UX Heuristics, Cognitive Crutches & A Process for Simplifying Application UI

The world around us can be overwhelming most of the time, especially during global pandemics and with social turbulence occurring on a daily basis.

When we think about how our minds comprehend the vast amounts of information around us, one of the cognitive tools our minds use is pattern recognition.  We hear a lot about pattern recognition in Artificial intelligence, this is because programmers are attempting to mimic human mental cognition.

This so-called pattern recognition, from a User Experience and Psychological perspective is called Heuristics.  A Heuristic can be seen at play in almost all walks of human life.

by Damon Sanchez Nov 5, 2020

The Psychology of Experiences - An Attempt at Understanding The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

Why do experiences stir a positive or negative emotion? When do many ideas cohesively gel into a larger memory?  How do our feelings mesh together into thoughts about our interactions and as customers or consumers, when do we personify a brand?

In this blog post we are going to explore Branding experiences (BX) and Customer experiences (CX) and how we go about fostering and engaging aspects of the human condition to pave the way towards great User Experiences (UX).

by Damon Sanchez Aug 29, 2019

Creating a UI with Power BI

Highlights tips and tricks to maximize the built-in features of Power BI to create an appealing UI and group data inside dashboards.

by Trevor Suarez Jun 26, 2019

SPO Image Resizing and How to Format New Visual Content

One Question I have been getting asked since SharePoint Online came out is about content images. How should they be formatted? What are the dimensions of a banner image? How do the images look at different window and screen sizes?

by Andrew Jordan Jan 16, 2019

User Experience Process & Strategy | Super Mario Brothers & Chaos Theory

We have experiences woven into technology ranging from 0-Dimensions involving the realm of sound, all the way to 3-Dimensional space in which overlaid objectivity heightens what we perceive.

Understanding these experiences as humans intertwined into the realm of technology, involves a host of various sciences and areas of thought.

This is not to say that other areas of a User Centered Strategy are not important, but the gravity of doing a User Persona and a User Journey can be positively felt through out a project as it impacts who the intended use encapsulates.  Likewise the positive impact of group consensus over UI Layout, and the effectiveness of approved visual language kindles what is typically referred to as fuzzy-design-logic into clarity.

by Damon Sanchez Oct 5, 2018

Designers as Ambassadors: Knowing Your Client

In my short time at Concurrency, I have been involved in the vital role we serve as the bridge between our clients and our developers. 

by Emma Hurth Aug 10, 2018

Tech Talks - Azure Cosmos DB: The Do-Anything, Planetary-Scale Database

In this week's episode of TechTalks, watch as Concurrency CTO, Nathan Lasnoski, explains how Azure Cosmos DB improves your userexperience and reduces headaches for your IT Department.

by Nathan Lasnoski Jul 14, 2017

The Impact of Iconography on a User’s Experience - Part 2of2 Creating Custom Icons & Web Fonts

In Part 2 of this blog series we turn the page and get into the nitty-gritty-rolled-up-sleeves details of icon: concepting, creation, construction and implementation.

We can rely on affordances to get us almost to the finish-line but there will always be the visual science of how a symbol transmits information.

by Damon Sanchez Jun 20, 2017

Digital Transformation How-To Guide #9: Modern Applications in Your Digital Transformation: Challenges

Amazon, Facebook and Uber have set the bar for what applications in the future will be. No longer is it acceptable to release any application that does not have the latest user experience, mobility features, collaboration capability and ecommerce power.

by Bill Topel Jun 1, 2017

The Impact of Iconography on a User’s Experience - Part 1of2

In Part 1 of this blog post we are going to be discussing how the use of icons can positively affect a user’s experience through the concepts of metaphorical affordance and conditioned response.

by Damon Sanchez Feb 15, 2017