Blog: design and development for web and mobile

User research methods in times of crisis

Joanna Kawińska, UX Researcher

Individual face-to-face in-depth interviews, in the UX laboratory with a one-way mirror, used to be a dream for all UX researchers. But in the first quarter of 2020, we woke up in the new reality that each of us must get used to. We must forget about face-to-face UX tests for some time, for the sake of the respondents’ and our close colleagues’ health. And you know what? Based on our case study, we can tell that it’s possible to transform the laboratory test into a 100% remote test. We now think that remote testing is even better than laboratory testing. We want to share with you our conclusions from remote UX research case studies, as well as our know-how. We will also give you some tips for an online interview, tell you how to conduct user research remotely and suggest some online interview software.

Top Skills for a UX Designer

Małgorzata Dudo, UX Designer

As a person starting in UX, you may be asking yourself, “what skills do I need to be a UX designer?” Apart from the obvious technical UX skills such as wireframing, prototyping, and the basics of HTML and CSS, all of which you can learn during UX and coding courses, there are many less obvious competencies that are also required on a UX resume and can make a good designer into a great one. Here is a list of a few core UX design skills and how to develop them.

Open source, enterprise or enterprise open source? How to choose a CMS

Łukasz Wełniak, Web Development & Operations Director

It's hard to deny that content management systems – the ever-popular CMSs – are becoming the go-to tool for creating websites. They improve the operation of any pages that contain a large amount of information, initially being chiefly used to publish texts on blogs. Now, each type of CMS can be selected according to the customer's needs - from a system for a large corporation to one that will improve the operation of an online store. As this tool not intended for professionals, it usually has a clear administration panel. This is facilitated by the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, through which the user can directly see the end result.

Future technology predictions: interfaces move towards multimodal and subconscious

Krzysztof Zielak, Product Design Leader, UX

The main force that drives progress in the interface space is reducing the burden of manipulating reality (AKA interaction cost). We see three long-term UX trends that contribute to reducing […]

What is gamification and how to design it

Radosław Wałkuski, UX Designer

Gamification definition Gamification is the application of elements specific to games in non-game contexts. You can also define gamification as a way of solving problems by using elements known from […]

Plain language. What is it for?

Radosław Wałkuski, UX Designer

There is no good user experience without good usability. And there is no good usability with language that is difficult to comprehend. Want to be easily understood? Make your writing simple. In this text you will find basic plain language principles as well as plain language examples.

How to become a User Experience Designer with no experience

Radosław Wałkuski, UX Designer

In my 30s, after 10 years of being a journalist and communication specialist, I decided to change my career path and become a User Experience Designer. Here are some tips […]

Dark vs light for website background: Which is better?

Olga Krysiak, UI/UX Designer

Choosing the right background for your design plays a key role in it being received positively by the user, in meeting the design requirements and in the overall operation of the application or web page. It is a crucial factor that can affect future success or failure, so it's no wonder that designers always weigh up this question at the very beginning of their work.

Company website – key things to look out for when building a company website

Krzysztof Zielak, Product Design Leader, UX

I. What is it for The purpose of a corporate website is to sell your organisation to the world. We use the word “sell” in a broad sense: to sell […]

Software design process: don’t think software, think tools!

Krzysztof Zielak, Product Design Leader, UX

We believe it is beneficial to think of your software as a tool. It gives you a different perspective on the process of designing software. Users employ your tool to aid themselves in specific usage situations. These situations in turn determine how your tool works and what it looks like.

In website redesign projects, the website itself is the last thing to concern yourself with.

Krzysztof Zielak, Product Design Leader, UX

So you want to redesign your website?

ISTQB certification for novices and experienced testers – is it worth it?

Krystian Antolik, kierownik działu QA

Gaining employment in the IT industry has been a temptation for some time, not only because of high earnings, but also because of the stability of employment and the ever-increasing demand for workers in this growing sector. It is these very same aspects that make the profession of software tester more and more attractive.

Mobile apps in the service of mental health

Edyta Cieślewicz, Junior UX Researcher

According to experts in mass media, one of the main impacts that COVID-19 pandemic will have on societies around the world will be growth of anxiety and other mental health problems. The World Health Organization implemented a special initiative for mental health 2019-2023 for 12 countries. However, now in pandemic times, mental health is important in every society, not only in poorer countries. In this situation, technology can hold the key to protecting mental health. Can mobile applications help us manage our moods in times of isolation? Can they give sufficient support when dealing with fear of uncertainty of the future? If the answer is “yes” then what kinds of tools should get our attention in terms of providing good user experience?

What is PHP used for? How can we use it in a project?

If you spend any time at all on the web, you have experienced the use of PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor). But, if you have never had to dig in behind the scenes of websites that use it, you may be asking the question, "What is PHP and why it is used?" PHP is an open-source server-side programming language that is used for millions web application. It was initially developed in 1994 by programmer Rasmus Lerdorf.

Developing design system – patterns

Natalia Kicińska, Maciej Matysek, Marek Kamiński

? When it comes to large, widely-used systems it is generally a good idea to separate things. It's easier to maintain only one piece rather than the whole. One of the first thoughts should be the design system for your application. Why? Even if you are the creator, it's extremely hard to remember all of the variants and specific usage of each component. On the other hand, if you are joining an existing project, you can focus on your main task without wondering if you should create another component or just extend an existing one.

Outsourcing Software Development

Outsourcing software development is not a new idea, but it has undoubtedly become more popular. The benefits of outsourcing used to be seen solely in terms of finances. Budgetary concerns remain a primary reason some firms go this route. However, many companies are discovering additional and vital reasons to look at software outsourcing.

SEO and business: Why you should interested in Search Engine Optimilization services?

Krzysztof Wałaszewski, SEO Expert

SEO is still a developing branch of digital marketing. Awareness of what is search engine optimization is considerably larger than compared to five years ago. Nowadays, it’s the term that should appear in a dictionary of every company wanting to use the internet for advertising. Find out what you should know about it and learn why is SEO important for your business.

Data-driven attribution is now for everyone and for free.

Piotr Ulacha, Senior Digital Analyst

The data-driven attribution model has so far only been available in the paid version of Google Analytics: version 360. However, for several months as part of the Attribution report, which is still in beta, all Google Analytics users can freely analyze data about their conversions in the data-driven attribution model.

The Best UX Tools for Different Process Stages

From research to wireframing and from prototyping to client handoff, it is essential to have the right UX tools for every type of team and every stage of the process. Whether you are working with a small group of just a few designers and developers or with multiple teams on both sides of the project, these tools need to fit with the way you work and allow flawless collaboration throughout the process. You will need access to the right wireframe tools, prototyping tools, web design tools, and other applications to get the job done.

Content Management System (CMS) for Internet of Things (IoT)

Miłosz Matyaszczyk, UX Research Intern

Within this short article, we would like to show how you can utilize CMS in IoT and what benefits it brings for your company. Firstly, let us present what CMS is, what are the current trends in IoT and finally how CMS can support IoT.

Google Analytics 360 premium vs Google Analytics free version

Piotr Ulacha, Senior Digital Analyst

If you want to use Google Analytics you have two options. You can use the free version, or go mad and for at least $150k annually (invoiced monthly) purchase the Google Analytics 360 premium version.

How to Develop an App: Understanding the Development Process

If your company is getting ready to create an app or make a significant upgrade to something you already have, it is best to begin with a basic understanding of the application development life cycle. While you are likely to count on a development firm or team to develop the app, it will be up to you to oversee the entire process and ensure that things go as planned. Experts along the way will take care of details in their area of specialization. However, a general overview will give you the confidence to choose the right people for the job and ensure the launch of your app is a success.

Guava cache vs Caffeine

While projects are in the process of being created there are many problems that need to be solved. Time optimization is one of them. There is always a need to load data from one or multiple sources and transform it in some way, be it a file system, database or another system. But sometimes loading data takes a lot of time. Multiple loading of such data is unacceptable. To fix this, caches were created.

Artegence and Efigence boost clients’ digital environment with Magnolia CMS on a platinum level

Companies from the Efigence Group specializing in design-driven development services for all industries and off-the-shelf products for financial services, like EFI4 Digital Banking Platform, became Platinum Partners of the leading content management provider Magnolia. This is the highest-ranking category in the company’s Partner program reserved for a select few premium brands. It means that Artegence and Efigence are fully skilled, experienced partners with an impressive number of successful Magnolia based projects in their portfolios.

Why is immutability so important in React?

Maciej Matysek, Frontend Developer

This article is for people who have some grasp of JavaScript and are working with React. It doesn’t only include junior developers beginning to sail in a lake of props and state, but also applies to senior developers who started a long time ago, who are perfect sailors but they haven’t got time to step onto dry land and check out new boats.

Social Media Tags Guide Part 4 – Debugging pages (Verifying problems with social media cards)

Dominik Słopecki, QA Tester

When creating OG tags, we may encounter problems displaying them. Fortunately, social media sites have so-called "debugging pages" dedicated to verifying and fixing issues with them. But how to use them?

How to be a copywriter in COVID-19 virus time?

Aleksandra Berus, Junior Copywriter

Working as a copywriter means you also have to work in a group. Sometimes it’s easier to find inspiration during brainstorms or meetings. But what if you are stuck at home due to COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) and now working remotely only? How to be a great copywriter?

How many online users visit your stationary points of sale?

Piotr Ulacha, Senior Digital Analyst

Your company is present on the internet. You have a website. You run online advertising activities. You measure everything using Google Analytics or other tools.

Social Media Tags Guide Part 3 – Twitter-dedicated tags

Dominik Słopecki, QA Tester

Twitter allows you to modify the appearance of your card not only in terms of content, but also in type. It's worth knowing what impact we can have on cards on Twitter.

How to write microcopy for sign up?

Radosław Wałkuski, UX Designer

Signup forms is vital if you want to encourage users to use your services. And part of good user experience is microcopy, which the user finds on the signup page.

13 useful insights on how to better perform as a Car Dealer using Google Analytics

Michał Karpiński Volkswagen Group Polska, Piotr Ulacha, Senior Digital Analyst

In every industry, the use of data from analytical systems such as Google Analytics or Adobe Analytics to make business decisions is good practice.

Social Media Tags Guide Part 2 – Preparing a perfect image for the og:image tag

Dominik Słopecki, QA Tester

While the text that the user reads has to go through a "decoding" stage, the image goes to the subconscious directly affecting one's emotions and decisions - so let's make the perfect image for our business card.

UX Researcher’s checklist – what to check so your research session goes smoothly

Anna Kędzierska-Jastrzębska, UX Research Leader & UX Designer

Organizing UX research sessions may, at first glance, seem to be quite a straightforward affair. Yet if we want to do it really well, weighing up all possible risks, then the whole thing gets rather more complicated. This applies particularly to research organized as a service for an external client. In this case, we are chiefly responsible for the elimination of risks.

Social Media Tags Guide Part 1 – Statistics and General Information

Dominik Słopecki, QA Tester

As the owners of any website, regardless of whether we promote our product, services or simply write articles on it, we should be aware that sooner or later it will become our business card on social media sites - and no one would want their business card to scare away people.

The Future Of Frontend Frameworks

Michał Dawidowicz, Front-end Developer

Frontend technologies have always been evolving and changing. From creating webpages based almost entirely on tables we moved to complex, responsive single-page applications.

Spring Boot REST application with Keycloak SSO integration

Wojciech Wirzbicki, Head of Java

Prerequisites Basic knowledge of Spring Boot and Maven Running Keycloak instance with access to the administration console What is SSO? SSO (single sign-on) allows users to authenticate with multiple applications […]

A universal software list for UX Designers… doesn’t exist.

Konrad Dziejarski, Product Design Leader

When somebody asks you about software in UX Design, your first thoughts are Axure RP or Sketch.

Why going beyond standard analytical implementation can be a game changer

Piotr Ulacha, Senior Digital Analyst

When webmasters implement web analytics, they often limit themselves to inserting ready JavaScript tracking code. This is equivalent to implementing only a basic analytical solution. The main purpose of this article is to inspire you to implement advanced analytical functions.

Why are we still implementing web analytics from the source code level instead of e.g. using Google Tag Manager?

Piotr Ulacha, Senior Digital Analyst

The main purpose of this article is to present the advantages of using a tag manager as opposed to manual implementation and to convert stakeholders who are still using the traditional approach.

5 things that will improve the presentation of your project to the client

Łukasz Łojewski, Product Design Leader

Starting your design career, whether it is UX, UI or product design, no one will avoid the need to present the effects of their work to their client.

PPI: The final unknown parameter of a device’s screen quality

Dominik Słopecki, QA Tester

Almost everyone who buys a phone focuses on the amount of RAM, the number of built-in memory, the processor, camera and... screen resolution. Usually, when we want to gain some information about that final parameter, we come across the abbreviation PPI. But what does it mean and what is its use?

Using JCR

Mateusz Michalski, Java Developer

A Content Repository API for Java (JCR) is a specification form Java application programming interface (API) to access content repositories. Data in JCR is kept in a tree of nodes with a hierarchical structure.

Building WebComponents for third-party sites using React, Typescript, Webpack and Element Queries

Jacek Grzybowski, Senior Ruby on Rails Developer, Karol Schweitzer, Front-end Developer

Web components are a set of browser features promised to be a modern solution for encapsulating HTML fragments into custom HTML elements.

SEO Foundations

Łukasz Antolik, Dominik Słopecki, QA Testers

“The best place to hide a dead body is page 2 of Google”. In that case, what should we do for our website and its contents to be search-engine friendly? The answer is SEO.

Some facts about the job in the IT industry.

Łukasz Wełniak, Web Development & Operations Director

Every now and then an article appears on the Internet describing the situation in the IT industry. Reading such articles, I wonder if the author has any kind of contact with this industry? Reading further only suggests a negative answer.

Painless Changelog

Maciej Matysek, Frontend Developer

Everybody needs to add information about their work to the library’s changelog.

Work organization

Artegence Awarded Top UX Designer!

Artegence Team, Editor-in-chief

For over two decades, we’ve been taking your ideas and designing new digital realities every user will feel at home. Using cutting-edge technology, design, strategy, and data science, we have developed hundreds of solutions.

Creating a Selenium grid

Przemysław Kowalczyk, Head of System Administration

Selenium, if you don’t already know, is a system “for automating web applications for testing purposes but is certainly not limited to just that”. It lets you control the browser programmatically and supports Chrome / Chromium, Edge, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari.

Magnolia

Classic, headless or hybrid CMS? Maybe all of them together?

Marek Lesiak, CTO

From updating articles on the pages of a national daily, to changing the content of advertising totems, and modifying validation messages in banking transaction systems – CMS platforms ensure convenience and effective performance while cutting content management costs. The newest versions allow content administration at multiple endpoints at once.

Work organization

Artegence Rises in Clutch’s List of Development Agencies in Poland

Artegence Team, Editor-in-chief

Clutch, a B2B research and reviews platform, has recently included Artegence in its ongoing coverage of leading web development companies in Poland. The mission at Clutch is to aid buyers […]

Orchestration: the machines can do the work

Krzysztof Kolatorowicz, Senior Java Developer

More and more applications are deployed in the microservice architecture, in which each service has single responsibility in the system. In addition, the system is characterized by a heterogeneous environment: it may be composed of back-end applications, file servers, static data servers, databases, NoSQL bases, messaging systems, or queue brokers.

Benefits of immutability in a software development

Aleksander Ściborek, Java Developer

The idea of immutability is widely spread. However, I think it is quite rarely used in real programming among Java developers. In this article, I’m going to explain the benefits of immutable objects.

Technology

Struggles and victories of the everyday work of a data scientist

Agnieszka Sołtys, Data Scientist

A survey conducted by CrowdFlower showed that data preparation accounts for about 80% of the work of data scientists. I would say that figure should be even higher.

Five little tips to improve your meeting contact report skills

Hubert Czerski, Head of Project Management & Analysis

Meetings have a bad reputation. In fact, in some organizations, it’s synonymous to wasting your time. But things can get even worse if you’re the one responsible for preparing contact report afterward.

Is it a source of shame to be a PHP developer?

Łukasz Wełniak, Web Development & Operations Director

Some people say that PHP is not a good programming language. They also say that being a PHP developer is a source of shame. I can’t agree with that. Why?

How to implement a UX research cycle in a time-framed project

Anna Kędzierska-Jastrzębska, UX Research Leader & UX Designer

At Artegence and Efigence, we believe that even the highest quality of expertise in UX Design cannot replace research. Combined forces of UX Designers, UI Designers and UX Research experts give our clients - and us - opportunities to grow great products that REALLY suit user needs.

Does the design system era mean the death of creativity in UI design?

Paweł Dunia, Head of Design & Board Member at Artegence

Design systems, and tools to create and develop them like InVision Design System Manager have a moment now. We all talk about consistency and flexibility. But is the design system revolution at the same time a threat to creativity? Is there any space for uniqueness, free expression and emotions in the product design world?

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