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January 23, 2024–In the field of design, trends come and go. As technologies evolve and user preferences shift, design trends naturally progress and adapt. Keeping up with the latest trends helps brands stay current and resonate more with consumers as their preferences evolve. Last year, we highlighted dynamic color, personalization, and simplicity. In 2024, we envision designers

‘Tis the Season to Commit to Exceptional Experiences: UX Resolutions for 2024

December 13, 2023–With December upon us, our thoughts turn to resolutions—the ways we can be better in the year to come. For us as an agency, that means constantly raising the bar for ourselves, our clients, our communities, our industry, our families, and our friends. For our UX team, whose job it is to advocate for users,

In Era of Artificial Intelligence, Empathic Design Matters More Than Ever

October 13, 2023–With the rapid expansion of new technologies like AI, we can see in human beings a fascinating desire for technology to do human things. We’ve moved far beyond assembly line robots putting rivets into car panels or picking items off a shelf. Where machines once took over rote and physically demanding tasks, we now have

5 Healthcare Digital Design Best Practices for Seniors and Caregivers

September 29, 2023–At ExpandTheRoom, we’ve partnered with many organizations in the healthcare space, and we’ve done a lot of research specifically on healthcare for older adults and their caregivers. We’ve worked with VNS Health, a home and community care organization based in New York, for nearly a decade. We’ve also worked with Commonwealth Care Alliance, a mission-driven

First Impressions Matter if You Want to Make a Website Credible

August 18, 2023–Humans make incredibly fast decisions. Research has shown that it takes roughly 50 milliseconds (about 0.05 seconds) for people to form their opinion of your website. And, of course, technology is making it increasingly easier for humans to act on these opinions. Just click, tap, swipe, or blurt out “Alexa, off!” and it can quickly

Why Surprise & Delight in Design Matter More Than Ever

July 17, 2023–Twenty years ago, when ETR was getting started, putting together a beautiful website that functioned seamlessly was far from a given. You could do fewer things with code or design programs. Creating animations was complex work, and they were a bandwidth hog. Good hosting wasn’t always easy to find. Consumers had weak internet connections that

Why Stakeholder Interviews Are a Critical Part of UX Research

May 31, 2023–At more established or traditional companies, websites are typically the marketing department’s responsibility. But that doesn’t mean the marketing team alone has all the knowledge needed to create and maintain effective websites. While marketing leaders will likely continue to have primary ownership over company websites, it is a mistake to think that the marketing team

5 Ways We’re Using Artificial Intelligence as a Web Design Agency Right Now

March 29, 2023–We are testing the many tools powered by A.I. that have arrived recently in order to see how they could help improve our processes.

November 18, 2022–Innovation in design is driven by people’s preferences and what’s possible through the latest technology. User experience and user interface design are related practices that balance creating effective websites while piquing users’ interest by using the latest trends. The internet is a vast place and new trends are evolving all the time. With our 20

Best UX Pattern for a Website Navigation With Dropdown Menus

July 7, 2022–Here at ExpandTheRoom we are constantly designing and reimagining information architectures and website navigation schemes for our clients. There are many different patterns and unique challenges to address with these projects. Those challenges often become a lot more complex than you realize at the surface level. One question that comes up often is “What is

12 Website Best Practices You May Have Overlooked

April 14, 2022–Clients ask us all the time to re-center their digital thinking. You are not alone. Because the Board Meeting is Friday, because budgets are due, and because that’s the way things go in business, we often find ourselves being reactive rather than proactive. We’ll let you in on a little secret, with 20 years of

How to Create a UX Research Plan

December 21, 2021–You are launching a new website, your first big project as the VP of Marketing. The site launches and flops. Traffic starts declining. Customers are leaving faster than you can bring in new ones. What happened? How can you fix it? Could it have been prevented?