User experience

Linknote — 24 May 2022 — 81 words

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.

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.

Linknote — 30 July 2021 — 86 words

Content design — Service design — User experience — User research

Ask us anything — UX Glasgow

Illustration of people with question marks above their heads

Join me at next week’s UX Glasgow ask us anything event. I will be on a panel of eight human-centred professionals answering your burning questions about user experience, interaction design, user research, content design and service design.

You’ll have the opportunity to join two or three breakout sessions with rooms for your choice of topic.

To help us prepare, please if you have the time take two minutes to fill in our short questionnaire where you can submit your questions in advance.

Article — 2 July 2021 — 1,431 words

Pace layers in experience design — Stabilise innovation by understanding people’s needs

Social science — Society — Technology — User experience

Innovation falls flat when it doesn’t respond to a human need. Use human-centred approaches to understand people’s fundamental motivations and needs. These are the stabilising forces for innovation.

Article — 18 June 2021 — 1,429 words

Why I talk about human-centred approaches

Human-centred approaches — Service design — User experience

It is difficult to find a phrase that exactly describes my work and the way I approach it. I’ve started to talk about human-centred approaches. This post explains what I mean by that.

Linknote — 19 May 2021 — 144 words

User experience — User research

Work: The University of Edinburgh

How to avoid common mistakes in user engagement — Website and Communications Blog

Have you ever participated in a user engagement session designed for you to share your views, but felt that you weren’t properly included, or that your views wouldn’t be acted on? Fed up with bad surveys and poorly planned focus groups?

Most of us want to engage with our users and stakeholders. We all want to make sure our users have a voice in projects that will affect them. But the approach you take can have a major effect on the success or failure of your engagement.

There are some basic truths about human behaviour that we know from psychology and other social sciences. But in many projects, these basic truths tend to be ignored.

Read this post on my team’s blog for tips on how to avoid the pitfalls of poorly planned user engagement, and how to make user research effective.