Welcome to the January edition of the Userfocus usability newsletter.
- Message from the Editor
- Feature article: 12 ways to turbocharge your usability career
- What we're reading
- Upcoming training courses
- User experience quotation of the month
Message from the Editor
I regularly get emails from people wanting advice on making a career in user experience. A typical correspondent asks me to recommend a course or suggest an employer, but my usual advice is to develop a passion for user experience. Passion provides a focus to your career, prevents you from giving up on difficult challenges, and inspires others. Whether you're just starting out in user experience or you're a seasoned professional, it's never too late to find your passion. So this month, in keeping with the new year resolution theme, I've put together a list of 12 ideas to help you find that passion and boost your career.
Enjoy the newsletter.
Feature article: 12 ways to turbocharge your usability career
Do you spend so much time firefighting that you forget to think about your career? January is as good a time as any to think about improving your career prospects so here are some tips to help you get more from your job — or even get a better job. Presented as 12 bite-sized, monthly activities, do just one a month and watch your career take off this year. Read the article in full: 12 ways to turbocharge your usability career.
What we're reading
Some interesting usability-related articles that got our attention over the last month:
- Fascinating collection of real-life A/B tests to pit your usability skills against.
- If you ever need to explain to someone what faceted or 'guided' navigation is about, you could do a lot worse than use this excellent example of faceted navigation.
- Detailed, highly visual guide critically comparing Apple's 'before' and 'after' checkout flow.
- The tricks of persuasion built into restaurant menus.
- Will Demand Media kill quality content? If you create web content, you should read this. (And weep, probably).
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Usability Training: Now Booking
Web Usability, January 20-21, London
For web designers who want hands-on experience with usability tools and techniques, "Web Usability" is a 2-day immersion seminar that shows delegates how to boost sales and conversion rates, increase usage and improve customer satisfaction. Unlike shorter introductory courses, this in-depth workshop covers the entire design and development lifecycle. More information about this training course: Web Usability training.
A Practical Guide to Usability Testing, February 18, London
For people in design teams who want to gain confidence in usability testing, "A practical guide to usability testing" is a 1-day workshop that shows delegates how to obtain customer feedback on prototypes and finished products. Unlike lecture-based courses, delegates get practical, hands-on experience moderating and logging usability tests. More information about this training course: Usability testing training.
How to carry out a usability expert review, March 16, London
For people in design teams who need to spot usability problems in prototypes and finished products, "How to carry out a usability expert review" is a 1-day seminar that teaches delegates cost-effective methods to evaluate designs. Unlike courses in usability testing, this seminar teaches delegates how to find and fix usability problems without involving end users. More information about this training course: Expert review training.
User Experience quotation of the month
"If you know a thing only qualitatively, you know it no more than vaguely. If you know it quantitatively — grasping some numerical measure that distinguishes it from an infinite number of other possibilities — you are beginning to know it deeply. You comprehend some of its beauty and you gain access to its power and the understanding it provides." — Carl Sagan.
Hungry for more?
Foundation Certificate in UX
Gain hands-on practice in all the key areas of UX while you prepare for the BCS Foundation Certificate in User Experience. More details
Newsletter archive
Look back over previous newsletters in the newsletter archive.