What can five high school girls do with a great mobile app idea in just twelve weeks? The Technovation Challenge team I recently mentored identified a problem in their community, built an Android app prototype from scratch to solve this problem, and pitched it to judges from around the world. Yes, after winning Regionals with [...]
By now, you’ve heard all the buzz about Sheryl Sandberg’s new book Lean In and the ways for women to think about their career. After reading this book and attending the Accenture International Women’s Day, I realized this concept isn’t just for women. Men can get a lot out of this book, too. Regardless of [...]
While usability testing is critical to ensuring overall success of an experience, it’s not the only user testing method going. We want to share a quick cheat sheet to some of the most effective UX research methods we practice here at AnswerLab that you may not have tried. Learn what they are, when to use them, and why you should.
Technology is shaking up healthcare – and not just with advances in medical devices and electronic medical records. Each of us is poised to become our own mobile lab simply by harnessing technology that’s already in our pockets. While the health-minded have been using mini devices to monitor daily movement (e.g. Fitbit) or track their [...]
Given my background in digital user experience research and psychology, it’s perhaps no surprise that I was immediately intrigued when I first heard of Lumosity. Many of us go to great lengths to make sure our body is and stays fit. But what do we do to make sure our brain stays fit? Science suggests: play games!
I recently read the article What’s The Future Of The Sharing Economy? It got me thinking about the new opportunities made possible by our increased connectivity. Technology is enabling people to share goods, time, and expertise very efficiently and in a way that creates new streams of income for the people who join in these [...]
A new season of Mad Men begins on April 7, and with it may come continued exposure to the critical role of focus groups in market research. Focus groups have become objects of scorn by some, bogged down with a bad rap for pitfalls like “group think,” dominant or under-engaged respondents, and participants a bit [...]
Mobile sites have evolved into a critical consumer touchpoint that impacts retention and conversion and ultimately the overall value of a brand. With 24/7 access, a mobile site is an essential element of a cross-platform, full digital strategy, allowing brands to deliver marketing or unique experiences in a totally different way from other channels. That’s why it is crucial to quantitatively measure the user experience on a mobile site to understand behaviors on the channel, track KPIs, ensure the user experience is optimized, and identify pain points and strategies for ongoing enhancements to drive overall engagement and provide an exceptional user experience.
Technology changes so quickly that it can be challenging to keep up. Those of us working in agile, tech-driven environments often feel the pressure of staying ahead of trends and developing products that meet not just current, but more importantly, future needs. But how do we do that? To get at the heart of that [...]
These days, exceptional user experience isn’t a nice-to-have; it separates the winning businesses from the middling ones. Building a great user experience means understanding your customers through research. Conducting research doesn’t have to be a long, exhaustive, or expensive process. Like technology, research is evolving, too! When UX researchers use terms like “lean” and “agile” [...]
