Archive

This week I wanted to take a deeper look at what the future of retail. I don’t know about you, but seeing all these empty retail spaces bothers me. Over the past decade, growing online sales seem to have made physical retail obsolete. Or is it? Amazon and Apple are helping to evolve physical retail locations and it may be coming to your community soon!

Read: The Future of Retail

Happy 2018,

With 2018 now firmly on my doorstep, I thought this would be a great time to take a look back. I don’t know about you, but one of my favorite things to do is to read the “year in review” posts put up by all sorts of interesting people. I always learn from their stories of growth, challenges, and successes.

…so, why not give it a go myself? I’ve collected a quick summary of what I’ve done, who I’ve worked with, and some of the outcomes for you to check out.

As this year comes to an end, I wanted to take the time to thank YOU for being a subscriber. Getting started with writing and sharing my views on user experience and freelancing (and everything in between!) has been a rewarding challenge. I’ve never considered myself a writer and especially not in something other than my native tongue, but your feedback has made taking this risk well worth it.

I’ll be back with a bigger 2017-in-review post after the holidays, but until then, here are the most read posts from 2017 in case you’ve missed any (or fancy reading them again!): * The Future of the UX-designer * Why Designers Need to Write * * *

You can read the entire post online too (please share it) ❤️

Measure your worth, know your motivations

There’s this one drawing on the wall of my local pizza joint that always catches my eye. It’s picture drawn by a little girl who is probably no more than 5 years. It has the the little girl and a huge heart on it. In her 5 year old handwriting she wrote that she loves their pizza and that they’re the very best pizza bakers.

Prefer to read this on my site? Click here!

The Secret Formula for Great User Experiences

I’m intrigued about learning more about what makes a great user experience. The topic is so complex and there’s a lot of scenarios to consider. There’s a very basic formula though that’s been playing around in my mind lately.

I recently had the opportunity to be interviewed by Adobe Creative blog on how I create meaningful user experiences. During that interview we talked about a lot of different things, but it mostly revolved around topics that I discussed in my book, User Experiences that Matter.

A few years have passed since I wrote it, but I’m pleased to see that it continues to give it’s readers value. One of the things I discuss in the book is the extra mile that’s required to create a user experience that’s actually enjoyable. If you haven’t read it already, you can find the essence of it’s in one of my older posts called The Extra Effort for Great UX.

One of the perks of writing and why I think all designers should write is that it focuses us to not only validate our thinking and designs, but it gives us the opportunity to re-visit our thoughts from the past. Do these thoughts and ideas still hold true? If not, then why? I’ve found that while I think we should still strive for enjoyable experiences, enjoyable might not in fact be the best word to describe it.

Have you ever been stuck in a room with strangers and the conversation drifts to “So… What do you do?” We all have at some point and struggled to find the answer that fits best. That leads us to ask, are we having difficulty answering because we’re being asked the wrong question?

I had an experience on a plane recently where I was asked the right question and was able to have an awesome conversation. What do you think that question is? Take a look at this week’s post where I share it and how I think it changed the whole conversation for the better.

What do you do?

I have to admit, as a UX Lead, all the talk about how Apple has screwed up their products (iPhone X mostly) is making me grumpy. While I get that there are design choices they made that are controversial, we don’t have the full story. The majority of us haven’t even touched the product yet!

This week’s post was written so you can see, from my perspective, why it’s too soon to judge.

Read this week’s post

It’s no surprise to anyone when I say I enjoy writing. I’ve been sending these newsletters (this is the 70:th!) to you for a while and writing blog posts for even longer. I’ve also noticed how important it is to my everyday work. User experiences are defined by their ability to connect with the user and having the right words with it can make - or break - the design.

UX-writer: A New term, a Big Need

I really do recognize the irony in sending you an e-mail for a post talking about how people think e-mail is broken. You and I have heard others say ‘e-mail is broken’ over and over. We may have even tried an app or piece of software meant to ‘fix’ it. Maybe what’s broken isn’t e-mail itself. Maybe it’s us.

Take a look at this week’s post and I’m really interested in what you think about the topic. Just hit reply and we’ll talk about it… via e-mail!

Read: Stop Saying E-mail is Broken

Well, not really dull, but while you’re reading this I’m spending a couple of days collecting my thoughts and strength in the south of France 🇫🇷

It seems that whenever I plan a vacation, work piles up just before I’m about to leave. I can’t count the numbers of trips I’ve canceled due to work. This time though, I decided to take a few days to focus on structure and planning ahead.

To be honest, my work is much like building a website. Without structure and planning, the result might be OK, but it can never be outstanding. Taking a couple of days of uninterrupted work to schedule, plan, and set out the long term goals can get you a much better (and smoother) experience. The journey will be more pleasant and you’ll reach your destination without losing your head. The problem with my work is that it seems like there’s never time to schedule things. To look ahead. To strategize. Strategy… Isn’t that just a fancy word for boring Powerpoints?

I’m blessed to have a ton of interesting and demanding work lined up for the coming months and in order to perform at the very top, I’m taking a few days to collect my thoughts. I even plan on occasionally switching EVERYTHING off.

You and I have been taught life lessons through language our entire lives. Some of these become cliché after a while and we tend to ignore them, but what if they actually have a ton of value we can learn from? I read Tim Ferriss’ book, Tools of Titans, and was surprised by some of the wisdom about the true means behind the phrases we use every day and how it can really benefit us.

Read: Carpe Diem

Anton

Lately I’ve been thinking about what good design is and what it isn’t. I’m sure you’ve encountered products that just FEEL right and those that don’t. What makes the difference? I personally believe it’s designing in such a way that values both function and user understanding equally.

My post this week talks about Dieter Ram’s rules for good design, how I apply it, and a product that I think demonstrates it.

Read: What’s Good Design?

I don’t know about you, but I am always a little bit concerned about how we view success in today’s market.

Bigger is better. More money makes it worth it. If you’re not adding X active users per quarter, you aren’t successful.

So, is it the market that’s causing the problem or how we value growth? Hint: The longest lived businesses aren’t often the ones that were the biggest in their day.

Sure, it may seem like a weird question to ask, but knowing if your clients are “flowers” or “plants” can help you adjust your expectations and approach.

When I came to this realization, I was able to be happier with the work I was doing AND deliver better work to the client. It’s a win/win! Curious yet?

Take a look at this week’s blog to find out more.

Hey

If you’ve visited my website recently, you may have noticed that things have changed. While it’s great that they changed, it’s far more interesting to know WHY. Please take a few minutes to look at the post on my website to see my reasoning for the change and then poke around! You may be a bit surprised by the different experience.

Read: A Redesign

Ho ho ho 🎅🏼

As we’re rapidly approaching the end of the year, it’s a good time to reflect on the past year and what we’ve been through.

This has been my first full year of blogging and writing. It had been many years since I last wrote like this and was a bit of a struggle to make the writing process feel natural. What I can tell you though is it’s done miracles for my work. Reflecting on the work I do and why I do it - both generally and on a sublevel - is proving to be really valuable. One of my most retweeted and shared stories of the year was “Be the Butcher, not the Supermarket”.

Hi

I am always surprised by the choices of companies when it comes to their marketing. Why would you spend millions on something that is only going to reach a small part of their target audience? Wouldn’t something like email have a far higher return on investment (ROI)? Absolutely! If you do it right.

Take a minute to read this blog post I wrote on how you can make your emails produce a loyal audience who want to invest in you and your brand.

Hi there

New technology is bursting onto the scene and big changes are being made. Some we aren’t ready for. Removing the headphone jack? No more MagSafe connectors, USB-A plugs, or SD-card slots? What is this madness?!? It seems that Apple has become user hostile… or has it?

I have a few thoughts on that.

Hi

Writing my next book has gotten me to thinking about how I sold my first book and what I would do differently. Too many times people recommend raising prices using different marketing techniques (read: jedi mind tricks) to get more profitability, but that’s not what I’m about.

I believe that money is best earned by creating value for customers that outweighs their investment. Take a look at to learn about how I look at value and how to leads to happier customers.

Hi

I’ve been thinking about my personal habits and what they mean for my goals. I’ve found that little habits can have such a big impact on our future successes - or failures. Recognizing those habits, encouraging the good ones and eliminating the bad ones, are a great step in establishing compound returns. Curious? Find out more here: http://antonsten.com/habits

I’d love to hear what you think! Just reply to this and share your habits for success. I read and respond to every email.

Hi!

First, I want to apologize for the lack of new blog posts lately. I’m moving to a new apartment, struggling through the flu, and have been swamped with rewarding client work. That means my mind hasn’t been in the right place to create the quality content you expect. I’m already working on some great stuff as we speak, so stay tuned.

That said, your response to my trial run of sending a newsletter full of fascinating links was so great that I think I’ll keep doing it. Below you’ll find things that have drawn my attention over this past week. Let me know what you think and what articles/websites you found interesting by replying. I’ll mention it here and give you the credit!

Here’s what I’ve found:

Hi,

Some of my favorite newsletters are ones by Jocelyn Glei ’s, Sidebar , and ’.

Hello!

If you had to choose between focusing on your product or on your user, which would it be? It doesn’t seem fair that I am even asking you to even THINK about that, but most startups ask themselves this question at least once. It’s almost age old chicken or the egg question… wait, it is exactly that! Read my thoughts on it here.

Cheers! Anton

Hey,

Have you ever felt like your stomach was trying to tell you something? No, I don’t mean that a burger and fries would hit the spot.

The feeling I’m talking about is when you know you aren’t headed in the right direction. Believe it or not, learning to listen to this gut feeling will be one of your most valuable skills! In this week’s post, I talk about a recent experience I had when this gut feeling popped up and helped me make the right decision.

I’ve recently been reading a lot about a subject that I’m sure many of you are interested in. The technology we use every day is getting smarter. Our phones, home automation systems, and computers are making decisions for us - making our lives simpler. The era of the bots is here! Are we ready for it? Not everyone agrees, but I’m pretty sure Siri doesn’t have the answer! Yet…

Click here to read a post where I talk about how bots are changing our daily lives.

It seems that our digital world revolves around conversions. We strive to create experiences that cause the user to make that purchase or signup for that newsletter. Sometimes we are rewarded with huge increases and, at other times, punished by low conversions. We assume that while we can make changes quickly, that also means that we will see results just as quickly. That isn’t always the case.

In this week’s post, I talk about when I thought I lost my conversion mojo !

Hi!

We all make promises everyday. Promises to do something for someone we love. Promises that we will get a project done by a certain date. Following through with these promises can affect your reputation positively or negatively. This goes doubly so in the business world. What promise are you making to your client’s? Can they feel that you are being true to that promise?

Take a few minutes and read my new post about the promises I make and how it’s paying off!

Hello again,

I like to think that in a perfect world, all products would be designed to consider how the user felt while using them. We would be able to use apps that we actually enjoyed using and our life experience would be better for it. Does this seem like a dream?

Actually, it’s closer than you think. Emotional Design is becoming a hot topic and it’s going to change the products we use for the better!

Please enjoy my new post that focuses on Emotional Design and why you need to start using it.

The topic of this week’s article is something that has been rattling in the back of my head for some time.

As designers, we love to make things pretty. We work very hard to make everything we produce eye-catching, but we may not be asking the right questions of ourselves.

Are our designs impacting the experience of those who use the products? Are the products we are redesigning the ones which would most benefit from it? Will users adopt a new design if it doesn’t change the function of the product?

Hello friends,

Staying true to your brand/value statement can be really difficult as a freelancer. You set your goals high and then question if you can do it on your own. I did the exact same thing, but got past it when I realized that freelancing doesn’t mean you’re alone. So, like Michael Jackson, stay dedicated to your brand, use the resources around you, and you can really “beat it”. (I promise, it’ll all make sense when you read the article!)

Read The Life of a Freelancer Shouldn’t be a Lonely One

Hello,

What if I told you I had the secret to success for your digital product? What if this one feature could inspire your users to convert and improve their experience with your brand?

Well, I do! What’s funny is that most of us don’t consider this a feature at first, but the more you look at it, the more you realize that’s exactly what it is. Are you curious?

Hello friends,

Who knows your business better than you? Whether you are selling a product or developing a solution for a client, no one has a better understanding of what you do and how you do it. So, what happens when the customer/client wants more? Their requests for a new feature, better experience, or new design may be well-intentioned, but it is right for you to act on them?

This week’s article is dedicated to that struggle of when to draw the line and when to listen. Secret: It has a lot to do with asking the right questions and using your experience as your guide.

Hello friends,

This past week was my birthday and my wife and I treated ourselves to a quick trip to Rome. I was ASTOUNDED by the ancient architecture and it got me to thinking about how everything we do now seems to lack that dedication to quality in one way or another.

We all strive to create amazing things, but struggle with short timelines that affect the quality of our work.

How do we get away from that “fast food” mentality of production and, instead, embrace the quality of “slow food”? My article this week focuses on why this is so important to us, not only personally, but professionally as well.

Hi!

As most of you know, I am a one-man company and wouldn’t change that for anything. Unfortunately, many business owners judge their success on how their company “grows” in size, but that can come at a cost. They can lose focus on how the client values what they do. As a real world example, a supermarket may be able sell you meat, but a butcher shop can give you the exact cut you want - it’s the value the butcher provides and why you keep coming back. I know that I can provide my clients with exactly what they want and they value that. I choose to stay small. I choose to be the butcher. Do you?

Read this week’s article to learn more about how you can understand your clients, how they value you, and how that can lead to success!

I think we all consider user experiences and user interfaces to be in the world of digital products, but almost everything you interact with has an experience/interface attached. Your car is something you interact with every day. It gets you from point A to point B, but does it have a good user experience? In this weeks article, I take a look at how far those interfaces have come and how far they have to go.

Here you go!

Also, I was honored to be interviewed by Working not Working about my book, User Experiences that Matter. !

Hi again!

I know it has been a few weeks, but I wanted to wish you all a happy 2016! As with any New Year, we look back at the past year and make a plan for the next one. Many of us resolve to lose a few pounds or spend more time at the gym, but my resolution is a little different. I resolve to simplify and become an MVP! No, I don’t mean a “most valuable player”, I mean to ‘minimum viable product’. Confused? Take a look at this week’s article and learn how becoming a MVP can help you and your plans for success.

Here’s the link

I hope you are having a great new year and I wanted to share some thoughts that came to me recently. After successfully launching my new book, [“User Experiences that Matter”] (https://antonsten.com/book/), (thanks to all of you!!) I realized that I didn’t really go into detail about the “why” in UX Design.

In this week’s article (and the first of the year!), I wanted to take a closer look at that and show you that that investing in your user experience will get you a dramatic ROI in 2016. So, take a few minutes to read this article and see how your business can benefit from a strong user experience.

Read: Why User Experiences Matter

Hello!

As the year ends, it’s natural for all of us to look back at what we’ve accomplished, or failed at, over the past year. This got me thinking about how to plan for a successful future while staying true to the work we do. I have a lot of faith in the 666 Roadmap (not devil related, I promise!) and you will too after you learn more. Enjoy this article and have a great year end, everyone!

After months of work, I’m so thrilled to finally be able to say my first book, User Experiences that Matter , is now available for purchase. It’s a simple guide on creating great user experiences - something that’s crucial for all businesses in today’s digital society.

The book is very to the point - it’s 48 pages - but I know it’s going to be a great resource for anyone interested in crafting polished user experiences.

As an exclusive offer to those who signed up for the newsletter, you will get the book for only $7.95 - 20% off the retail price. All you need to do is enter the code FRIENDS when checking out. Hurry up though as this will be only for the first week.

Hello!

In my soon-to-be-released book, User Experiences that Matter , I had the honor of interviewing a number of industry leaders about what they felt made a really great user experiences. They talked about how their users are considered at every step of their product’s development, from concept to launch. I was so inspired by their answers that I wanted to share my perspective too and how one user-focused product I use daily has improved my life amazingly!

Thanks! Anton

Hello again,

We all have had disappointing experiences with products we use every day. Whether that’s a website or even your toaster, you wonder how that experience could have been different if the designer had spent a little more energy on the design. I want to share an article with you that talks about just that! Putting in the extra effort can create great user experiences.

The Extra Effort for Great UX

Hello,

I have a confession to make. I have a hard time with the title “UX-designer”. User experience is so much more than just one designer. This week’s article talks about how EVERYONE is a UX-designer - even you! Read here to learn how you are part of the team:

Everyone is a UX-designer

Hello again!

I’ve got some exciting news that has me very nervous and excited. I honestly can’t keep it a secret any longer and wanted to let all of you know first. My first book is coming out December 1st! My article this week focuses on the all the reasons why I’ve written the book and who it is for. Hint: It’s for you!

Read more here!

Hi,

We all experience the battle between time and attention. We may be able to dedicate 8 hours of time to a task, but only about four of those hours are truly productive. Being aware of the user’s attention span could help you make perfect product for them. So, if I may ask for you to spend a few precious minutes of your attention, I want to share an article on how to get the most from both your own and your user’s attention span. Enjoy!

Time vs. Attention - Which is More Valuable?

Over the years, I’ve been blessed to have a lot of great relationships and some not-so-great ones. All of them have one thing in common. They can all be broken down to values. Values given and values received. I wanted to share with you an article I wrote about how these values affect our private and professional lives daily. I hope you enjoy!

Growing Relationships by Understanding Values

Hello!

Most companies are beginning to understand the value of user experience to their business. What they often miss is that user experience extends far beyond their website and into every point of interaction. The article linked below shares my process for exploring the TOTAL user experience. After all, a good process can lead to great success!

Read it here

Hi,

Like many of you, I have been excited about trying the Apple Watch to see how it changes my daily routine. Would it make my work life easier or harder? Would it be an annoyance or a help? As I discover more ways that it is useful to me, I also see how far the user experience needs to be improved. In this article, I share my experience with you and how this new product category is poised to make a big impact.

Read Hey Siri, what’s the future of user interfaces

Hey!

As a UX designer, I always have the user on my mind. Before I start any project, I make sure to get to know the target user. I really try to understand their pain points and what their perfect solution would be. It inspires me to make the right solution for them that fixes their issue. The article below talks about how I do this and how you can do it too!

Click here to learn about “Pain, Dream, Fix”

Hi! I, like many of you, have always struggled with finding that perfect balance between my personal and professional lives. Recently, I’ve realized that maybe they aren’t as separate we all think and as one grows, so does the other. I wrote an this article to share with you my inspiration in discovering that I am professional because I am personal.

Just click here and enjoy