Neilsen Norman Group


Some months ago I read an article by Jakob Neilsen concerning usability studies, which lead me to research him and to arrive at the website for the Neilsen Norman Group. The website and indeed the company deal with all things UX and more, and for any student of technical communications it is a must see.

The website is a mass of thought provoking articles, even when they may not be directly related to your primary area of study. So today, for example, the website listed an article concerning dark mode vs light mode, and another on "how users decide where to go next".

The articles are usually no more than a 10 minute read and are properly referenced and illustrated. There is also a newsletter, which includes the latest articles, that can be subscribed to and which arrives every week or two, without any associated sales pitch. That in itself is refreshing.

Why is this such a good resource. Even a scan of the article titles generates a checklist of factors to review or think about when working through information design.  The articles are written in easilly understandable language and are accessible.

So, how do users decide where to go next?  That in itself is a fundamentally important question for if design does not show a coherent path and users adopt a scatter gun approach what is the quality of their experience likely to be?

The full article can be found here how do users decide where to go next.

In a nutshell though, designers should consider the next link label, the content or material accompanying the link, the context, and users prior knowledge and experience. It goes back to audience again!

The article also mentions that a robin is more quickly perceived as a bird than a chicken, and I'm sure we all needed to know that!

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