October 2012

Facebook, Twitter, emails, reading the news, searching the web... these are things the majority of us now do on our mobiles every day. In fact, making calls on phones is down in 5th place in terms of features used on a daily basis. New research from O2 has shown that we spend an average of 24 …

Leap-frogging – it is a term that is used a lot when it comes to the development of emerging markets like Brazil, South Africa, and China surpassing their more economically “developed” counterparts in North America, Europe, and Asia. In many ways the leap-frogging trend is true, emerging …

In today’s convenience-driven, on-the-go world, it is incredibly surprising how few impactful mobile apps are now available that help make shopping easy using a smartphone.  Over half of U.S. households now own a smartphone, and 43% are using their smartphones to shop, according to the latest …

This article is re-posted from SirValUse blog. To benchmark the user experience (UX) of car infotainment systems, GfK SirValUse (now GfK’s User Experience group) completed UX Quick-Checks of five automotive manufacturers’ systems. The manufacturers evaluated included Audi, BMW, Mercedes …

This article is re-posted from User Centric’s blog. Having attended many conferences over the years, I have noticed that navigating from room to room is often more difficult than it should be. This is unfortunate, especially since the events I attend are usually related to improving the user …

This article is re-posted from User Centric’s blog. Irreducible complexity. In the realm of the natural sciences, the concept is largely considered junk science. But theology aside, it provides a useful metaphor for the, ahem, Higgs Boson of user-centered design (with apologies for the …

When the economy plummeted in 2008, our research started to show massive changes in shopper attitudes – increasing importance placed on price, with a hunger for bargains and saving strategies.  No surprise there.  What’s interesting, though, is that the economic recovery has not caused a …