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Today, I’d like to begin this blog with a simple question.  What does “the best user experience” mean to you?  If an answer came to mind right away, it’s probably because that experience moved you so deeply that it engraved itself into your memory. And yet, the more powerful an experience is, the harder it often becomes to explain why it […]

As a UX researcher, I’m trained to observe the subtle ways people interact with the world. Within the last few years, a fascinating pattern has emerged among my peers, friends, and in my own digital life. It’s a four-letter code that has become a new kind of language: MBTI*.  * Short for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a self-reported questionnaire that assigns people to one of 16 […]

What can a 17th-century philosopher teach us about UX? Surprisingly, quite a lot. One of the most famous phrases in philosophy comes from René Descartes:  “I think, therefore I am.”  For him, this wasn’t just proof of existence. It was the starting point of an intellectual journey to find absolute certainty through radical skepticism. Centuries later, this […]

One-on-one in-depth user interviews may be the bread and butter of many UX researchers, but group interviews and workshops create a unique opportunity of observable collaboration, negotiation, and debate. When facilitated well, these sessions become living laboratories where one person’s idea can collide or react with another’s, creating new and unexpected findings. The key is to use group interaction itself as a source of data. Achieving this requires a thoughtful […]

In UX design and research, we frequently deal with the concept of time. When we create customer journey maps or refer to frameworks proposed in the “User Experience White Paper” (Roto et al., 2011), we often divide experiences into phases such as “before use,” “during use,” and “after use.” Breaking complex phenomena into manageable phases can be extremely useful in day-to-day […]

“Don’t make me think.”  For years, this phrase—the title of Steve Krug’s seminal book—has been the golden rule in UI/UX design. Reducing user effort, eliminating confusion, and guiding users to their goals as efficiently as possible. This is what we have always believed to be “good UX.” However, with generative AI beginning to take over parts of human work, we ask: Is offering effortless and easy experiences really beneficial for humans?  Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche stated “God is […]

The Cashless Paradox  For any global visitor, Japan has long been a land of fascinating contradictions: a nation of futuristic bullet trains and talking toilets that, until very recently, ran on physical cash. As UX researchers in Tokyo, we’ve had a front-row seat to the dramatic unraveling of this very paradox.  If we turn the clock back just seven […]

We at Uism pride ourselves in our curiosity. No place is that better exemplified than in the connections we strive to make with a wide variety of people, and expand our knowledge and understanding. These Chance Chats are an opportunity to share what we’ve learned from the people we’ve come across, especially the kind of people who would be difficult to connect with and have the chance for an in-depth […]

In the world of UX, we’re often obsessed with a frictionless experience. We strive for usability, speed, and seamless journeys. These are vital, of course. But in our quest for efficiency, are we forgetting something more fundamental? The human experience of choice.  Every day, we click, decide, and act through user interfaces. But how free […]

Words like emoji and otaku have entered the global business lexicon, each offering a unique window into Japanese culture. It’s time to add a new one to your list: Oshikatsu (推し活).  On the surface, Oshikatsu might look like simple fandom. It translates loosely to “supporting one’s fave,” with “oshi” (推し) being the favorite idol or […]