Category: UX Design

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Review: Targeting a Digital / Physical Retail Experience

I did not grow up with big box stores but boy do I really enjoy a good Target (or shall I say Targét given the fancy designer collaborations they do from time to time)! And, because I do shop at Target, I’ve become very familiar with their iOS app (if you know me, I’m an Apple person so can only speak to this version).

The Target app is probably one of the best apps I’ve seen in the retail space hands down. It does a phenomenal job of blending the digital and physical shopping experiences in a seamless way. The UX of the app captures an understanding that Target’s customers will take their phone everywhere, including into their local store, and in that context it becomes a companion to guide you through the store. Alternatively, it’s just as simple to sit on your couch and have stuff delivered straight to your door either from your local store in minutes or via a warehouse in days. Continue reading “Review: Targeting a Digital / Physical Retail Experience”

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Dark Patterns Law in California

I’ve previously written about dark patterns because, on their face, they represent an ethical problem in technology. Just because you can make it difficult for a customer to close a pop-up, for example, doesn’t mean you should. And, as we know now, technologists do not take an oath to behave ethically (quite the opposite with the proliferation of the ethos “move fast and break shit”) and the government has neglected to regulate.

Until now, that is. California has a new law on the books to address this that complements the California Consumer Privacy Act.
Continue reading “Dark Patterns Law in California”

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A Fitness Tracker for Lightweights: the Motiv Ring

Over the summer, I was complaining to a colleague about my love/hate relationship with fitness trackers. I fell in love with the Fitbit for a few years but I found their trackers didn’t really last. That’s something I’m less inclined to be okay with given how much more I pay attention now to where my waste goes. And, the other factor important for me is a tracker that fits nicely under my boxing gloves — something that sometimes wrist-based trackers aren’t always great at.

My colleague then suggested I check out the Motiv fitness tracker.

On the surface, I was excited so naturally I ordered it immediately. The price point ($199.99) made it not so expensive that it seemed unattainable but definitely pricey enough so that I had some expectations about it being moderately good going in. After using it for a couple of months now, I can walk you through the good, the bad and my closing thoughts on whether it’s a good buy or not.
Continue reading “A Fitness Tracker for Lightweights: the Motiv Ring”

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An Exercise in Frustration Online

When I’m not writing this blog, I spend a lot of my time at work. For a living, I manage digital products, specifically web applications, for a well-known and respected brand. And, if I’m being honest, I’ve been using and making for the web for the better part of half of my existence on this earth! All of this is to say, I know a thing or two when it comes to what works, and what doesn’t.

I’d like to share a story about an experience that didn’t work so well for me and how I’d recommend fixing it.

Ever since I moved, I’ve been thinking about switching up my gym routine. The other day, I was scrolling through Instagram (as one does) and saw something about Rise By We. Based on the post, it looked like they had a boxing or kickboxing program which I’d be really into since I’ve been doing Muay Thai for years now. Intrigued and because they mentioned something about a free intro class, I clicked on the link from my phone to arrive at RiseByWe.com.

The homepage set an odd tone. The “Refer a Friend” button is more prominent than I’d expect — it blocks the marketing copy that someone went to great efforts to write. Meanwhile, that copy is changing at an interval (in the screenshot below, the blue words are constantly changing so as I’m trying to make sense of what’s behind that button, it goes away.

Refer a Friend? But I don't even know if I actually like you yet!
Refer a Friend? But I don’t even know if I actually like you yet!

I can get around this, it’s just some marketing, but I’m curious — where is this place? In essence, realistically, does this gym work with my getting to work/home routines? I decide to check out the navigation menu (the delectably named “hamburger” menu for all you insiders) to see where it’s located. Continue reading “An Exercise in Frustration Online”

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Review: Nest Hello

With stars in our eyes as we admired a little red house that was in our budget — and in a safe, walkable neighborhood near public transit — we overlooked a lot of little issues and placed an offer.

Fast forward to living in the house and we noticed a small, nagging issue (one of those we overlooked): no doorbell.

I figured we’d just go to Home Depot and buy a regular shmegular doorbell but my husband declined this option. He’s not a technophile or super into keeping with the Joneses or anything like that. In fact, as a woman working in technology teams, I’ve always been the tech nerd of this couple. However, when it came to the doorbell, he insisted we get a video doorbell. Essentially, with the blank slate of nothing existing to replace, let’s go big or go home!

Continue reading “Review: Nest Hello”
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Houzz: Mobile isn’t always Better

Now that we have a house, I feel like I can finally utilize all the core competencies I’ve been building watching approximately a bajillion hours of HGTV. Of course, on TV every contractor is lithe, attractive and looking out for your best interest. In reality, it’s more like you are lucky if they aren’t weird and/or shafting you.

Hearing about so many horror stories, I was really happy to discover apps that can help with sourcing and vetting vendors. One of those is Houzz, but their mobile app leaves a lot to be desired. In fact, I believe some features are buried and perhaps it’s because the organization is not ready to invest in their success. Continue reading “Houzz: Mobile isn’t always Better”

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Another Perspective on Stuff You Fill Out

I was scrolling through Twitter today when a Tweet by someone I don’t follow about a topic I’m privileged not to be intimately familiar with happened to catch my eye:

I say I’m privileged because, while I joke about being blind because I’ve been wearing glasses since 2nd grade, I’m not actually impaired. I’ve never had to experience this wild and wonderful thing we call the internet without the gift of sight. And, throughout my career as a web developer, accessibility was often an after-thought.

Continue reading “Another Perspective on Stuff You Fill Out”

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Dark Patterns

Sometimes things happen and they are just coincidence and sometimes things happen, especially on the internet, and someone explicitly went out of their way to make that happen. You may find this when you are casually browsing a retail site for a pair of shoes and then, through the magic of something called “retargeting,” you keep seeing advertisements for that same pair of shoes. At this point, we all see this coming so it doesn’t come as a surprise.

Everyone is tracking us everywhere — and sometimes we willingly let them track us by volunteering information about ourselves (i.e. what we all do on Facebook day in and day out). This is okay as long as everyone’s complicit; when the product you are using is free, YOU are the product (the selling of information about you to target selling you stuff, in essence).

What I find far more disturbing is a trend toward dark patterns that I’m seeing in the design of products. I define a dark pattern as a product that takes you somewhere that you as a user don’t want to go. It’s intentionally leading you to something you may not want — usually the end game is to lead you to something that is profitable for the product but not so great for the consumer.

Dark Bouquet by Jen Gallardo
Dark Bouquet by Jen Gallardo

Continue reading “Dark Patterns”

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In the Eye of a Hurricane

In case you’ve been living under a rock, there was a massive hurricane that impacted the Gulf Coast (Hurricane Harvey) and now another even bigger storm heading toward southern Florida (Hurricane Irma). I’ve now gotten to the point where I’ve typed the word hurricane too many times; so much so that I’m starting to doubt that I’m spelling it correctly.

I knew some people in Harvey’s path but most of my family could potentially be in Irma’s path so it’s more top of mind for me. I haven’t yet turned on the (cable) news because I have a feeling it’s going to be devastation porn so, in order to get a sense of where this storm is going, I’ve been looking at my Weather Underground app (which I love) that has a hurricane tracker and also googling a bit for pieces of information here and there.

And this is where technology gets a little weird. Continue reading “In the Eye of a Hurricane”