Ongoing education in our industry is a must. Attending conferences is a great way to learn and network with other industry professionals. Unfortunately, not everyone is able to attend conferences, but have no fear! Many of the best conferences post videos online, giving our community an easy way to learn on our own time from anywhere in the world. Our first video in this series is a talk by Sarah Parmenter titled “Designing Using Data” given at An Event Apart Orlando.
In her presentation, Sarah Parmenter walks us through a journey of using research throughout the design process to make informed decisions. While she is known for her work in user interface design, she goes beyond designing screens and showcases how she created a successful (non-web design) business by focusing on every detail of a customer’s experience.
I’ve personally struggled with accepting data from tools like analytics and a/b testing at face value. While the raw data is reliable, the human interpretation and organization of that data to provide meaningful insight is where my hesitation begins. I’ve seen experts rely far too heavily on data without considering the context of their visitor’s situation, emotional state and more. Sarah’s talk showcases how you can use both research and experience to create the best results.
How do you use research to help you make design decisions? Let us know by sending us a message via Twitter.
It’s important to focus the conversation
Beautiful design mockups can be distracting, giving a false sense of what is complete and what still needs to be done. At OddBird, we find it helpful to remove any ‘premature sheen’ before sharing mockups with clients.
Overflowing content, browser support, and polyfill updates
Anchor positioning is close to Baseline. As more people try it out, they are finding areas where it could be improved, and differences between browsers. Let’s take a look at the current state of anchor positioning.
We don’t have to choose between px and rem for spacing
There are many articles and established CSS best-practices that rely on determining the correct or best units to use. Now that comparison functions are well supported in CSS, we don’t have to choose.