Whitney Hess
whitneyhess.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2009
Whitney Hess is a user experience consultant who writes about UX careers and design principles, and about women in tech and venture capital.
What HN saysHN commenters cite her as a respected UX professional and link her guiding-principles post and recommended reading list.
17HN people shared it
3linked it in comments
14stories submitted
69story points
13 years agolast shared
2009people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1You’re not a user experience designer if…3 people · 15 points · first shared 2011 · 6 comments on HN
- 2The plain numbers about women in tech – The VCs2 people · 4 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 3So you wanna be a user experience designer step 2 guiding principles2 people · first shared 2009
- 4If VCs Understood UX…1 people · 30 points · first shared 2012 · 15 comments on HN
- 5The plain numbers about women in tech1 people · 4 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 6What are you worth?1 people · 3 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 7Blogger fills in where Big Media fails: List of people killed by Hurricane Sandy1 people · 3 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 8If VCs Understood UX…1 people · 3 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 9Fulfilling Dreams by Saying No1 people · 3 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 10When a Design Firm Fails1 people · 1 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 11The UX Design Process for the Boxee Beta1 people · 1 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 12The Neighborhood Business Experience1 people · 1 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
- 13Putting purpose back into your projects1 people · 1 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
- 14So you wanna be a user experience designer step 1 resources1 people · first shared 2010
What HN people wrote when they linked it
mattyfo · 2013-11-06
The author of this article failed in stating up front a basic assumption about UX which is that you need to be making your decisions from a position that is informed by quantitative and qualitative observations about the actual users.
When you collect the data you can test things 'from a design perspective' and 'best practice' standpoint and see if those hold true. Any other way and you're making stuff and justifying your decisions after the fact.
If you're not talking to users then you're not doing USER experience design, you're just making up an experience design. See Whitney Hess: http://whitneyhess.com/blog/2011/04/23/youre-not-a-user-experience-des…
ccpascu · 2009-11-24
I just updated my blog post and also added a link to this great article by Whitney Hess http://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/11/23/so-you-wanna-be-a-user-experien…
polyot · 2010-10-08
1. Rosenfeld Media has a ranking tool for UX books
http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/zeitgeist/ and top lists provided by respected industry professionals.
2. Whitney Hess, a respected UX professional with great PR skills, has a recommended list at http://www.flashlightworthybooks.com/Best-Recommended-Books-User-Exper…
As a person who once switched to UX design for a while, I can say that they are definitely great books, though I can't understand everyone' obsession with Steve Krug (he has EXTREMELY basic books).
Also, Whitney has two popular blog posts of So You Wanna Be a UX Designer series:
http://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/06/30/so-you-wanna-be-a-user-experien… and http://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/11/23/so-you-wanna-be-a-user-experien… .
They will provide you basics, but also overwhelm with the huge volume of recommended sources.
3. konigi.com (ther blog and wiki) is a top source of information about ALL old and new UX tools, some UX basics and new UX trends. They also sell some very handy tools for UX designers http://konigi.com/tools/overview