Getting to the Right Amount of Design

Most of our clients hire us to take fuzzy ideas (some fuzzier than others) and bring them to life in the form of software. A designer’s role at Atomic is to be the point person of a team that advocates for the user. How? By helping to design the flow, structure, and look and feel […]

3 Things Product Owners Should Incorporate from iOS 14

Every year, typically in September, Apple releases a new version of its operating system for iPhones and iPads. While much of 2020 has differed from the norm, this is one routine that remains unchanged. As usual, this year’s update (iOS 14) included a mix of for-everyone features (things unrelated to app updates) and opt-in features […]

Introduce Human-Centered Design: Start Small and Start Today

Introducing Human-Centered Design doesn’t have to be complicated. It isn’t a monolithic process that has to be applied across an entire organization before it works. Human-Centered Design is a discipline, a way of thinking and framing context, that provides value incrementally throughout the lifecycle of product design, development, support, and beyond. You can start simple, […]

Human-Centered Design – A Key Play for Application Rewrites

If you are rewriting a complex, internally-facing software application, applying human-centered design (HCD) practices is a key play for driving success with end users and management.

Human-Centered Software: Creating More Value by Balancing Feasibility, Viability, & Desirability

As a designer, my chief goal within any project is to deliver the best user experience possible in terms of beauty (visual and interaction design), usability (workflows and information architecture), and usefulness (features and functionality).

Why Software Design Matters

Are preschoolers smarter than college students? When it comes to figuring out gadgets and iPhone apps, it certainly does seem that way sometimes. I heard an interesting piece on NPR several weeks back about this very issue. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that 3- and 4-year-olds use a different process than […]

Building the Right Thing – Define Your Product with a Kickoff & RDP Phase

Congratulations. You and/or your company have a great idea for a software product, and you’ve decided to work with Atomic Object to build it. At the beginning of the process, you’re likely feeling excited about your idea and eager to see things take shape. You may also feel a bit worried or daunted about the […]

Research the Extremes of a User Community

Atomic is currently collaborating with IDEO on a consumer-facing web app. The integration of IDEO’s user-centered design practices with Atomic’s software design and build practices is a powerful combination for our client. Working with an old friend and getting to know some more of the smart, talented people at IDEO have been great. We’re learning […]

Designing Complex Applications: Before Asking “Is it useable?”, Ask “Is it useful?”

Marissa and I at the Denver Airport on our way to Usability Week 2011. A couple of weeks back, Marissa and I went to NNG Usability Week 2011 in San Francisco. During the conference, I attended the 3-day training course on Designing Complex Applications and Websites. The session was co-led by Lynn Pausic and John […]

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Atomic Object’s blog on everything we find fascinating.

Designing for Users