Exclusion by generalization

How often do designers struggle when presented with a new user interface? It may take us a few moments to read it, but because our cognitive muscle is so developed for these tasks it takes far less time than an individual that doesn't work in this industry. It's even harder when an interface was designed …

Sending the right message with form validation

Error messages. Those little things everyone hates to see. As designers, we like to design the best possible experience for getting users through the task at hand. But it's our job to put as much consideration into error states as we do the success flow. Any error messages we show to users should provide helpful …

Fidelity matters

When trying to communicate a design idea in a work environment, it is essential that you do so in the most effective way possible for all parties involved. You want to be as clear and as purposeful as possible, and make sure the delivered message lends itself to meaningful feedback and action. How you communicate …

How we build empathy for our customers

In my last post, I wrote how we use interviews to learn about our customers. They allow us to ask them questions and in their responses we find insights and get inspired. In this post, I’d like to share some other ways we build empathy for the people using our products. Support Rotation 💬 It starts …

Consistency isn’t just good for users; it’s good for us, too

As a Theme Wrangler, I'm a member of the team here at Automattic that builds, maintains and reviews the themes on WordPress.com. Right now we have over 380 themes available for folks to pick from. Each theme is its own little microcosm, a standalone bundle of files and functions. The differences between these themes can …