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Teaching OOUX, Enterprise B2B complexity wrangling, OOUXing personal development
As for you Sophia, your passion, dedication, and care are incredible. Throughout the course I've looked at many posts from this and past cohorts and you're commenting and providing feedback pretty much everywhere. I know it's your course but I've not seen any other courses with so much engagement and qualitative feedback.
OOUX is an incredibly valuable tool for designers looking to tackle complexity. As someone that works with a complex products, I feel like I've been given the missing piece in my skillset to allow me to have a structured and confident approach to my practise, both in my own design and how I collaborate with different roles in my team. The course was perfectly structured, and the support from Sophia and her team of mentors was phenomenal!
My journey with UX involved completing 2 certificate programs. But even after completing countless classes, I still didn't feel prepared to fully be a UX Designer -- or work in UX -- partly because I didn't have a great handle on how to collaborate with developers.
When I was first introduced to OOUX, I seriously doubted its usefulness. Where was all of the rapid prototyping? Where was all of the visual design? I'm so grateful for Sophia's unrelenting work in showing the worth of OOUX, because once I saw how useful OOUX really is, I also saw how it was the missing piece in preparing me to work in UX with confidence.
Thanks to the community and my mentor, I've made it this far -- even when I doubted myself. I'm proud to have wrestled with really complex puzzles, indebted to those who've gone before and paved this delightfully tricky OOUX path, and excited to see what doors open as a result of completing the program!
The OOUX Masterclass Certification was one of the best things I've ever done to further my growth in the digital world. I was scared, clueless and intimidated by the amazing talent that was in the cohort with me but the experience ended up being exciting, enlightening and humbling. Everyone was so supportive and we all learned so much from each other. Sophia is a wonderful teacher whose knowledge is impressive and personality is even better - always making you feel comfortable. I look forward to growing in the OOUX world and seeing what the future holds!
The OOUX Certification course is one the most challenging I have experienced to date and so far the best.The robust learning materials, resources, feedback from Sophia and mentors are above and beyond. Adding OOUX and Sophia's ORCA process to my toolkit is the key to tackling complex design challenges. I look forward to continuing to learn and practice this process. I highly recommend this course to anyone tasked with designing for digital.
Sophia Prater is the founder and lead UX designer at Rewired and the chief evangelist of Object-Oriented UX. Sophia teaches her OOUX methodologies at conferences, within companies, and through her OOUX Certification Program. She is the host of OOUX Happy Hour and the OOUX Podcast. Sophia has brought the complexity-untangling magic of OOUX to companies such as Facebook, Google, Uber, HelloFresh, Atlassian, Autodesk, Delta Airlines, Microsoft, Adobe and many more. Sophia lives outside of Atlanta in the beautiful north Georgia mountains, the wine country of the southeast United States, with her husband and business partner, Luke.
Sophia Prater is the founder and lead UX designer at Rewired and the chief evangelist of Object-Oriented UX. Sophia teaches her OOUX methodologies at conferences, within companies, and through her OOUX Certification Program. She is the host of OOUX Happy Hour and the OOUX Podcast.
Sophia has brought the complexity-untangling magic of OOUX to companies such as Facebook, Google, Uber, HelloFresh, Atlassian, Autodesk, Delta Airlines, Microsoft, Adobe and many more.
Sophia lives outside of Atlanta in the beautiful north Georgia mountains, the wine country of the southeast United States, with her husband and business partner, Luke.
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.
In this more personal solo episode, Sophia shares how she uses OOUX to help her learn and understand complicated things faster, why it's important to budget for and invest in self improvement, plus why OOUX is great for helping you step away from the screens to embody what you're trying to understand.
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Join Sophia for this epic new training that distills 10+ years of teaching and refining OOUX and the ORCA Process into the top 20 most potent strategies that you can implement immediately. Get instant upgrades in five key areas of UX mastery: 🧠 complexity processing, 💣 bomb defusing, ☠️ X-ray UX, 🫶 creating our own damn table, and 📜 ancient truths of intuitive design. Totally FREE.
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RegisterUX practitioners often struggle with shifting requirements and increasing product complexity. Object-Oriented UX (OOUX) offers a structured approach to simplify digital products by focusing on core objects rather than pages or screens. Sophia Prater explains on the NN/g UX Podcast how OOUX improves usability, reduces inconsistencies, and streamlines collaboration across teams.
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listenThe UX job market is rough. Veterans are being laid off, juniors are struggling to find jobs, and yet, digital experiences are clunky and getting worse. What gives? In this raw and honest solo-episode, Sophia explores why UX has been set up to fail — why big problems remain unsolved, and why leadership often undervalues UX work.
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listenIn this solo episode of the podcast, Sophia discusses, "AI: A Guide for Thinking Humans" by Melanie Mitchell professor at the Santa Fe Institute. Are world models the answer to creating human-like intelligence in AI? What are the arguments for and against world models in training AI? And can OOUX help in creating these models?
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listenIn this episode, Sophia and Allie get clear on what exactly OOUX is, how the ORCA process works, and why everyone is talking about it! If you have heard about OOUX and were wondering what it can do for you in your UX practice, or if you find yourself faced with intense digital complexity and need a way to break it down, this podcast is for you!
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listenThe Self-Paced OOUX Masterclass is coming off the shelf at midnight on Friday, September 27, 2024. In this solo episode of the podcast, Sophia talks about why she's taking the course off the market, when it will be back, and why you should get this "life-changing," "mind blowing," "career-saving" course today before it's gone, plus two big lessons she's learned over 10 years of entrepreneurship!
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listenIn this Medium article, Sophia explains why the Self-Paced OOUX Masterclass has to go on pause, plus two lessons learned from 10 years as a small business owner and entrepreneur.
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readIn this solo episode of the podcast, Sophia asks, what is the point of OOUX? What are the things people get out of OOUX? Sophia outlines the three glorious transformations that OOUX provides to the weary UX professional. This podcast is for people who are wondering if they should dive deeper into the world of Object-Oriented UX.
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listenThere are big changes coming to the world of OOUX. In this episode of the podcast, Sophia talks about bumping the ORCA process up from 15 to 16 steps. She also discusses the upcoming Cohort 10, which will mark the tenth anniversary of OOUX! And to celebrate that milestone she has devised four new bonuses for this cohort. Plus, why we will be putting the Self-Paced OOUX Masterclass on pause.
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listenIn this video Sophia shows Allie Uizard's Generative AI for UI design. It allows users to bring product designs to life in seconds using simple text prompts, but can it actually do good UX or UI design? 🤔
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watchIn this video Allie and Sophia use system modeling to uncover hidden business opportunities in the iOS app, Planta, turning missed connections and dead-ends between objects into new opportunities. 💪
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watchIn this video, Sophia brings Allie two Isolated Objects from the World Wildlife Fund's website, but they find there is much to admire as well. From isolated habitats to unclear donation CTAs, the WWF provided some wild fodder for this episode.
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watchIn this video, Allie brings Sophia not one but two UX fails from Facebook Marketplace’s iOS app. Changing the status of a LISTING object from active to pending, or pending to sold, should be easy—especially when you’re managing many items!
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watchIn this video, Sophia brings Allie a UX Fail from the website for the 2024 Evolve Drupal Conference. The TALK object shape-shifts from page to page as well as between mobile and desktop. Tune-in to learn how keeping things consistent will give your users the confidence and make your design reviews gloriously easy.
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watchIn this two-hour special edition of OOUX Happy Hour, Sophia Prater will go over how generative AI and OOUX can support each other. The goal = in just a couple hours, diffuse the overwhelm and show you how to seamlessly integrate AI in really exciting and effective ways.
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learn moreIn this article, I outline my initial misconceptions about the nature of AI content strategy and how to properly configure data for consumption by a bot. I also consider the evolving role of UX designers in the age of AI.
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readThis is what happens when an OOUXer talks to a software architect: “THAT’s how you should be designing software.” In this nerd-fest of a conversation, hear how OOUX and technical architecture lock in perfectly. Tune-in to hear Sophia explain the process of OOUX, emphasizing the importance of establishing shared language and understanding of the core concepts in a system.
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listenIn this video, Sophia introduces Allie to Lingopie, an app that helps you learn foreign languages by binging television shows. In addition to being a fantastic way to learn a language, Lingopie has a lot going for it, but it's also filled with Masked Objects.
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watchIn this video, Allie introduces Sophia to one of her favorite iOS apps, Rocket Money. Despite its many strengths, we discover a notable UX fail—a Shape Shifter. If you're a UX designer weary of the perpetual demand for innovation at the expense of consistency, this episode equips you with the language to push back against arbitrary design choices that cause unnecessary cost and cognitive load.
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watchIn this solo episode of the podcast, Sophia talks about the coming artificial intelligence revolution and how it could work with OOUX. She discusses AI world models and how OOUX provides a framework for training AIs. Plus, all the fun AI/OOUX material coming down the pipeline, including Zoe, the OOUX bot (currently in development) and a meetup on May 16 3-5PM EST, "OOUX for AI and AI for OOUX."
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listenIn this video, Sophia and Allie jump into LinkedIn, showing how the UX fail, Isolation, works to leave users feeling bewildered, frustrated, and ineffective. Keep an eye out for other UX fails in this one too! If you’re a UX designer looking to learn what to avoid when deciding how your users navigate your system, this one’s for you!
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watchNew format! We are coming back to the original meaning of a Happy Hour: a gathering time with drinks (boozy or not), people, schmoozing, and conversation. During the hour we will host four 10-minute small-group convos, each with new faces. During each discussion we will provide you with a juicy discussion prompt that loosely ties to the ORCA Process.
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RegisterIn this video, Allie and Sophia dive headfirst into Amazon’s Alexa iOS app, showing how the four UX fails work together to sabotage your muscle memory, making you feel utterly stupid and inefficient when it comes to creating the smart home of your dreams. If you’re a UX designer that wants to unlock the tools to create efficient and intuitive designs, this one’s for you!
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watchIn this video, Allie and Sophia take on Google Photos’ “Memories” feature in iOS — a great lesson on what UX designers should avoid when it comes to where to place calls-to-action and how the implications for getting this wrong can mean reduced trust, frustration, bursting into tears in the middle of a work meeting, and even deleting the app altogether.
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watchIn this eighth installment of the ORCA Series, Sophia wraps up the Requirements round with Attribute Requirements. Tune in to hear Sophia give a primer on deeper level requirements gathering, plus what sorts of questions generally get asked during the Requirements round.
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listenIn this solo episode of the podcast, Sophia gives a great bird's eye view of the ORCA process, outlining each step, how it can stand alone on its own, and what the main "tripping point" is for each part of the process. Plus, a teaser for the advanced training, March 1, 2024. Buckle up and grab something to take notes!
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listenSophia Prater is a trailblazing UX educator, consultant, and the founder of the object-oriented UX methodology, joins us to dive deep into her innovative approach to user experience design. She shares her journey from her childhood passion for design to revolutionizing UX with her unique methodology, emphasizing the need for harmonizing design, engineering, and product management.
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listenIn this seventh installment of the ORCA Series, Sophia brings some holiday cheer while covering CTA Requirements. Revisiting the Santa Delivery App from ORCA Series #6, Relationship Requirements, she explores the four ways you can upgrade your basic user stories, plus how to use AI to help you fill in the gaps you might have missed.
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listenSophia delivers episode #6 in the ORCA Series: Relationship Requirements. Sophia expands on "My Cat Saving Fire Department," the power tool for analyzing object relationships. Using the example of Santa delivering presents, she illustrates how to apply this tool to understand relationships between objects, plus a rule of thumb for recognizing tree systems!
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listenIn this fifth installment of the ORCA Series, Sophia discusses Object Requirements, how to skip ORCA steps & loop back to them as needed, as well as ways to customize the ORCA sprint, plus the potential use of artificial intelligence in generating object guides.
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listenIn this fourth installment of the ORCA Series, Sophia discusses the 15 attributes that you'll want to consider for every single object in your system. Think about this like a gut check or a question guide for each object.
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listenIn this FREE guide, learn the 15 most common attribute types in UX as featured in episode 048 of The OOUX Podcast, (ORCA Series #4) - Top Attributes to Consider for Every Object.
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get itWhat makes a UXer high-value? In this solo episode of the podcast, Sophia outlines the nine traits that a "high-value" UX Designer should have.
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listenThe Nested-Object Matrix (the NOM) is one of the most powerful tools in the OOUX arsenal. During this event, we will give a short overview of the "classic" NOM (and show you where the idea came from)...and then we will go off the beaten path to show you how you can use this framework to map the relationships between just about anything.
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watchIn this third installment of the ORCA Series, Sophia discusses why objects aren’t more important than all the other parts of a system but are essential to understanding the system, plus she gives 8 tips for CTA discovery!
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listenI’ve got a question that I feel like no one is asking. Why is “legacy software” always considered a bad thing? Or perhaps the better question is: What if we could create good legacy software?
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readDuring this game-like happy hour, we'll be going through three rapid-fire noun foraging challenges! You'll get some awesome practice at pulling out the objects (the core concepts) from a mess of user and stakeholder needs and you'll learn some tricks on how to hone in on object quicker and more effectively.
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watchLearn to recognize and leverage this ubiquitous hierarchy pattern that you've probably never heard of.
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readEwelina Nowakowska is a Certified OOUX Strategist and is the Director of UI/UX Design & Development at American Reading Company. In this episode of the podcast, Sophia & Ewelina discuss the ways in which OOUX is like mental yoga practice, how ORCA helps teams work faster, plus some exciting innovations that may be on the horizon from OOUX headquarters.
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listenIn this episode of the podcast, Sophia explains eight ways to level up your system modeling skills, plus diagramming The Church of Latter Day Saints!
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listenHow can systems thinking help OOUXers? Sheryl Cababa is the author of a new Rosenfeld book Closing the Loop: Systems Thinking for Designers. Join us for this event where we’ll go fireside chat style with a conversation between Upma and Sheryl. They will discuss systems thinking for designers and how systems thinking overlaps (or not) with object-oriented thinking.
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watchIn this episode of the podcast Sophia and Chase discuss using Object-Oriented UX to onboard at Chewy.com, creating new objects at Wealthfront, how OOUX fits in with other design methodologies, plus how you can get started with OOUX in your organization. We nerded out in this one. Enjoy!
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listenIn this episode of the podcast, Sophia talks to the VP of Design and Research at HelloFresh — Jake Zukowski. They discuss how a designer on his team started sneaking OOUX through the backdoor into their design meetings, they debate about the difference between a Product Manager and a UX Designer, and they talk about how PMs can bring OOUX to their teams.
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listenIn this super candid conversation, Joe Natoli and Sophia sit down to talk UX process, sketching, creativity, agile, and how OOUX can fit into to all of the above, "meeting you where you are". We'll give you a look into the new course that Joe and Sophia are launching on April 1st, 2023 — a course that targets the fundamentals of OOUX and can get you rocking and rolling in about a weekend.
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listenSophia 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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read
In 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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listenThis duplicate-able Notion template gives you a detailed outline for running an ORCA Sprint. The ORCA Sprint framework give you a formula for taking a team through a week of OOUX exercises aligning to the ORCA Process.
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get itORCA 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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listen
Collaborating 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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watch
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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Register
XR (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 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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readThis 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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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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listen
Now 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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listen
Collaborating 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 it
In 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 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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You 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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The 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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"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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In 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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Look 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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Interaction 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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Sophia reflects on the value of pushing your content, getting it out there, and telling imposter syndrome to take a hike.
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The 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.
