Tips for Successful Online Workshops

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For the past few years, Grio has offered User Story Workshops – often as the first step of a new project. In the past, these meetings were held over the course of two days in our San Francisco offices. However, since the move to remote work, we’ve adapted these workshops to an online environment. As we’ve transitioned, we’ve had to figure out just what makes an online workshop successful. 

Spoil Your Power Users: Add Command Palettes

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Unlike the theater, where the maxim “always leave them wanting more” is a common philosophy, when we create new apps, our goal is to give our users all the features they desire. In fact, nothing makes us happier than when our power users- those users that maximize our app’s potential- find new elements that they have been requesting. It’s time to give them the thing they didn’t even know they wanted: command palettes. 

Time-Traveling with the James Webb Space Telescope

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On December 25, 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) launched from Kourou, French Guiana. Hailed as the most powerful telescope ever built, the JWST is expected to provide 5-10 years of infrared imagery that will allow us to learn more about space than ever before. 

Breaking Past the Dreaded UX Paralysis

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Imagine this…

You’re the lead user experience (UX) designer on a new client project. The project is in the early stages, but things are going well. You’ve completed the user story workshop, you have a good grasp of the client’s vision, you’ve established a comfortable relationship with the client, and you are feeling great. 

You look up with a smile, and to your great surprise, everyone in the room is looking at you. What’s going on? Why are all eyes on you?

Identity in the Digital Age

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Every time you set up an online account or download an application, you are putting some of your personal information on the web. All this information, combined, becomes your digital identity. However, while that information is static, who you are in the real world is constantly growing and changing. The discontinuity between your real identity and digital identity impacts you on both a real and digital level. The question then becomes, how do we begin to reconcile these two personalities so that we can be identified by both?

Analyzing Two Frontend Technologies: Vue vs. React

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Two of the most popular front-end technologies today are React and Vue.js. Current usage statistics reveal that React has been the most-used front-end technology for quite some time, with none of the other options really challenging its position. However, Vue.js, a new, progressive JavaScript framework, is gaining popularity and boasting satisfaction ratings comparable to React’s. 

This post provides my opinions on the strengths, weaknesses, and overall usability of these two frameworks. Though I’ve only spent about one year working with each, I’ve had the opportunity to explore many of the features they have to offer and see firsthand how each has been designed to respond to developer needs. 

Increase QA ROI by Cloning Large-Fingered Button Pushers

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In quality assurance (QA) testing for new applications, it is often the case that there are more buttons that need pushing, or tests that need running, than there are testers to push the buttons in the timeframe by which those buttons need to be pushed. When teams encounter this, there are three common reactions: 

High Gas Prices are Okay: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Electron

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If you didn’t care about electric vehicles (EVs) before, the current gas prices might have you rethinking your stance. With EV sales on the rise, we are seeing the beginning of an automotive revolution; one that will likely change the framework of American transportation in the next few decades. 

In this post, I am going to discuss the history of EVs, the challenges and benefits of the EV revolution, and why you should care (if you don’t already). 

Become a Figma Ninja: Introducing Figma Shortcuts

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Several weeks ago, I stumbled upon a presentation entitled “Become a Figma Ninja.” While the presentation did nothing to improve my martial arts skills, it did provide incredibly beneficial keyboard shortcuts to improve your Figma efficiency. So, if you are interested in upping your Figma game, this post is for you.  

Story is King: Storyboarding for Short Form Videos

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In this age of smartphones and digital cameras, anyone can capture photos and videos. However, for most people, the content is then left in the device’s memory to gather dust. When they eventually look back at the images, they no longer remember the little details that made that event so special.