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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For product managers and CX/UX designers, understanding their target group is essential in order to develop products and services that really resonate.

Personas, fictional characters that represent real users, are indispensable tools here. They make it possible to give the rather abstract target group a face, recognise their likes and dislikes and tailor everything from product development to marketing and communication to the specific needs of the users.

However, creating personas can be a challenge. It is often time-consuming and resource-intensive, as data must first be collected and clustered, target group-specific characteristics identified and then translated into vivid persona descriptions.

This is where LeanScope AI,, a new AI-supported tool, promises to change the game. read more…

Unlike Amazon Echo and Meta, ChatGPT is highly disruptive. But why is that? ChatGPT was the fastest to reach 100 million users and has no dependencies on other technologies. ChatGPT has also offered surprisingly little “ethical slippery slope” so far. But the main reason, according to Sam Altman himself, seems to be ChatGPT’s fantastic UX. Good news for all UX professionals.

„If I had to choose a point in time when AI became truly disruptive, I would choose the release of ChatGPT. However, it wasn’t the underlying AI models that made the difference, but the user-friendliness of the application!“ – Sam Altman, CEO OpenAI, Lex Fridman Podcast

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In today’s world, sustainability is more present than ever, while at the same time we are using more and more technology in our everyday lives. In the best case scenario, we combine these things. Unfortunately, most UX designers lack the theoretical knowledge to do this, which is where our media project comes in. We have developed an assistant realised with artificial intelligence. As a web application, this helps users to consider sustainability directly in LeanScope AI and to comply with the associated laws and guidelines. With Leanscope AI, CX and UX professionals can easily generate proto-personas, enrich them with UX research data and then even chat and brainstorm ideas with these personas. This makes it possible to gain a deeper understanding of the target group. The tool was developed in close cooperation with Centigrade. read more…

A picture is worth a thousand words. But what words are needed to describe a picture?

We used to push pixels and spend hours on tutorials to learn many complex design tools. At some point during our studies, we decided on a specific topic and specialized in order to find a job on the market later on. I, for example, decided on visual design in the big UX design bubble. But since Midjourney and co. have moved into my everyday life, I can suddenly imitate almost any design and art style with words, without ever having invested an hour in the manual technique or even having opened a single conventional design tool. That’s impressive at first, but then also terrifying.

If, as a designer, I can suddenly access any style without having to learn it, the question arises as to which skillset we need to strengthen in the future in order to avoid becoming replaceable. A year ago, I wouldn’t have thought I’d be saying this. But as things stand, I would say that we urgently need to work on our vocabulary. read more…

„What do successful User Experience professionals have in common? Empathy. “ – Kathryn Whitenton, Nielsen Norman Group [1]

Empathy is one of the most common buzzwords in the UX industry, it is assumed to be an important skill and – according to an employee of the Nielsen Norman Group – apparently even distinguishes good from bad UX professionals. But what does it actually mean to be empathetic and what impact could an AI-based tool have on it? read more…

With the announcement of Apple Vision Pro, Apple says it has taken the world of mixed reality (MR), i.e. augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), to a whole new level. Software providers, developers and designers now have the exciting opportunity to develop spatial applications that seamlessly connect the physical and digital worlds.

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