The Sorry State of Women and Workplace Apologies
You might have heard or read that women apologize more than men. Or maybe you’re not aware of how much you say sorry throughout the day. Start counting your sorries, and you’ll soon realize it’s true. There are myriads of articles and research studies about this topic.
“Before we women even open our mouths, our words feel like an imposition rather than a contribution, and thus we feel we need to say “I’m sorry” to cushion the impact. In fact, sometimes it seems like women apologize for just plain existing.”
- Sydney Beveridge, Huffington Post
So why do we apologize more? The short answer is that women have a lower threshold for what constitutes offensive behavior.
According to a 2010 study published by the Association of Psychological Science, women apologize more than men, but they also reported committing more offenses than men. That correlation makes sense. If you feel like you’ve somehow done something offensive, a normal person would then apologize for that action.
As a UX Designer, I’m a problem solver. So let’s think about this from a UX perspective and figure out what the problem is.
Giving Thanks to UX: How My Job Made Me Better at Holidays with the In-Laws
How much could user experience design possibly relate to holidays with the in-laws? Turns out, a lot. And my hope is, maybe it can help you too this year.
Recently, someone asked me if it was weird spending holidays with my in-laws. I answered honestly: No. It’s not, and I enjoy spending holidays with my husband’s family. I got back a look of mild surprise – like I was just saying that for nice, easy conversation.
That got me thinking about why holidays with in-laws are hard for us. Why do I enjoy the holidays with my in-laws, why isn’t it taxing for me? Then it struck me – I create experiences for a living. It’s what I do every day. Maybe I’ve subconsciously taken the spirit of UX and applied it to my life outside of work.
An Ode to Copy: The Unsung Hero of UX
When we think of UX, we think site layouts. We think interaction. We think user flow. However, too often, we don’t think copy.
Yes, we design amazing user experiences. But when it comes to site copy, we UX designers often fall back on for-placement-only (FPO) copy. While UX may be a (relatively) new field, FPO copy has roots all the way back in classic Latin literature. Thus, the famous — well, infamous, in our opinion — lorem ipsum.
Even though it goes way back, could it be that lorem ipsum is actually causing more harm than good? If you pause to think about it rather than just doing it because it's always been done that way — the answer is yes. Here’s why.
Our Power Play: How UX and SEO Work Together at Nebo
What is the main goal of a website?
To give people what they want as quickly and as easily as possible.
Users are always looking to do something, whether it’s finding information, killing time, being entertained, purchasing a product or staying up-to-date with the latest news. So how do we help people reach their goals? At Nebo, we combine SEO and UX.