This week, we’re reading about tools for UX tasks, design patterns for mobile, really rapid product design, hot new marketing tools, and the tension between user experience and "customer" experience.

What are you reading?

20 Useful Tools & Apps For Everyday UX Tasks

The writer has collected a good set of tools and apps—sorted into three buckets: research; wireframing and prototyping; and collaboration—for both experienced and newly minted UX practitioners. The more seasoned folks may already be familiar with some of these, but we think even they will find something new here.

Hot Data and Content Design Patterns for Mobile

This post outlines eight data and content design best practices, illustrating them with reference to design patterns found in the hottest mobile apps. If you are looking for inspiration or just want to know if you are on the right track when it comes to creating effective user experiences, read on!

Google Ventures’ 6-step design process: How we revamped our entire product in less than a week

Last week we brought you the story about how Google Ventures uses design war rooms to ensure efficiency in their design processes. This article dives into the specific steps that Google Ventures and their incubated startup teams take to quickly design and optimize user experience. One interesting recommendation: No laptops or cell phones around while working. Why? “Distractions are deadly.”

Hipster analytics: The 5 best tools you’ve probably never heard of

This is a detailed overview of some innovative marketing tools that are “super useful but still fly under the radar.” The tools covered include Outbound (for marketing automation), Amplitude (for funnel analysis on a budget), StackLead (for lead qualification), Spinnakr (for real-time web traffic response), and Inspectlet (for user session video recording). Of course, if you are a marketing technology geek, check out our upcoming webcast on the rise of the marketing technologist!

Breaking up with the User in User Experience Strategy?

This article focuses on an interesting dilemma facing UX practitioners: while understanding the user through user research and testing is a critical part of what they do, often UX teams are relegated to UI design. Creating a comprehensive portrait of the “user” is increasingly being taken over by customer insights teams, meaning that “user experience” is beginning to seem like a more specialized subset of a broader “customer experience.” How have you seen this play out in your organization?

Image Source (Creative Commons): State Library of Victoria