1. Intro

In this blog article, we address the question of whether open source models provided locally within companies are mature enough to compete with the “big” commercial models such as Claude or Chat-GPT. The hype surrounding AI – regardless of the industry – could hardly be greater. Everywhere, automation and efficiency gains are promised, because machines are supposed to achieve more in the same amount of time than dozens of people ever could. We are investigating the extent to which this also applies to free open source models. To do this, we took a realistic Angular example project and set the LLMs Code Llama 3.1, Deep Seek Coder 2, Phind Code Llama, and Wizard Coder a few tasks…

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In a world dominated by data, one skill is becoming increasingly important: the art of presenting complex information in a visually clear, understandable and convincing way. Especially as a designer, you have the opportunity to create not only aesthetically pleasing, but above all meaningful visualizations that make decisions easier and tell stories.

But good data visualization means much more than just designing beautiful charts. It is about making the decisive patterns visible in a confusing flood of information – quickly, precisely and sustainably. Poor visualizations, on the other hand, can be just as damaging as a lack of analysis: they lead to confusion, misinterpretation or even wrong decisions.

Especially now – in an era in which data volumes are growing and AI is constantly offering new tools – it is worth deepening your knowledge of visualization, AI-supported analyses and data storytelling and taking it to a new level. read more…

Accessibility is not just a buzzword – it is a necessity. UX expert Thomas Immich has experienced this first-hand: In a self-experiment, he wore an age simulation suit to experience the challenges of digital barriers. This impressive experience kicked off the podcast “2025: Odyssey Accessibility”, which encourages people to think and rethink.

The GermanUPA interview with Thomas Immich focused on the motivations behind his self-experiment, the insights he gained from it and how we can break down digital barriers together. A conversation that will inspire not only UX professionals, but everyone who designs digital products.

Read the full interview and let Thomas Immich’s experiences and insights motivate you to actively integrate accessibility into your work. read more…

The arrival of generative AI and the widespread use of ML algorithms is already significantly changing our human behaviour and organisational processes at all levels of society – and at breakneck speed.

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Imagine sitting on a crowded train. The loudspeakers are crackling, your luggage is overflowing and the people sitting next to you are having heated discussions. All you want is a clear announcement telling you when and where to get off. This chaos sometimes describes our everyday life in the office: information is there, but it doesn’t reach us clearly, comprehensibly or at the right moment. And this is exactly where our assistance bots come in – little pilots in the storm that guide us through the jungle of information. But how do you design a technology that not only provides answers, but also offers real support? One that doesn’t act like a tool, but like a reliable partner?

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As a result of the Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG), companies will increasingly have to deal with the issue of accessibility in the coming months and years. Even though compliance with the accessibility requirements of the BFSG is an important first step towards digital accessibility, it is not enough to uncover all accessibility problems. UX research is a great tool to identify exactly those issues that are not covered by mere WCAG compliance. read more…

A comprehensive guide to optimizing the user experience

Error messages are often a neglected element of the user interface that only comes to mind in an emergency. Yet they have a decisive influence on the user experience: a well-designed error message can reassure the user and lead to a solution, while a poorly worded message can cause frustration and, in the worst case, lead to the user abandoning the application.

In this article, we show you how you can make error messages a positive, solution-oriented part of the user experience. read more…

This blog post provides a summary of our i-com article published in August 2024 (Volume 23 Issue 2). The article analyses human-computer interaction (HCI) in science fiction films and shows how collaboration between humans and machines has developed over the last 100 years. It always makes reference to current real technologies. There are also interesting film and series recommendations. read more…

My name is Maria Shabanova and I did my internship at Centigrade in July 2024 in the UX Design department. I was given the task of creating an AI assistant with OpenAI (GPT-4). Centigrade works a lot with LeanScope AI and has created the possibility to create AI assistants, many of which are already in use. My task was to create a prompt (instruction) for an assistant. I was supported in this by Jonas Enck, who supervised me during my internship together with Luzie Seeliger and Thomas Immich. This is a diary that documents my progress and the creation of the assistant.

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What has happened so far: Our Voice & Tone Guide

Some time ago, I reported in a blog article on how we developed our own Voice & Tone as part of our Centigrade Rebranding Journey and recorded it in a Voice & Tone Guide.

Let me briefly recap why a brand actually needs its own Voice & Tone:

“So that we don’t have to rethink how we want to formulate it in line with the brand every time we receive an error message, there is a methodology for this. And that is the systematic development of Voice & Tone. In a Voice & Tone Guide, we record how we formulate which content to ensure that we communicate in line with our brand values and address our users at the right linguistic level in every situation.”

You can read the entire article here:

Blog article “The Branding Tool for UX Writers: The Voice & Tone Guide

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To get an initial overview of the UX of a website or app, a UX audit is often recommended. But what is a UX audit anyway? read more…

Even in 2024, there are still companies that believe they don’t need user research to develop new digital products because “we know our customers and know best what they need”. Most user researchers have probably come across this or similar statements and have pulled their hair out over them. Such assertions often lead to lengthy discussions and it takes a great deal of persuasion to convince sceptics of the necessity and positive impact of user research. Couldn’t it be easier? Instead of going round in circles with the usual arguments, it’s time to playfully familiarise the critics with the problem of the lack of user research. Studies show that learning through play is not only effective for children [1][2]. This is precisely why we developed the interactive user research game “You Don’t Know Your User”. By skilfully applying various user research methods, such as interviews or observations, participants learn in an entertaining way how user research can contribute to a deeper understanding of users’ real needs.

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