Concepts in Design & UX, page 24
HIPAA in UX Research: Health Data as Hazardous Material
HIPAA in UX research treats health data as toxic: collect only what you need and de-identify fast. When interviewing patients or handling medical logs, treat every note as PHI. The footgun is dropping raw transcripts into consumer apps without a signed BAA.
A Design System Newsletter: Make Invisible Work Visible
A design system newsletter makes your team's invisible infrastructure work visible. Use it to announce component updates and share challenges, keeping stakeholders engaged.
Scroll Depth Tracking: Measure Engagement Beyond the Fold
Scroll depth tracking measures how much of a page a user actually sees, not just that they landed on it. It fires analytics tags at specific scroll points, like 25% or 75% down the page, to gauge engagement on long articles.
Stakeholder Alignment: The Pre-Research Contract
Alignment locks the decision a study informs before recruiting. It matters when teams fund research to validate a direction, then ignore findings that clash. The footgun is conflating alignment with a kickoff instead of a decision pact.
Figma Pages: The Folders Inside Your Files
Think of Figma pages as folders within a single file. They let you organize complex projects by giving you separate canvases for different design stages, user flows, or component libraries. The main footgun: free plans limit you to only three pages per file.
Reduce Time-to-Market with a Design System
A design system is a shared toolkit of pre-built UI components, not just a style guide. It lets teams build interfaces from a library of pre-coded parts, drastically cutting repetitive work. The footgun is treating it as a static document, not a living system.
Content Marketing ROI: It's Not Your Typical ROI
Content Marketing ROI isn't a simple asset return; it measures profit from content against the money you risked creating it. Use it to justify budgets by showing how blog posts drive leads.
Participant Communication Strategy: The Pre-Session Bias Shield
Participant communication shapes data quality before sessions start. It is vital in remote or longitudinal studies where you cannot course-correct live. Oversharing study goals in recruitment emails primes rehearsed answers and destroys validity.
Figma Permissions Cascade Downward
Figma permissions flow downward: team access opens every project and file inside it. Use share links for quick reviews, but direct invites gate specific files. Inviting someone to a team exposes every project, while a file invite keeps the rest hidden.
Figma's Library Analytics API: Quantify Your Design System's Impact
Figma's Library Analytics API lets you quantify your design system's impact by tracking component usage. Use it to find adoption trends or get a snapshot of where components are used. The footgun: data for files you can't access is obfuscated, not omitted.
Assisted Conversions: Giving Credit Beyond the Final Click
An assisted conversion credits any channel a user interacts with before the final one. It's like crediting the pass before the goal, showing how channels like social or organic search contribute to sales that are ultimately closed by a direct visit or ad.
No-Show Management: Research Calendar Insurance
No-show management treats research calendars like airline seats: you expect flakes and overbook so one absence doesn't ground your sprint. It is vital for moderated sessions with hard-to-recruit users.
Design Token Transformation: One Source for All Platforms
A design token standard is a universal adapter for your style. It defines properties like color in a standard JSON format, which tools then transform into platform-specific code for iOS, Android, and web. The footgun is building bespoke transformation logic.
CLV:CAC Ratio: Is Your Customer Acquisition Profitable?
The CLV:CAC ratio tells you if you're spending too much to acquire customers. It compares the total profit a customer generates (CLV) against the cost to get them (CAC). SaaS businesses use it to gauge marketing spend. A 1:1 ratio means you're losing money.
Niche UX Recruiting Is Targeted Diplomacy
Niche recruiting trades reach for precision. You need it when studying tacit knowledge like enterprise admin workflows. The footgun is screening for demographics instead of domain depth, which fills sessions with imposters who teach you nothing.
Motion Tokens Turn Timing into a System
Motion tokens standardize animation like color tokens standardize palettes. A team can retime an entire product from one file. The footgun is naming tokens after CSS curves instead of intent, locking implementation details into your design language.
Figma Variables: Grouping Primitives with Collections
Think of Figma variables as raw ingredients. A collection is a recipe book ('Spacing') and modes are variations ('Mobile'). This lets you manage design tokens, themes, and responsive layouts.
Copyright: Protection is Automatic, Registration is Power
Copyright protects your specific written expression—not the general idea—the moment it's 'fixed' on paper or a screen. While protection for your book or blog is automatic, you must register with the U.S. Copyright Office to sue for infringement in court.
Shadowing Reveals What Users Actually Do
Shadowing follows users in real tasks to catch where stated behavior diverges from reality. Deploy it when workflows cross tools, rooms, or teams and interviews miss the real friction. Your presence changes behavior; filter genuine habits from performance.
Elevation System: Height as a Token
Elevation is spatial height, not just shadows: it maps every surface to a specific z-height. Use it for modals, dropdowns, and draggable cards. The footgun is tuning shadows without locking z-index, so visually higher elements still get buried.
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