As product development becomes more collaborative, it’s not uncommon to find developers in a design strategy meeting.
In fact, it’s encouraged. The notion that developers are “not creative” is far outdated.
You can ask the most technical coder of all, and they will describe their coding process as problem solving using a development language.
And what is “problem solving” if not a core design skillset?
In this piece, we’ll explore how the two disciplines aren’t as different as you think, and how developer experience can improve a design approach.
Two parts of the same team
Let’s look at two development best practices and their design equivalent.
1. Create modular code to increase efficiency
Just like designers strive for component-based design, developers apply reusable elements and efficient use of CSS. The lego-block approach to development scales incredibly well (especially for complex products).
Consider this scenario: a client has a contact form and wants to add a feedback form. If the developer has already created a class for general forms, adding a new one is not that big of a deal. Since developers are innately thinking in this manner – they are inevitably aware of ideas in which different aspects of an interface or application can be reused or re-appropriated in terms of functionality or UI.
2. Create flexible code for scalability
Just like designers build design languages that survive a growing product suite, developers seek to write code that doesn’t require complete re-writing for major changes.
Much like a designer’s UI kit, a developer creates a code pattern library which is even more flexible in the long run.
Change one element, and the update occurs everywhere.
The modular approach is the same – it’s just expressed in different forms.
How developer logic strengthens the design skillset
Of course, not all designers need to code. In today’s Agile teams, we should embrace the power of specialization.
That being said, code-savvy designers tend to better understand technical implications (especially useful for enterprise products). They also gain a more structured framework for problem-solving. I say that from personal experience as a developer turned designer.
Learning to code in grad school gave me a chance at an entry-level web development job, which lead to programming roles, which finally grew into a UX career.
My development experience disciplines my design process like nothing else. Coding opens our eyes to new ways of thinking and unlocks hidden parts of the creative process. Thinking logically within coding parameters brings the design problem into focus.
For example, at the start of a recent project for a data analytics product, the only requirement I faced was “reinvent our interface, inspire our company, and stand out in the marketplace”.
With such unclear requirements, I needed to blend design thinking and code thinking:
1. Identify the situation as a non-traditional exploration exercise.
First, I listened intently.
Is the client mainly concerned with the interface? Not so, in this case.
Sure, their interface needed updating, but the deeper problem was presenting data in a meaningful way beyond icons and colors.
2. Reframe the initial thinking.
As a developer, I’ve approached similar problems in the past by laying out a data model to support a richer experience.
On this project, I applied the same understanding to the client’s needs.
When the client said they’d like to surface a specific piece of data on a specific screen, I understood it as so much more – they were essentially drawing a connection between the significance of this piece of data to the adjacent components.
Furthermore, I now understood that two specific pieces of data are actually more powerful together, and was able to find opportunities to implement this type of “design relationship” throughout the application.
The client’s problem was much deeper than “we need a new design”.
To support such a complex product, they must prepare for a high degree of collaboration and flexibility.
Based on my past developer experience, I knew that the client would surface more data and capabilities as we go along. They were just preoccupied with too much work with to communicate everything at once in a traditional “requirements gathering” stage.
So, I reframed my thinking: the entire design process must be treated as ongoing requirements gathering. Everyone needed to work in an extremely flexible manner, or the project would fall apart.
In short, Photoshop wasn’t going to cut it.
3. Create a sustainable framework.
This approach to segmenting the interface is code thinking at work.
When approaching an interface development project, developers usually start by creating a framework: in broad strokes, defining areas where smaller pieces will live, and grouping these smaller pieces in a way that makes sense.
A developer’s job becomes very difficult if this organization doesn’t exist before they start diving into the details (such as specific CSS implementation and smaller components).
In a similar manner, I first sketched a “UI framework” – a way to designate some broad user goals for the design problem. By outlining the overall principles, we keep the look and feel consistent as we dive deeper into specific interactions.
When moving into the prototyping, I was able to dedicate the necessary time to perfecting the UI components since the overall vision was clear. Since the prototype elements were treated as modules, the transition from vision to detailed crafting was much easier.
Conclusion
Be it a launchpad to modular and scalable thinking, or a valuable design tool – coding is an essential part of the design process.
To ensure that code-thinking is part of the design process consider doing the following:
Include a developer or two at different checkpoints during the project planning and design activities.
Collaborate with a developer about prototyping techniques that will benefit the project at hand.
Discuss a modular approach with the development team to understand how the bits and pieces of information can positively influence the design.
from Designer News Feed https://www.designernews.co/stories/72599-some-colleagues-built-this-antifomo-slackapp-that-collects-all-the-links-shared-in-your-org-its-just-been-launched-publicly–worth-a-try
It’s no secret that successful entrepreneurs and business leaders do things their way. It gives them a competitive advantage and assists them in overcoming adversity.
But, that doesn’t mean that there common habits that these successful individual share. For example, they meditate daily and enjoy telling stories of both their failures and success. They also do these eight things every morning before they even eat breakfast.
They know that they have to get a head start on the day and there isn’t a second to lose. More importantly, by getting up so early, they are awake before everyone else so that there are no distractions to get in the the way of them and their thoughts.
2. They exercise.
Exercise is another popular morning routine for successful individuals. Branson, Cook, Gary Vaynerchuk and Disney’s Bob Iger wake-up super early so that they can get a workout in. Dr. Travis Bradberry says that “Getting your body moving for as little as 10 minutes releases GABA, a neurotransmitter that makes your brain feel soothed and keeps you in control of your impulses — improvements in your behavior that you can measure with an emotional intelligence test.”
Science has proven that we have our best ideas while in the shower. That’s because the warm water, relaxed state and distraction from everything else around us will release dopamine, as well as boosts creativity when our minds are at ease.
4. They spend time with their families.
Growing up I was told that having family dinner together was important. In fact, unless we had other plans, it was required.
Outside of work, we all have things that we’re excited about. However, successful people realize that these passion projects can help them blow off steam, boost creativity and refine their current skills or knowledge. That’s why companies like Google encourage employees to have passion projects. And, as a result, Gmail and AdSense were born.
With time being so limited, the most successful people work on these projects as early as they can while they are free of distractions and have the spare time. This helps people like myself decompress.
6. They catch up on the news.
Checking the news gives successful people, such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Jack Dorsey and Virgin America CEO David Cush, the chance to keep tabs on what’s going in the world so that they know how that’s going to affect their business and how they can develop solutions to make the world a better place.
7. They write down what they’re grateful for.
It’s been found that when you write down what you’re grateful for, it helps get you centered and puts your life in perspective.
Tim Ferriss, entrepreneur and author of "The 4-Hour Workweek," spends five minutes doing this each morning.
"The five-minute journal is a therapeutic intervention, for me at least, because I am that person. That allows me to not only get more done during the day but to also feel better throughout the entire day, to be a happier person, to be a more content person — which is not something that comes naturally to me."
I started doing this on my own personal blog. Though it doesn’t happen everyday, when I do it, I have a much more productive day.
8. Read and send emails.
According to a survey from Robert Half Management Resources, most executives (50 percent) begin their days by checking their email. On the hand, only around one-third (39 percent) of entry-level employees start their days with email.
The reason?
Successful people like to organize and schedule their day first thing in the morning. Also, reading and sending emails first thing in the morning allows you to focus on more important tasks throughout the rest of the day.
Related:
from Entrepreneur https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/280026
Electric car maker Tesla Motors has announced that it’s agreed to merge with solar technology firm SolarCity for $2.6 billion in an all-stock transaction.
The deal builds on Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s recent revelation of the second phase of the company’s master plan, a major part of which involves developing solutions to generate, store and enable mass consumption of solar energy.
All Killer, No Filler
We’re bringing Momentum to New York: our newest event, showcasing only the best speakers and startups.
Musk happens to be the chairman of SolarCity; as per the master plan, the combined company plans to scale Tesla’s Powerwall energy storage device and develop more solar products. In addition, the firm will leverage Tesla’s wide network of retail locations to sell its wares.
Tesla noted in a blog post:
Now is the right time to bring our two companies together: Tesla is getting ready to scale our Powerwall and Powerpack stationary storage products and SolarCity is getting ready to offer next-generation differentiated solar solutions. By joining forces, we can operate more efficiently and fully integrate our products, while providing customers with an aesthetically beautiful and simple one-stop solar + storage experience: one installation, one service contract, one phone app.
The transaction is expected to wrap up in the fourth quarter of 2016. However, it’s worth noting that SolarCity has a 45-day ‘go-shop’ period from today, during which time the company is allowed to solicit alternative proposals.
from The Next Web http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/08/01/tesla-agrees-merge-solarcity-2-6b/
Research shows that over 53 million Americans currently work as freelancers, and an estimated half of the American workforce will be freelancers by 2020. However, all is not necessarily rosy for freelancers; it has been revealed that finding work and achieving income stability are the top barriers for freelancers.
If you work as a freelancer, you’re probably struggling to get clients. With over 53 million Americans freelancing, and more expected to join soon, you simply can’t fold your arms and watch and hope to get freelance clients. With the following seven techniques, you can proactively work to get more freelance clients than you can handle.
Leverage Your Products to Promote Your Services
Many freelance designers and developers create free themes, plugins, graphic packs and other useful products for other people to use, and there isn’t much benefit they derive from this.
If you have a plugin that thousands of people are installing and you are not advertising your services in it, you are missing out. For example, if you have a plugin that helps people optimize their database, you can include a note in the plugin page that you offer consulting aimed at helping people boost their site speed. If you have a plugin aimed at helping people make their site mobile responsive, you can also note that you offer web design help.
Even if your products are paid, it doesn’t hurt to include a note to let people know that you are a freelancer that they can hire for their design needs.
Partner With Other Freelancers to Get Jobs
If you are a freelance web designer, there’s every probability that your clients will want content for their website when it is finally ready. Since you are not a freelance writer, it is impossible for you to do this job. A mistake most freelancers make is that they let this offer go and forget about it. Instead, you can be creative by partnering with other freelancers and establish a relationship in which you send each other work you cannot do; for example, a freelance designer partners with a freelance writer, and the designer sends his clients to the writer if they have writing jobs. The freelance writer does the same and sends his clients to the designer if they have design jobs.
If done strategically, this alone can serve as a source of more jobs than you can handle for you.
Partner With Agencies to Get Jobs
Also in line with partnering with other freelancers is partnering with agencies. The only difference is that agencies are more likely to have more job offers than individual freelancers.
You can identify SEO agencies, writing agencies and other agencies, and convince them to start offering design services to their clients while you do the work; they charge their clients more, they pay you a part of it and both you and the agency win.
Leverage Content Marketing to Get Clients by Blogging
Interestingly, many freelance web designers and developers have set up countless blogs for other people but they do not have one of their own.
According to data from Hubspot, businesses that blog generate significantly more leads than businesses that do not blog. It doesn’t take much effort to realize why this is the case; blogging — in essence, publishing content — means search engines have something to index and rank when people ask questions online. In turn, the people who read this content, if impressed, are potential clients that can use your services. Once you start your blog, use the following techniques to leverage your blog to boost your client portfolio:
Create in-depth tutorials about what your potential clients are struggling with
Do occasional critiques of some of the major organizations in the industry of your potential clients
Try to have articles published on other relevant blogs that link back to you
Make it clear on your blog, and in your bio in your articles, that you are a freelancer looking for work
Leverage Freelance Job Boards
Freelance job boards are one of the most popular means freelancers use to get jobs, but a mistake many people make is assuming that you can only get job offers on popular, and often overcrowded, job boards like Upwork.
In reality, there are many popular alternatives to sites like Upwork; not only are these sites less crowded, making it easier for you to get jobs, but they also often result in clients that pay more. They provide opportunities for designers, developers, writers and other freelancers.
Some top sites like this include CloudPeeps and Twago. A simple Google search will reveal many more.
Have a Waiting List for Clients
Pretty much every freelancer goes through the “feast or famine cycle.” The feast or famine cycle is a period where you have a lot of client opportunities at a time and little to none at other times; for most freelance writers, it happens every year. Sometimes, they have more work than they can handle and have to turn work down. At other times, however, they barely have enough work to keep food on the table.
The solution to avoiding this and ensuring that you have work all year round is to create a waiting list; whenever you have more work than you can handle, instead of having to turn clients away, you simply ask clients to sign up to your waiting list and tell them that you will reach out to them once you’re available for more work.
By doing this, you are getting permission from the clients you couldn’t work with to reach out to them when you are finally ready. While not all of them will eventually work with you, a good portion will, and this will ensure you have consistent work at all times.
Strategic Cold Pitching
Finally, mastering the art of strategic cold pitching will help you get more jobs than you know what to do with, season in and season out.
You will notice my emphasis on “strategic.” We all get those cold pitches that we immediately regard as spam, and our reaction is either to send them to the spam or trash folder. You don’t want to be lumped in the same category as these people.
Here are some tips to help you get results through strategic cold pitching:
First establish your credibility; if you’ve been featured in a major place, or if you’ve worked for a famous person, start by referencing this fact.
Make it clear that you know the person you are pitching; through their site, social media or elsewhere. If you’re a stranger, you’ll probably be ignored.
Tell them about the service you want to offer.
End by letting them know you’re open to questions/concerns they have.
When you conduct all UX Research close to a company’s home base, you run the risk of designing for a potentially homogenous group of users. A good user experience is a good user experience. So, if you create a good user experience, it should work for all your users, right? But regional exploration of users’ needs helps you uncover gems that turn a good user experience into a great user experience.
During the research I conducted for my company, differences appeared among geographical regions—for example, the North East versus the South versus the Midwest—as well as for different types of communities within those regions—rural versus suburban versus urban.
Maybe you’ve heard the refrain: “rural communities are slower to adopt technology.” The assumption is that rural communities get access to technology later than urban users. While present-day distribution services are making this reality less prevalent, the second tenet in user research is to validate our assumptions. (The first tenet being: “You are not your user.”) What our research showed us was that rural users were not slower to adopt technology. However, they did respect their local customs and standards of decorum, and the technology got in the way.
These users felt it was rude to place technology between themselves, as a service provider, and their customers. Users expressed this same sentiment across geographical lines—including users in Georgia, Missouri, and Idaho, as well as in a rural area of California just outside Silicon Valley.
What can a software development company do to overcome users’ manners, customs, and culture and increase usage rates among users in rural regions? Streamlining the workflow and tightening up the user interface so users can create or update records more efficiently helps. And this improves the user experience for all users.
However, designing a workflow so it passes seamlessly between team members lets users maintain that feeling of visiting with their customers. It enables users to work together to provide personal service to their customers and unobtrusively capture all the necessary data to facilitate customer purchases without offending local sensibilities.
Another common assumption is that urban users want everything to work faster because they’re always on the go. Our regional research findings revealed that it’s not so much about users being on the go. It’s that urban customers have the ability to leave and go down the block to another service provider.
In more densely populated, better-served regions, customers have more choices. If a customer experiences inefficiencies in a process with service provider A, he may walk out the door and take his business to service provider B. This is especially true if a customer might be able to complete his intended business in less time—factoring in the distance the customer must travel between service provider A and B—than if he were to wait through service provider A’s struggles with inefficient technology.
But simply streamlining workflows—which create a good user experience in general—wasn’t enough. The solution was to give users more control over how their customers progress through the purchase process. When customers had choices, they chose to work with service providers who could give them individualized attention.
If you don’t get out to see how your users actually work, you won’t fully understand their painpoints.
One of the most revealing days I had when doing user research for this company ended with my walking out of the conference room where I had spent the day conducting back-to-back research sessions to find three police cars lined up in front of the store and quite a conversation going on in the manager’s office across from that room.
All of a sudden I understood why this successful, high-volume auto dealership was using old, 1024×768 monitors. The monitors and PCs were installed behind a wall with a bar-height desktop that held the keyboard and mouse wired to each terminal. There was nowhere for customers to sit at these terminals. As a result, salespeople had to be super quick and efficient in looking up and entering information while customers were still excited about their test drive—before they had time to rethink their vehicle purchase.
The design team was creating beautiful, thorough, linear workflows that let users capture the entire customer story quickly, in one shot. However, while that might work for many users, it was a broken model for this dealership in a less than secure neighborhood. The solution was to break down data entry into small chunks and build more robust information-retrieval capabilities into the system to get the user back in front of the customer quickly.
The executives and product teams expected that users would be thrilled with the expanded, responsive screens and that the small percentage of users still working on older equipment would excitedly upgrade. Regional research revealed that this might not be universally true. More valuable equipment might attract more unwanted attention from opportunists. So the redesigned system would continue to support the 1024×768 screen size.
The biggest regional revelations came when doing research with Canadian users. The consulting, sales, and support teams were aware of differences in the business practices of our neighbors to the north and were helping those users utilize the system as effectively as possible.
Users found workarounds that fit their business practices and basically did the job. However, because the workarounds did the job, issues that were bubbling up in the field were slow to make it back to headquarters and weren’t actionable. Conducting research with users from Canada ensured the redesign accommodated the differences in their business practices.
Rewards
Regional UX research is rewarding. Users throughout North America enjoyed the chance to participate in the research. They welcomed the opportunity to share how they do business, how they interact with their customers, and how they use and would like to be able to use the system. They felt they were part of the design process.
By reaching out beyond customers who were in close proximity to headquarters and learning about regional dissimilarities, the company now has stronger relationships with its customers. In some cases, the results of conducting UX research turned around troubled accounts.
UX research also helped users to understand why they can’t have design changes tomorrow by demonstrating the process that goes into redesigning a rich, robust system. Explaining that we were conducting UX research throughout North America helped users to understand the time and process involved. Being involved in UX research excited users across the continent and earned their patience at the same time.
Our regional outreach built stronger cross-functional relationships within the company, too. Those boots-on-the-ground team members all across the continent felt more engaged with the design and development process. They got excited about what’s ahead. For some, this was the first time they had been given a voice in product development—even though they interact with customers and the products day in and day out. Working with these users also revealed that their work practices are different across different regions.
In the end, one of the strategic services directors declared gratefully, “You are making a positive difference in our future livelihoods!” By extending the reach of UX research beyond the company headquarters’ local region, we made a positive difference to users in 11,000 stores across North America, as well as the team members who support them. That is rewarding!
from UXmatters http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2016/07/the-three-rs-of-regional-ux-research-roadblocks-relevance-and-rewards.php
They go by many names – modal windows, dialog boxes, modal pop-ups – but whatever you call them, pop-ups have a reputation for being divisive when it comes to usability. Judging by the frequency of pop-up use on the average web page, UI designers and developers love these little guys.
However, users seem less enamored. Indeed, pop-ups certainly have a bad rap among the majority of users and a fair proportion of UX practitioners. So why are they still so prevalent? Over here at Justinmind we decided to do some investigation, canvas some user opinions and get the skinny from our in-house designers. Here is what we found out about the modal pop-up window and, more importantly, the best alternatives out there.
The Rise of the Modal Pop-up
Stripping things right back to basics, the attraction of the pop-up window in terms of raw functionality is not hard to grasp. As a graphical control element, the pop-up conveys to the user information that is related, yet subordinate to the main page content, blocking access to the main window until users interact with it. Aimed at temporarily interrupting user workflows, pop-ups are simple and effective at first glance; you want to communicate something to the user, you do it, ask them to respond and then everyone goes on their way, right?
The pop-up has a variety of uses, from delivering irrelevant pop-up spam to relevant content suggestions and confirmation calls. For UI designers the pop-up window quickly came to represent the “gift of newfound space“, according to UX Mag – a way to cater for last-minute additions or prune existing page content.
Looks like the modal pop-up is the answer to all your UI design real estate prayers, right? Problem is, according to usability and UX-perts, this is far from universally true.
Pop-up windows typically have a mixed reputation among both users and designers
The Popup Positives
Before addressing all the reasons why pop-ups so often find themselves in ‘most-hated UI element’ lists, the positives cannot and should not be dismissed. After all, when Justinmind carried out an online survey into ‘Are pop-ups here to stay?’ 21% of respondents replied in the affirmative, defending the power of the pop-up against the 23% who thought they were the devil’s design pattern and the 56% of fence-sitters. So let us look at some of the upsides to this UI element.
1. C is for Conversion Rates
First up, The Big C. Conversions. Most online content producers are looking for one thing above all – conversions. Whether that is in the form of email sign ups, downloads or purchases.
As far as raw statistics go, the conversion-focused pop-up takes some beating. Take for example the expansive claims made by Appsumo, who say their ListBuilder pop-up plug-in helped sites using the widget collect 110,313 emails in 30 days. Or Steven McDonald’s claims in User Testing.com, where he identifies his pop-ups as “the third biggest lead generator on the site.”
Why does this matter so much for e-commerce? In an online world where, according to Ott Niggulis in ConversionXL, 99% of site visitors don’t ‘buy’ on their first visit to your site but 75% intend to return to do so in the future, the modal pop-up seems like an irreplaceable tool for collecting follow-up email contacts. Why? It is all thanks to the power of ‘persuasion’, or interruption marketing.
Interruption marketing works, as anyone who has ever experienced tele-marketing or TV ad campaigns knows. It works in the sense that users have to stop what they are doing and deal with the marketing message presented to them. This is particularly true of modals because, to continue browsing a webpage, you have to interact with them and their message, even if it is just by clicking ‘close’.
The results of using conversion-focused pop-ups can be compelling. The University of Alberta had witnessed an increase in newsletter sign-ups when they introduced the sign-up form via a pop-up: from 1-2 sign ups a day they rose to 12-15 – still tiny numbers, but nonetheless a potent percentage increase.
Pop-ups boost conversion rates, but snooty microcopy can put users off
2. B is for Bounce Rates
But surely if you are interrupting your users all the time and diverting their navigation flows with pop-ups, they are going to bounce from your site, right? According ConversionXL, wrong. In the two examples cited by Niggulis, WPBeginner and Backlinko, the introduction of modal pop-up windows had zero effect on site bounce rates. Zero.
From a purely conversion perspective, pop-ups seem to work.
The Negatives
1. Big Numbers, Zero Engagement
So far, so awesome when speaking only about raw conversion stats. But sometimes numbers can be deceptive. Let us take a closer look at those ‘incredible’ newsletter sign-up rates. Mauro d’ Andrea found that engagement from subscribers garnered through pop-ups is significantly lower than that of autonomous sign-ups. So yes, you might boost your subscriber list, but be aware that those very same subscribers might never open your marketing mails, much less click through and convert.
2. Brand Credibility
In fact, pop-ups may be doing your brand harm even as they simultaneously boost conversions. Nielsen Norman Group, in their piece on ‘needy design patterns’, and more specifically exit-intent pop-ups (pop-ups that try to make you carry out an action before leaving the web page), identify that “needy patterns like the please-don’t-go popover … chip away at the presentation of a professional, confident website. They also damage users’ perceptions of credibility.”
Do not rely on users letting you know they are TO-ed with your pop-up: as Jon Reed points out, complaining is time-consuming, and “If you had a box on your site saying “do you hate our pop-ups,” I would have clicked “yes”.
It could be that the era of interruption marketing in general, and pop-ups in particular, is drawing to a close. Inbound marketing shows no signs of releasing its grip in the digital era, and in an increasingly crowded online marketplace, users are freer than ever to choose to which brands they pledge loyalty to. As Jon Reed says in his round rebuke to pop-ups, B2B audiences in particular are “looking for long-term relationships with experts they can trust.” If your product or content is good, chances are users will find their way to it without a pop-up.
Exit intent pop-ups can increase subscriber lists but can also make brands seem ‘needy’
3. User Experience and Usability
Let us get down to the nuts and bolts – how users feel about pop-ups. What is it like to experience a pop-up in the wild? Are users left frothing at the mouth at having useful content held hostage behind an intransigent pop-up?
Justinmind’s in-house UXer Sergi Arevalo points out that the answer is more complex than it you might first assume: “Despite pop-up windows having a variety of different functions and some applicable contexts, they can still be aggressive.” That is backed up by our online survey, in which numerous variations on “it depends on the context” to “devil’s design pattern” captured some of the ambivalence felt by users when faced with pop-ups they found unhelpful.
It seems context is king when it comes to pop-ups. In terms of advertising, the stats are enlightening: 70% of US users are annoyed by pop-up ads, and according to SearchEngineLand, the primary reason for blocking a site is annoying ads. Of course, not all pop-ups are ad pop-ups, and some pop-ups add value. As Sergi points out, “they’re ideal if you want to show related content while keeping the user on the same page, and for a designer they’re a great way to add focused value within a reduced area.” Pop-ups – it is complicated.
4. Mobile Modals
There might be one clear case however when pop-ups are persona non-grata. Way back when the pop-up first appeared on interfaces, most of us were interacting with desktop devices by pointing and clicking. It is fairly easy to close an annoying pop-up with a mouse gesture. But we are now living in the mobile era, and pop-ups have failed to morph with the times.
Pop-ups are a tough call for designers of mobile UIs. Different operating systems require different designs. The usual top-right close button is way out of the thumb zone and tricky to hit accurately, and all too often mobile pop-ups fail to resize adequately, leaving users scrolling around desperately looking for the ‘close’. Basically, as UX Mag points out, modal pop-ups “just don’t work well on tablets and mobile devices“.
So Can a Pop-up Ever Make for Good UX?
If you listen to Jon Reed then the answer is definitely no: “pop-ups, by definition, ruin user experience.” But despite its aforementioned negative aspects, in certain web apps or desktop interfaces the pop-up can be a welcome addition.
On our Justinmind survey, respondents pointed out that modal pop-ups could be vital when used to guide users through a potentially confusing process, or provide necessary information. UXmag points out that in programs or apps that require user confirmation or certain actions, modal pop-ups are an unbeatable way of focusing user attention before irreversible actions are carried out.
If you are designing this kind of software our UXer Sergi recommends running A/B tests on how best to communicate with users. It might be that your interactively prototyped pop-ups actually go down better with users if they see the true value of the interruption.
However, be aware that A/B tests between two pop-ups will only give you the best of two worlds. Run an option without pop-ups to see what kind of experience users truly value.
How to do Pop-ups Right
If you do eventually incorporate a modal pop-up into your UI, it is probably wise to establish some best practice guidelines. Our survey revealed that users were willing to accept a pop-up if it:
Forced them to confirm an action or decision at a crucial moment in the workflow
Gave them useful feedback or advice
Focused them on a single, relevant piece of content (‘relevant’ is important here)
Users probably are not going to fall in love with your pop-ups even if done impeccably, but they might not abandon your site and curse your brand name.
Users will accept a pop-up if its objective is to confirm workflow decisions
Here is some advice fresh from the Justinmind design team:
Despite what ConversionXL claims, resist the temptation to be a smart-ass when it comes to copy, because no one likes belittling microcopy, really. Instead, positive calls to action and microcopy that genuinely add value to the user, not just to your brand, are important.
Track your pop-ups with cookies so you do not show the same users the same cookie repeatedly. Of course, you are assuming the same user will access your site with the same browser from the same device all the time. On a side-note, HubSpot should really do this: every time I go to their blog they ask me if I want to sign up for updates, something that I did months ago.
Offer users valuable content and incentives, not junk. And do not just ask them for their contact details – that makes for creepy UX. How about user-friendly pop-ups which do not ask for jack, and instead send readers to a free resources page? A welcome interruption for many.
Think carefully about timing and position. SumoMe found that the best (ie most conversion friendly) time to introduce a pop-up was after a user had been on a site 5 seconds, but in terms of UX this is probably way mistaken. Why would a user want to engage with your brand or content if they have not even had time to evaluate it? Do not hold your users hostage to your conversion rates.
If you are designing for mobile, follow UX Mag’s advice and place the ‘touch = targets’ where users can reach them based on usage scenarios (and thumb zone). Place the close tab in the lower right corner and do not ask users to scroll around the pop-up.
Most importantly, every time you design a pop-up, ask yourself the question “Do my users really need this interruption?” Most often they will not. Like one of our survey respondents said, “only use a hammer when you need a hammer.”
The Take-Away
Evaluating the user experience impact of modal pop-ups is, as seen, a complex business. While it may seem intuitive to assume that pop-ups automatically ruin the usability of a web or mobile app, the statistics shed light on a more a complex landscape in which users implicitly understand the importance of context.
They are not going to throw their arms around you in gratitude for designing an interface with full-screen SIGN UP HERE pop-ups and patronizing microcopy, but then again they probably (probably!) will not abandon your site.
They will thank you, however, if you work in a pop-up that elucidates rather than obfuscates, that prioritizes their needs rather than your conversion desires. You may need to play the long-game, but judicious use of pop-ups and, as always, a focus on usability, will win users’ respect and ultimately, their loyalty.
