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#OpenForWork
Teaching OOUX, Ed Tech, Sustainable Design, Real Estate
I've loved UX since my first day on the job in 2009. But in the early days of my career, I'd often feel like the process I was a part of needed more rigor. We seemed to wait until late in the game to tackle complexity—and this just led to a ton of rework. We'd try to break up the complexity by siloing features and functionality—and this just led to "frankenstein" designs. By studying human psychology as well as the object-oriented UI practice that were popular in the '90s, I created a rigorous methodology for breaking down complexity while also ensuring holistic, elegant, systemic UX and information architecture. This game-like process completely transformed my professional life. With OOUX and the ORCA process, I facilitate effective collaboration, break down team silos, and have a ton more fun doing my job as a UX designer. I honestly cannot imagine designing a digital environment without leveraging OOUX.
Sophia goes way back to her childhood, high school, college days, and early UX career to make sense of the current state of OOUX and ORCA. Sophia gets into the frustrations of designing in the dark, shares a few juicy life lessons, and reveals the early principles that make up the foundation of her career — and the movement she’s built.
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listenIn this episode of the podcast, Sophia kicks off the first in a 15-part series on her ORCA (Objects, Relationships, CTAs, and Attributes) process. This first installment will cover the process of Noun Foraging. Learn Sophia's 10 hot tips for getting started with noun foraging. Plus, how artificial intelligence can help you do the work, and how noun foraging might not be just for nouns. Enjoy!
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listenSophia lays out her findings after successfully rolling out the ORCA Sprint envisioned in episode 033 from last season. She talks about manifesting the ORCA Sprint from concept to deliverable, what worked and what didn't work (and what can probably be skipped) while running the first ORCA Sprint, and why ending Day 2 of the ORCA Sprint with a nav flow is guaranteed to blow people's minds.
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listenIn this interview with Sophia Prater on the UX Pathways Podcast, Sophia talks about how she got into UX back in 2008 and gets up on her soapbox about how the UX industry is failing and how UXers are often set up to design in the dark. If you are interested in the OOUX Masterclass, make sure to stay until the end.
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listenIn this article, Sophia outlines why it's a bad idea to start UX projects with task flows and how OOUX can provide the framework you need to get started with any design project, no matter the complexity.
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readIn this FREE guide, get the inside scoop on the creation story behind OOUX, learn the most critical activities in the object-oriented framework, and guide you to the best resources for learning the foundations of OOUX. You'll get the rocket fuel you need to go from 0 to 60 in just a few hours.
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get itWith the theme of "Sustainability in Design" at UX Sofia's 2022 conference, Sophia answers the question: "How can OOUX contribute to solving the climate crisis…or saving endangered species…or cleaning our oceans and air? Or…all of the above?" It all comes down to exposing the truth about the inner workings of the world by mapping connections and relationships.
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watchIn this article, Sophia answers a common question about the ORCA process. Should the Prioritization Round come before the detailed work of the Requirements Round? Why not do all the trimming first, and then focus the detailed work on what’s left over?
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readSophia was interviewed by Service Designer, Michael Schofield, and UX Designer, Tim Broadwater, for their podcast, Design Thinking Games, a podcast that “examines the player experience of board games, pen and paper roleplaying games, live action games, and video games.” In this episode, they discuss the game-like aspects of OOUX and the guys give their play-tested review of the OOUX card game.
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listenORCA is a 15-step meat-grinder of a process: put good research in one end and out the other, get clarity, structure, and everything you need to go into interaction design with confidence. It’s an iterative process that helps you synthesize research into naturally-intuitive UX. You need ORCA, the third diamond in your "double-diamond" design process.
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readWhat does leveling up look like when you’re drilling down? In other words, what does it mean to practice advanced UX without “manager” or “director” in your title? If you ask 10 experienced UXers you will probably get 10 different answers. But, for what it’s worth, here are my top five.
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readIn this solo episode of the podcast (and final episode of this season), Sophia talks about a new concept called "The ORCA Sprint." A week-long OOUX journey teams can take to tackle their projects head-on with the methodology of ORCA (tackling objects, relationships, calls-to-action, and attributes).
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listenCollaborating remotely? This Whimsical template, which includes Discovery, Requirements, and Prioritization rounds, is an upgrade from our popular MURAL ORCA Discovery template. You'll gain incredible clarity by defining objects, relationships, calls-to-action, and attributes. This template includes video tutorials covering each step of the process.
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get itIn this month’s Happy Hour Sophia Prater (your host and chief evangelist for OOUX) will be introducing what noun foraging is, where it fits into the ORCA process, and some of the best places to go foraging. Next, Rik Williams, UX Architect and Certified OOUX Strategist, will introduce a software-based method to mine diverse content sources. Plus a fun design challenge!
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What do archaeology and information architecture have in common? More than you think. In this short article, Sophia outlines the similarities and makes a tongue-in-cheek case for why information architecture should probably be renamed "information archaeology."
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readIn this workshop, you will learn the fundamental principles of Object-Oriented UX and core methodologies behind the ORCA process. ORCA will help you break down complex problems, organize research and requirements, and gracefully transition from discovery into design.
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RegisterXR (Extended, Virtual, and Augmented Reality) is traditionally a field saturated with game designers, animators, 3D modelers, and developers. But what is the role of UX design in the coming XR revolution? In this article, Sophia explains why "UX for XR" author, Cornel Hillman, believes Object-Oriented UX is the "missing link" for UX in XR.
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readSophia was interviewed on the UI Breakfast Podcast. How can object-oriented UX help designers solve complex product problems? You’ll learn why object-oriented thinking is well-suited for design processes, how a shared vocabulary enables collaboration, practical mapping tips, and more.
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listenIn this talk given at the 2021 No Code Conference, produced by Webflow, you’ll learn the basics of OOUX and how it can help teams achieve a shared understanding of scope, strategically structure content, and shine light on hidden complexity — reducing rework in the process.
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watchThis article is part of a series of case studies that follow my journey of practicing and refining my Object-Oriented UX process. In many ways this project is where my career as a designer of the design process really began. It was a project of many firsts: my first responsive design, my first time working very closely with the development team, and my first real system design.
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readThis article is part of a series of case studies that follow my journey of practicing and refining OOUX. I hope you are ready to continue the CNN Elections saga after I returned to the newsroom — three years after leaving the team. In this case study, I talk about the struggles of pushing for collaboration and research, content-based navigation, Skeuomorphism 2.0, stage diagrams, and more.
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readIn this talk, you’ll learn the basics of OOUX and how it can help teams achieve a shared understanding of scope, strategically structure content, and shine light on hidden complexity — reducing rework in the process.
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RegisterIt’s why so many UX designers are frustrated in their job and why many projects fail. It’s also why we often can’t sell research: every decision-maker is confident in their own mental picture. In this article, Sophia shows you how to collaboratively expose misalignment in your team’s shared understanding by bringing them together around two questions. What are the objects? How do they relate?
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readSophia goes solo once again to address a question someone in the OOUX Self-Paced Masterclass Program brought to her from a senior UXer who just didn't see the value of OOUX when information architecture already exists. It's one she's heard more than once from those familiar with IA. Is OOUX just a rebrand of IA that no one asked for and no one needs?
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listenNow that I am aware of junction objects, I use them ALL. THE. TIME. In this article, you'll learn about an OOUX-power tool that helps you solve some super-sticky data puzzles. This "design-technical" tool improves communication and collaboration with developers, while allowing us (UX designers) to create more dynamic experiences for our users.
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readIn this episode, your host Sophia Prater flies solo to show you how to sell more UX research using Object-Oriented UX—more specifically, the first two steps of the ORCA process. We will talk about how to make your stakeholders and biz folks aware of gaps in the team’s understanding and become more invested in important questions that need to be brought to users.
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listenIn just a single sheet of paper (front and back), this guide gives you step-by-step instructions on how to create an object map.
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get itCollaborating remotely? This MURAL template will help your team come together around the first iteration of the ORCA process: Discovery. You'll gain incredible clarity by defining objects, relationships, calls-to-action, and attributes. WARNING! This template provides some help text but is not completely self-explanatory. You'll want some OOUX basic training before diving in.
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get itIn this conversation, Sophia and Jorge discuss OOUX and how it differs from other methodologies.
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listen"Advice Giver" Sophia Prater and "Advice Seeker" Joseph Duteil discuss OOUX and how the idea is rooted in practice starting with a project for CNN in 2012, and how it has evolved into a repeatable approach, helping UXers tackle any type of app, site or software.
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listenAll too often, we end up brushing complex business rules and information architecture aside in the name of “low fidelity.” In this talk, Sophia goes over four main sources of complexity and how Object-Oriented UX can help wrangle them. You’ll learn about the tough questions you should be asking early on—to make the rest of the project easier and more successful.
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watchStart here! Sophia talks through the top frustrations that she hears from UX designers and explains how OOUX can help. If you are enduring pixel-pushing sans strategy, an overwhelm of complexity, stakeholder buy-in, communicating with developers...OOUX is the answer!
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watchIn this episode, Sophia takes us on an audio walk-through of the "calls-to-action" methodology of her ORCA process. She will guide you through how to get started designing complex systems, how to make a CTA Matrix that's based on real-world objects, and why doing so will pay dividends.
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listenThis episode is an audio WORKSHOP that’s going to teach you the basics of OOUX and the ORCA process. If you listened to the first episode, you should have a zoomed-out, big picture Idea of what OOUX is all about. But in this episode, you’ll actually get to practice OOUX!
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listenOctober 20, 2015 was when Sophia's article on OOUX debuted on A List Apart. In this episode of the podcast, Sophia shows you how her philosophy and process have changed since then and how OOUX was forged in the crucible of CNN Election Night 2012.
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listenYou name the language, human babies learn nouns easier and faster than verbs. In this article, Sophia explores research conducted by Dedre Gentner and lays out how her finding are relevant and important in the world of UX.
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readNeed to convince a boss or a business stakeholder on the value of OOUX? This talk speaks directly to leadership about how OOUX can help save time and money.
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watchThe BBC has been basing their website design on domain models for over a decade. In OOUX, the design process focuses on objects, relationships, calls-to-action, and attributes. In this article, Sophia discusses how BBC Food is using OOUX to create a superb user experience on their website.
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read"OOUX and Design Systems, a match made in design heaven." Object-Oriented UX should be an organizing principle for your Design System. In this article, Sophia talks about how OOUX improves the process of creating a Design System.
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readIn this quick interview before the Design Content Conference in 2019, Sophia Prater talks through the biggest danger of designing "actions-first", using an example from her Edtech days.
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watchSophia outlines the four principles of intuitive design and goes deep on the subject of messy objects. Stay tuned 'til the end, when Sophia does a live demo introducing her iterative ORCA process (Objects, Relationships, Capabilities, and Attributes)!
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watchExamine how EdX accomplishes a refreshingly natural browsing experience — curious users can navigate from subject, to course, to instructor, to school, and back again without ever needing to pick through the hierarchical main navigation. This is one of the primary principles of object-oriented user experience (OOUX): contextual navigation through object relationships.
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readIn this talk at the Design & Content Conference in Vancouver, Sophia explains how OOUX can help you avoid the UX fails that confuse and frustrate users. Stay tuned because in the last third of the talk, Sophia gives a sneak-peek into her OOUX process and how to use Webflow to build CMS prototypes.
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watchIn the digital world, anything is possible. But if digital-space interfaces stray too far from our expectations, users will become unsure, confused, and unhappy. This article spells out why we should design with lizard brains in mind to create intuitive interfaces. (In OOUX, we have a new definition for a Broken Object. In this article, think of the Broken object as a mean Shapeshifter.)
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readThis is a full-length, 90-minute Object-Oriented UX talk delivered in Warsaw, Poland during the MCE conference. Strap in and enjoy!
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watchLook into how users understand and process their world, how thought, communication, understanding, and perception are all object-oriented, and how when digital design aligns with real-world objects, better UX is the result.
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readIn this talk for the QCon Developer Conference, Sophia discusses all the factors that cause complexity, the three key ways to wrangle it, and how to fix it with Object-Oriented UX. She talks about how to "cheat" on our IA, reduce moving parts, and stop arguing so much about features and functionality.
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watchInteraction design helps users get things done in digital spaces. For UX designers, it's where we choreograph all the users' doing; the verbs. But what are the things being "done to"? Learn how defining your nouns (objects) first will set you up for more intuitive interaction design.
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readSophia reflects on the value of pushing your content, getting it out there, and telling imposter syndrome to take a hike.
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readThe original OOUX manifesto. You'll learn why designing "objects first" is pivotal and how it helps you define the core structure of your system. The process has evolved over the years into Sophia's ORCA process, but this 2015 article is still a great place to start.
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This rigorous course is for UX designers, developers, and digital product people who are tackling complexity, wrangling stakeholders, and trying to make systems-level change.
