The hottest User Experience Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

#60 - André Neves, LNM parabolic growth & Lightning friends

LN Markets’ Newsletter • 39 implied HN points • 21 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Bitcoin Gaming Payments User Experience Blockchain
  1. André Neves is deeply involved in the Bitcoin ecosystem through ZEBEDEE, NBD, and Vinteum.
  2. Bitcoin and Lightning Network are transforming the gaming industry with instant, low-fee transactions.
  3. Improving UX around self-custody and simplifying interactions with Lightning Network are key for broader Bitcoin adoption.
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How to (consistently) get 4.8* App Ratings [Storytime Saturdays]

Technology Made Simple • 1 HN point • 30 Mar 24
🕹 Technology App Development User Experience iOS Startup Growth
  1. Consistently achieve high app ratings like 4.8". It's not easy, but it's simple. Understand two key concepts: asking for reviews and identifying 'wow' moments.
  2. Requesting app reviews is crucial. Users rarely leave reviews on their own, so ask for feedback using StoreKit APIs in iOS and strategically place these requests at key points in your app's critical path.
  3. Focus on delivering 'wow' moments in your app, ask for reviews at that peak point. Balancing user satisfaction with review requests on the critical path is essential for maintaining a high app rating.

Week 50 - 🙇‍♂️Unpacking the Power of Product Thinking: A Deep Dive

The Product Channel By Sid Saladi • 23 implied HN points • 30 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Product Development User Experience Innovation User engagement Frameworks
  1. Product thinking focuses on understanding user needs and crafting solutions that enrich lives.
  2. Product thinking drives innovation by questioning the status quo and creating user engagement through tailored solutions.
  3. Key principles of product thinking include deeply understanding user needs, challenging assumptions, envisioning future states, and promoting user engagement through great experiences.

How to Sell Products and Retain Customers

Sarah's Newsletter • 119 implied HN points • 12 Apr 22
💼 Business Marketing Customer Retention Product Development User Experience Data Analysis
  1. Understand your audience and solve their real problems to attract and retain customers.
  2. Provide a smooth onboarding experience to help users transition from inefficient processes to using your product.
  3. Customers who find your product valuable will be forgiving of small bugs, but focus on seamless integration within their ecosystem.

#3 - The benefits of white space

A Good Interface • 19 implied HN points • 23 Aug 23
🪑 Design UX Graphic design User Experience
  1. White space is crucial in design, existing between elements to enhance clarity and organization.
  2. White space is not wasted space; it guides users, showcases important information, and brings a sense of calmness to interfaces.
  3. Effective use of white space improves user experience, leads users through logical grouping, focuses attention on key elements, and reflects a game's branding and tone of voice.

The most valuable MVP

Better After a Nap • 19 implied HN points • 22 Aug 23
🕹 Technology Product Development User Experience Tech industry Research
  1. The initial product or feature is not static; teams always have plans to iterate and improve after launch.
  2. User contexts, expectations, and external factors like technology evolution, legislation, and resource constraints require continuous refinement of products.
  3. The true MVP in product development is the customer, who expects fully formed, functional products, not works in progress.

Timeline Violence

Seeking Tribe • 12 implied HN points • 11 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Social media Content Monetization User Experience
  1. Social media platforms need to prioritize free expression and diverse perspectives to prevent radicalization and misinformation.
  2. Incentivizing inflammatory content through monetization can lead to a toxic online environment with severe consequences.
  3. Improving platform features and user experience can enhance the quality of online interactions and promote positive engagement.

Unreasonable Support: Design for the Unhappy Path

The Kahneman Bot • 2 HN points • 19 Feb 24
🪑 Design UX Product Customer Support User Experience
  1. Designing for the unhappy path in user experiences is crucial for creating user loyalty and retention.
  2. Unhappy path design can trigger a sense of reciprocity in users, leading to positive responses to issues or faults.
  3. Providing what users perceive as unreasonable levels of support can result in long-term loyalty and cost-effective retention strategies.

B2C vs B2B vs B2B2E CIAM

ciamweekly • 1 HN point • 11 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Authentication Online Security User Experience Integration
  1. B2C, B2B, and B2B2E applications require different approaches to customer identity and access management (CIAM) systems.
  2. B2C applications aim at end consumers, requiring smooth registration and authentication processes due to user choice.
  3. B2B and B2B2E applications cater to business and employee users, with focus on organization structures, payment collection, and different authentication needs.

Why Mastodon?

Digital Epidemiology • 19 implied HN points • 04 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Social media Open Source Decentralization User Experience Engagement
  1. Mastodon is like Twitter but open source and decentralized, making it the future of social media.
  2. Mastodon's open-source nature allows for enormous creativity with various apps and user experiences.
  3. Being decentralized, Mastodon offers users choice, control, and a niche platform with a more engaging and pleasant tone compared to mainstream social media.

The Problem with Chat

Maximum Tinkering • 19 implied HN points • 04 May 23
🕹 Technology User Experience Artificial Intelligence Design Product Development
  1. Chat interfaces offer a user-friendly way to interact with computer systems, making tasks easier than traditional forms.
  2. As chat interfaces become more common in software products, the challenge of providing guidance amidst endless possibilities arises.
  3. Innovations like starting conversations with pre-set questions and providing a menu of interactive options help address the issue of choice overload in chat interfaces.

Standardized usability questionnaires: which one to use?

UX Psychology • 79 implied HN points • 16 Dec 21
🕹 Technology Usability User Experience Research Metrics
  1. Standardized usability questionnaires have many advantages like objectivity, reliability, and validity.
  2. There are various post-test standardized usability questionnaires available, such as QUIS, SUMI, PSSUQ, SUS, and SUPR-Q, each with unique features and applications.
  3. Choosing the right questionnaire depends on factors like the nature of the project, stage of research, goals of the study, and budget limitations.

How to optimize button microcopy

UX Psychology • 79 implied HN points • 04 Nov 21
🕹 Technology UX Design User Experience
  1. Microcopy plays three main roles: motivate a user to take action, help guide the user, provide feedback on the actions taken
  2. Effective button microcopy uses action verbs instead of generic words to clearly describe the user action, matches the button copy with the action, and maintains consistency in writing
  3. Good microcopy should be transparent, avoid jargon, pay attention to capitalization, and be user-centered with testing and understanding user needs

Guiding Choices in UX: The Role and Ethics of Nudging

UX Psychology • 1 HN point • 01 Mar 24
🕹 Technology UX Design Behavioral Economics Psychology Ethics User Experience
  1. Nudging is a technique based on behavioral economics that gently guides people towards beneficial choices while allowing freedom of choice.
  2. Nudges leverage cognitive biases and mental shortcuts to influence behavior positively and enhance the user experience in various contexts.
  3. Using nudges in UX requires caution to avoid pitfalls like over-reliance on defaults, ethical concerns, undermining trust, and unintended consequences.

Standardized usability questionnaires: post-task measures

UX Psychology • 59 implied HN points • 23 Dec 21
🕹 Technology Usability Psychometrics User Experience Testing
  1. Post-task questionnaires capture user impressions immediately after a task, offering insights into user experience.
  2. Popular post-task questionnaires include the After-Scenario Questionnaire (ASQ), Subjective Mental Effort Question (SMEQ), and Expectation ratings (ER), each providing valuable usability feedback.
  3. When conducting usability studies, using multiple post-task questionnaires, like ASQ and SEQ, is recommended for a better understanding of user perceptions.

Psychological time and UX

UX Psychology • 59 implied HN points • 07 Oct 21
🕹 Technology UX Psychology Design User Experience
  1. Psychological time, influenced by factors like anxiety and cultural background, affects how we perceive waiting time.
  2. Changing passive wait time to active engagement can significantly improve user experience in various scenarios.
  3. To enhance user experience, minimizing traditional wait times and engaging users with activities can create a more enjoyable waiting experience.

People don't want to think more than they have to

UX Psychology • 39 implied HN points • 04 Mar 22
🔬 Science Psychology User Experience Decision-making Human behavior
  1. People prefer to take the path of least resistance and avoid thinking too much, unless necessary.
  2. The principle of least effort influences decision-making and problem-solving by favoring easier, quicker Type 1 thinking over more effortful Type 2 thinking.
  3. In UX design, creating seamless and effortless experiences that align with users' preferences for Type 1 thinking can enhance user satisfaction and engagement.

An Interview with Ian Fieggen, Shoelace Expert

Syntopikon • 11 HN points • 17 Apr 23
🪑 Design Illustration Web Design Graphics User Experience
  1. Ian Fieggen, known as 'Professor Shoelace,' has compiled extensive shoelace information in various formats for over two decades.
  2. Fieggen uses outdated tools like an old PC running Windows 8 and ancient graphics software to continue his work.
  3. Shoelaces, often underestimated, have led to creative solutions and improvements for different needs, like hiking or running.

Heuristic evaluation vs. user testing

UX Psychology • 39 implied HN points • 20 Jan 22
🕹 Technology UX Design User Experience Software Development Research Studies
  1. Heuristic Evaluation involves experts examining an interface to find good and bad points, following specific industry standards for evaluation.
  2. User Testing is a more effective method since real users perform tasks on the interface, detecting major usability issues and providing valuable insights.
  3. While Heuristic Evaluation is quicker and cheaper, User Testing offers better performance estimates and detects more significant problems that affect user experience.

5-second tests: Measuring first impressions

UX Psychology • 39 implied HN points • 29 Nov 21
🕹 Technology Design Usability Research User Experience
  1. The 5-second test is a form of usability testing to measure users' first impressions of a design by showing them a fixed interface for a short time.
  2. Aesthetic elements influence users' first impressions, which form quickly within the first few seconds of viewing a design. Designers have a limited time to make a good first impression.
  3. The 5-second test is effective for assessing perceived usability and initial reactions to an interface, but it does not measure actual usability or comprehension of complex information.

What’s the best way to display dates to international users?

UX Psychology • 19 implied HN points • 10 Aug 22
🕹 Technology Design User Experience UX Design
  1. Date formatting should consider international users as different cultures have varying ways of expressing dates.
  2. ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DD) can help avoid confusion in international date communication.
  3. Design date-entry fields with user familiarity and comfort in mind, using intuitive formats, labels, and separators to prevent errors.

UX is more than just usability or look and feel

A Better Designed World • 7 implied HN points • 16 Feb 23
🕹 Technology UX Design Product Development User Experience E-commerce
  1. UX is composed of five key areas that include usability, utility, functional integrity, visual design, and persuasiveness.
  2. Good UX balances all five areas; a product might excel in one but lacking in others.
  3. Usability is crucial for a product to be easily learnable and memorable; utility determines the value; functional integrity focuses on reliability; visual design impacts appeal and perception; persuasiveness drives conversions and user engagement.

What makes Notion so special

subtract • 5 implied HN points • 07 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Product Design AI User Experience Integration Artificial Intelligence
  1. Notion's design is centered around two key primitives: 'block' and 'page' that make it familiar and easy to use.
  2. Notion's commitment to a single primitive 'block' allows for future growth and adding new features without complexity.
  3. The 'page' primitive in Notion enhances user experience by enabling flexibility and accommodating various types of content.

Best practices for moderated user testing

UX Psychology • 19 implied HN points • 09 Dec 21
🕹 Technology User Experience UX Design
  1. Moderated user testing requires active participation of a moderator and can be done in person or remotely.
  2. Moderators play key roles like being a gracious host, leader, and neutral observer during usability testing.
  3. To excel in moderated user testing, prepare well, manage time effectively, build trust with users, maintain a clear session structure, and use prompts, probes, and assists appropriately.