Day 71 - Tip Toolbox - AIDA Formula for Content Marketing

If you create copy and content you should know this classic formula that's been used by advertisers and marketers for decades.  This framework is used for all media whether it's advertising, emails, websites, radio, etc.

see AIDA

1. Attention: Get their attention.
2. Interest: Keep them interested with interesting facts.
3. Desire: Make them really want to buy it.
4. Action: Get them to take the action you want.

Add the AIDA formula to your toolbox!

Day 70 - 7 Persona Characteristics

A persona is a way to model, summarize, and communicate research about customers.  The fictional character in a persona is depicted as a specific person but synthesized from observing many customers. Building a persona?  It should have these 7 characteristics:

• Social and demographic attributes
• Needs, desires, motivations, goals
• Consumer habits and behaviors
• Expertise
• Cultural background
• Must do, must never
• Customer experience goals

Day 69 - 5 Mobile Design Tips We Sometimes Forget

1. Lead the user toward the next step.
2. Match your interactions to your platform.
3. Use clear and simple icons.
4. Less is more.
5. Not everyone speaks English; remember your international users and see number 3 above!

Day 68 - Interaction Design Tip - One Time Actions

You may need to have users perform an action one time and communicate that the action will not be performed again.  For example if the user is doing an install.

• In this case the solution would be a button labeled "install".
• The button can have a subtle animation when pressed.
• Transform the button into a label specifying the result of the action, e.g. "Installing".

These steps can be generalized into other one time actions by using buttons and labels to communicate the status of the actions.

Day 67 - Interaction Design Motion - Disney Animation Principles

With mobile app platforms and emerging technologies becoming more immersive and dynamic, it's important to understand animation as a ux or interaction designer.

These are Disney's 12 Rules of Animation:

1. Squash and stretch
2. Anticipation
3. Staging
4. Straight ahead / pose-to-pose
5. Follow through / overlapping-action
6. Slow in and out
7. Arcs
8. Secondary action
9. Timing
10. Exaggeration
11. Solid drawing
12. Appeal

Day 66 - 'Sign In' vs. 'Log In'

This isn't written in stone but as a rule of thumb use "Sign up" & "Log in".  The second word is lower case unless your capitalizing all the words on all your buttons.  "Log in" is the verb form while "login" is a noun.  If it's an action use the verb form.  Also use "Log out".

Day 65 - Empathy and Collaboration in Design Thinking

Design Thinking is a process designers can use to create solutions that match people's needs. The process looks something like this:

1. Empathize
2. Define
3. Ideate
4. Prototype
5. Test

Two things that must permeate the design thinking process are empathy and collaboration with the target audience.

Empathy is a feeling of affinity with others that is a soft skill. As a ux designer or product manager, you must continually possess and develop it in order to create useful solutions for your customers.

Collaborate with your target audience by directly talking to them to understand the context and culture of your users. As you gain an understanding by using direct observation and qualitative data, you can articulate the problem out of which you create user stories and solutions.

Day 64 - 10 Call to Action Tips

A "call to action" (CTA) is an instruction to the user that prompts an immediate response such as "Sign Up Now" or "Create an Account".

1. The human mind expects the call to action. It's part of the logical progression of a landing page.
2. Design your page in a logical flow that creates anticipation for your call to action.
3. Make your call to action obvious.
4. Avoid overkill to action.
5. The call to action should be simple. Make it concise and compelling.
6. Clearly offer value to the user for taking action.
7. Tantalize with curiosity (but again, see number 6 above and always offer value).
8. Have your call to action reinforce a psychological sense for reward.
9. Use color to emphasize your call to action.
10. Have one main call to action per task.