. I can now separate the two immediately...and make sure to always include "signifiers" except for the secret menu I am building for Carvel Ice Cream's new website.

The second breakthrough moment was more tangible as opposed to theoretical and can definitely help to start making more user friendly products, "surfacing." For the longest time, I just thought everyone wanted a logical and great IA to find what they needed, but that's completely untrue. People would rather just see or hear what they want to find out with out doing a damn thing. That's how "surfacing" works. Bring what people most frequently want and give it to them at the surface of the product. Brilliant :)

Anyways, this week was a great week for learning :)