Human-centred approaches

Article — 22 August 2022 — 1,698 words

12 years in higher education web and user experience management

Work: Learn Foundations, SRUC — Scotland’s Rural College, Study at St Andrews website, The University of Edinburgh, University of St Andrews, User Vision

Today I have started a new job. But while I’m looking forward, I have also been reflecting, as this moment marks my first real move away from higher education. Despite the differing natures of the three organisations I worked for, there were many parallels across them.

Linknote — 21 August 2022 — 110 words

Economics — Social science — User experience

Work: The University of Edinburgh

Nudge in user experience — Website and Communications Blog

Over the summer my user experience team at the University of Edinburgh had the wonderful opportunity to work with a Behavioural Insights (Nudge) Intern. There are lots of parallels between behavioural science and human-centred approaches. Nudge models give us the opportunity to bring an extra level of formality to our approaches.

Working with a behavioural science specialist has brought things full circle for me. My first association with the University of Edinburgh was when I studied economics here for my undergraduate degree.

And it really is full circle, because this was my last blog post as an employee of the University of Edinburgh. I’ll publish more about that news shortly.

Article — 10 August 2022 — 1,525 words

Nudge in human-centred approaches

Economics — Service design — User experience

Work: The University of Edinburgh

There are lots of parallels between behavioural science and human-centred approaches. Nudge models give us the opportunity to bring an extra level of formality to our approaches.

Linknote — 24 May 2022 — 81 words

User experience

Work: The University of Edinburgh

From personas to behaviour modes — Website and Communications Blog

This post on my team’s blog outlines why and how we have moved away from using personas to behavioural archetypes.

Existing personas had served the team well for over 10 years. But with our work to reimagine the future of our web services, and our attention turning to the development of a new Web Publishing Platform, we recognised that these old personas needed to evolve.

Now, our archetypes focus on people’s behaviours — who does what, how they do it, and why.

Article — 11 May 2022 — 838 words

Behaviour modes — Keeping personas meaningful

User experience — Web

Work: Future web services

My team have been using personas for more than a decade. But with our work to reimagine the future of our web services, we recognised that these personas needed to evolve. Behaviour modes offer a more effective way to work with personas.

Note — 18 February 2022 — 37 words

Human-centred approaches — User experience — User research

How often do you buy Valentine’s Day gifts? More often than once a week? Less often than once a month?

Survey question: "And how often would you say you buy valentine's day (e.g., from any brand or retailer)?" Options: "More often than once a week"; "Roughly once a week"; "Roughly once a fortnight"; "Roughly once a month"; "Less often than once a month"; "Never"

Stop making people complete terrible surveys that you won’t even be able to interpret the results of!

Article — 10 February 2022 — 341 words

Could you be our nudge intern?

Economics — Social science — User experience — Web

Work: The University of Edinburgh

We have a fascinating opportunity for a University of Edinburgh undergraduate student to join our team as an intern this summer. The job has a cool title: nudge intern.

Linknote — 8 February 2022 — 100 words

User experience — User research

Work: The University of Edinburgh

UX in universities — UX Soup

I have been interviewed for the podcast UX Soup. The host [Chris Schreiner](https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisschreiner/) was interested in the [User Experience Service’s work at the University of Edinburgh](https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/user-experience). He spoke with me about:

* how the consultancy model works in a higher education context
* the history of our service
* the projects we get involved with
* the methodologies we follow
* the specific challenges we face working in higher education

It was good fun being interviewed. Please have a listen if you have the time. Thank you to Chris for the opportunity.

Linknote — 1 February 2022 — 134 words

Service design

Practitioner Stories — A self-initiated research project exploring service design practice

Practitioner stories — Illustration of a group of people holding jigsaw pieces in front of a map of Scotland

For the past two years, a group of service designers have been researching and understanding the state of service design practice in Scotland. Angela F Orviz, Serena Nüsing, Stéphanie Krus and Vinishree Verma have been doing this in their spare time and with no funding.

Their insights are fascinating reading. The study shows how far service design has come in Scotland over a few short years. But it also outlines a series of challenges the discipline faces for the future.

I recommend you read the blog posts to get a sense of the depth of the findings. They are a must-read for anyone interested in human-centred approaches, and making positive change within organisations and society.

To the team behind Practitioner Stories, thank you for your hard work on this. 🙏

Article — 9 November 2021 — 1,032 words

Be usable, not consistent, not uniform

User experience

Consistency is often seen as a slam-dunk argument in favour of an initiative. But if you don’t know what you want to a design to be consistent with — and why — then consistency risks confusing your users.

Article — 21 October 2021 — 1,758 words

Design approaches aren’t sufficient to be human-centred

Social science — User experience

Many designers talk about user-centred design. But design approaches alone aren’t sufficient to ensure we are human-centred. Design approaches can be used carelessly — or even maliciously — to centre the designer and sideline the user.

Article — 23 August 2021 — 988 words

Overlaps between user experience and other disciplines — a benefit, not a problem

Content design — Information architecture — User experience — User research

Have you ever been told that by doing human-centred work you’re stepping on someone else’s toes? I have heard it a number of times. More and more people are exploring the apparent overlaps between human-centred approaches and other disciplines.