Design Critiques

What makes some designs good and others bad? Why do some designs work while others don’t? Posts in this category offer thoughtful design critiques of modern digital interfaces, with commentary inspired by Don Norman’s “The Design of Everyday Things.”

Assistive Technology: ModMath

“ModMath” is an educational application that assists students with dyslexia and dysgraphia who struggle with numerals formation and mathematical notation, which can be astounding for the development of mathematical capability over a lifetime. This assistive technology application was invented and developed by Dawn and Josh Denberg for their son suffering from dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADHD.

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Twitter's image description reminder

Assistive Technology: Alt Text for Social Media

On social media, image is at the core of how people communicate their thoughts, feelings, events, or even simple jokes. However, a single picture without any description is not always readable to everyone. To people who use screen readers, alt text (alternative text) is essential because it helps them to understand the content and the function of the image.

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Design Critique: Miro (Website)

Miro is an online collaborative whiteboard platform founded in 2011. The product enables distributed teams to work effectively, from brainstorming with digital sticky notes to planning and managing agile workflows. In this article, I evaluate Miro’s interface design based on design principles discussed in Don Norman’s book——The Design of Everyday Things. 1. Initial sign-up page The initial page affords the

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Design Critique: Strava for iPhone

Strava is an exercise tracker app and social networking tool in one. Users can track their own activities, like and comment the activities of their friends, join groups and complete challenges. Strava’s goal is to provide an easy way to track your activities and see your progress while also allowing you to join groups of likeminded exercisers and encourage your friends.

In this design critique, we’ll examine the user journey for starting an activity in the Strava iOS app.

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