UX design

User experience (UX) design is the process of improving user satisfaction with a product by focusing on things like usability and accessibility.

The latest in UX design

5 ways to measure UX return on investment

Return on investment (ROI) is often the term on everyone’s lips when starting a big project or even when reviewing a website. It’s especially popular with those that hold the purse strings.  As UX researchers it is important to consider the ROI of the work we do and understand how to measure this.  We’ve lined... View Article

4 min read
Ways of working: ideas from UX New Zealand 2022

An impressive line-up of researchers, strategists, and designers from the global UX community shared their ideas, experiences, insights, and approaches to effective ways of working at this year’s 100% virtual 3-day UX New Zealand conference. We introduce 7 speakers, highlight what they had to say, and share their full video presentations. 1. How to design... View Article

4 min read
Affinity mapping - an introduction

User research is key to discovering the inner workings of your users’ minds – their emotional, organizational, informative needs and desires. These are all super important to creating a user experience that is intuitive and meeting your users’ needs in a way that means they feel loved, cared for and considered. All the deep understanding... View Article

5 min read
In search of information architecture: everyday IA

Information architecture (IA) is everywhere. Like the best websites and apps in the digital world, information architecture also brings clarity and understanding to the real world. It helps us navigate complexity and clutter, enables us to get things done more easily even with enjoyment, and reduces our cognitive load as we go about our lives.  As... View Article

3 min read
Andrew Mayfield CEO with three of Optimal Workshop's senior leadership team
Media release: Optimal Workshop raises $10m from Pioneer Capital to accelerate growth

From left: Andrew Mayfield(CEO), Ben O’Grady(CFO), Seth Strumph(CTO), Meiken Bassant(COO) FEB 8TH, 2022,  WELLINGTON NZ:  Optimal Workshop, a world leader in information architecture (IA) and digital user experience software, today announced a NZ$10 million investment by New Zealand private equity firm, Pioneer Capital. It’s the first investment for Optimal Workshop, a New Zealand company with... View Article

3 min read
The art of conversation with Andrew Millar

Andrew Millar is a digital designer by trade and ardent UX advocate by day, as Head of Design at Optimal Workshop. We talk to him about the design challenge of keeping it human in the face of voice-enabled technologies that have created the likes of Siri and Alexa.

7 min read
Is your SaaS tech stack secure?

Having access to the specialist subscription-based tools you need to do your work is a reasonable thing to expect. But what if you’re relying on someone else’s SaaS account to access what you need? Sounds like a good solution but think again. It’s risky - even fraught. Here are 3 good reasons to avoid sharing login credentials and why you need your own.

4 min read
What’s the difference between UI and UX?

UI and UX are two terms that are often used interchangeably and confused for one another, but what do they actually mean? And is there a crossover between them?

6 min read