Edinburgh UX event - 2 October 2012

There's a really interesting sounding session happening next week in Edinburgh - Driven to distraction: a presentation by Giles Colborne from cxpartners. It's the latest event put on by UXPA Scotland (was the Scottish UPA).

Tips for aspiring UX practitioners

Delia Rusu writes for uxmatters.com about why you don't need a title to be a UX professional. While some of her examples are tied to her profession as a technical writer, there are some useful points for anyone trying to prioritise the user experience within their work.

UX modelling templates & resources

I'm really enjoying a book at the moment - Communicating the User Experience - which takes the reader through a series of techniques, working towards a user centred website or application. Best of all the resources from the book are freely available.

People & strategy over technology

Reading a brief  and spot-on post by Paul Boag (Invest in people and not just technology) set me off reflecting on our situation at the University of Edinburgh. I also did a bit of digging deeper into articles on web governance and how if organisations are really going to have online reputations that match where they are offline, organisationally things really need to change.

Analytics - essential practices

This paper from UXmag provides 10 essential steps to setting up and using analytics properly. To be honest, I think the first 4 aren't really about analytics at all - more about an effective, focused website.

How little users read - lessons from familiar tube signs

I've noticed a few blog posts doing the rounds in the past week highlighting some fantastic guerilla art. Tweaking London Tube signs with hilarious consequences. What struck me is the number of people who just won't be noticing them.

If your online shopping experience happened in person - video

If your online shopping experience happened in real life... This nice little 2 minute video sketch created by Google to promote Analytics raised a smile. Or was it a grimace?

Google cross-platform research findings

A new study conducted by Google and research partners reveals how we conduct online tasks across platforms, beginning on one device but completing on another.