Category: Digital
-
Reflecting on two years as a user experience consultant; looking ahead to working on structured content
—
The latest chapter in my career has closed, as I have found an incredibly exciting new opportunity. But the past couple of years have given me a lot to reflect on.
-
One twit can make a service a dodo
I have complicated feelings about the apparent imminent demise of Twitter in the hands of a reckless owner.
-
Beginner’s guide to content design
—
Many people are intrigued by content design but unsure if it’s the right fit for them. So here is my beginner’s guide to being a content designer. Find out why it might be a better fit for you than you might think — and why it might not be.
-
How to build a bad design system — Robin Rendle — CSS-Tricks
What’s worse than design by committee? Design system by committee.
-
Readability vs creativity: a false choice? — Lauren Pope — La Pope
Why “brand voice” or creativity shouldn’t stop you making your content readable and accessible. …a brilliant brand voice isn’t brilliant if it isn’t readable and accessible to all.
-
The birth of Inter — Carmel DeAmicis — Figma
I’ve been using the Inter typeface on this blog (and other things) for 1½ years now.* I love it. Rasmus [Andersson, the designer of Inter] did some research and experimentation and eventually realized there was no free, high-quality text typefaces for computer UIs. That felt backwards to him given how type heavy many UIs are. […]
-
Building a design team from scratch in a large and complex organisation — Simon Dixon
I especially like the points this article makes about why design needs to go beyond digital. Even though I have worked primarily in digital teams, I have always believed in making things better not just digital. In health especially, we need to remember that people are complex human beings in a whole variety of circumstances […]
-
Own it! — Matt Jukes — Notbinary
On the incredible story about Hertz suing Accenture for a failed “digital transformation project”. Alarm bells ring at the best of times when website redesigns are described as “digital transformation”. But to then completely outsource the product owner role — to the same management consultancy firm that was carrying out the redesign — underlines just […]
-
Want to see what one digital future for newspapers looks like? Look at The Guardian, which isn’t losing money anymore — Joshua Benton — Nieman Journalism Lab
How the Guardian finally started making a profit, in three steps. With a functionally infinite supply of free news available, the relationship your reader has to you has to be a lot more like the one public radio listeners have with their favorite station. They’re not buying access; they’re supporting a cause. I’d also add […]
-
User research into the needs of students and staff using Learn — Website and Communications Blog
—
Since September, my main focus at work has been to carry out a comprehensive programme of user research for a project aiming to improve services surrounding Blackboard Learn, the University of Edinburgh’s main virtual learning environment. I wrote this blog post providing a high-level overview of all the work that’s taken place this academic year. […]
-
The limitations of the phrase user experience
The meaning of user experience has changed over time. While it can still be a useful phrase, its limitations are becoming problematic.
-
I’ve been writing an article that I’ve been thinking about for well over a year
I’ve been writing an article that I’ve been thinking about for well over a year. Upon writing it, it’s turned out to be surprisingly short. So I turned to my two favourite block-busters — and they both told me to do things I was thinking about doing anyway. Oblique Strategies told me to tidy up. […]
-
Stop building for San Francisco
Stop building for San Francisco Realising that forcing websites to go HTTPS makes them more inaccessible for people with poorer connections was a penny dropping moment for me. But this article takes the argument a bit broader. First of all, you need to understand who your audience is, as people. If they’re genuinely wealthy people […]
-
Just write
Just write Sara Soueidan on why you should just write, regardless of what the voice in your head may be telling you. Start a blog and publish your writings there. Don’t think about whether or not people will like or read your articles — just give them a home and put them out there. Most […]
-
The new Formula 1 timing app is comically bad
The new Formula 1 timing app is comically bad. Even on quite a large screen, it only shows 10 drivers — at a gigantic font size. Meanwhile, the live driver tracker is juddery and completely unusable. But hey, I guess it uses Sean Bratches’ new fonts. The old app wasn’t perfect, but at least it […]
-
Using contractions could be making your writing inaccessible
Using contractions could be making your writing inaccessible We found that some of these users did not understand sentences that had negative contractions in them (negative contractions are words like ‘can’t’, ‘won’t’, ‘don’t’). They interpreted the sentence without inferring the ‘not’. I have been in two minds about using contractions for a while. On the […]
-
Designers are defining usability too narrowly
—
Designers are defining usability too narrowly Another call on designers to think more widely when they are working on digital products. Khoi Vinh saw a Nielsen Norman Group report on best practice on websites aimed at children — but he felt the report focused too narrowly on usability. I don’t dispute the findings at all. […]
-
Platforms, agile, trust, teams and werewolves
Platforms, agile, trust, teams and werewolves Sometimes you go to conferences or meetups and they feel like a bit of a chore. You end up listening to a lot of PR spin from people who only want to share the best good news they’ve got. They’re usually under pressure to show their best side, and […]
-
Designing the UI of Google Translate
Designing the UI of Google Translate I’m not too keen on user interface design showcases, because they usually boil down to: “look me make shiny thing”. But I really enjoyed this case study of how Google Translate redesigned their interface to make people more aware of some of the app’s most useful features.
-
Guardian Media Group digital revenues outstrip print for first time
Guardian Media Group digital revenues outstrip print for first time The company’s annual report, which covers the 12 months to April 2018, shows the Guardian website attracted an average of 155m monthly unique browsers, up from 140m the year before, with an increased focus on retaining regular readers rather than chasing traffic by going viral […]
-
How I learnt to embrace handwriting, sketching and sticking stuff on walls
—
Working on walls is an unbeatable way to create ideas as well as communicating them. But I learnt that lesson the hard way.
-
5 lessons from beyond the polar bear
5 lessons from beyond the polar bear A really interesting set of information architecture insights from someone who grappled with tricky information architecture issues at the BBC.
-
How to write a problem statement
How to write a problem statement Sometimes, the difficult bit isn’t working out the solution — it’s working out the problem. This framework looks like a useful tool in the quest for the real problem.
-
The generous act of tunking
The generous act of tunking We found out that tunking (pronounced “toonking”) is a word this team uses for blunt critique, made with the intentions of the people on the receiving end uppermost in mind. It’s honest feedback. The people doing the tunking don’t hold back. They say what they really think. They do this […]
-
The rise of business bullshit — and how we can fight it
The rise of business bullshit — and how we can fight it The modern organisation is obsessive about collaboration and consultation – but encouraging everyone’s opinions on everything invites bullshit. Social media should have taught us by now that more opinions aren’t necessarily better… The same applies to work. More consultation = more bullshit. This […]
-
The problem of zero and one
The problem of zero and one Excellent piece by Wojtek Kutyla on why UX needs to get out of its comfort zone, and an excessive focus on technology — and the temptation to make binary declarations. We are all reasonable creatures and we know how to seek rationale when we’re dealing with daily tasks. If […]
-
Stop saying people don’t like change — it’s a lie
—
People often say things like “change is hard” or “people don’t like change”. That is a dangerous delusion.
-
The problem with professionals
The problem with professionals Paul Taylor argues that the professional class will bring about its own demise. He notes that organisations appear to be becoming more, not less, siloed (“whole sectors are still just talking to themselves”). Moreover, this “disconnection” is visible to the general public, who catch glimpses of this behaviour on social media. […]
-
Good writing and analytics don’t mix
Good writing and analytics don’t mix If you want to be a good writer then you can’t worry about the numbers. The stats, the dashboards, the faves, likes, hearts and yes, even the claps, they all lead to madness and, worst of all in my opinion, bad writing. Recently I have been thinking a bit […]
-
The Facebook algorithm mom problem
—
The Facebook algorithm mom problem An excellent description of one of the reasons I developed a distaste for Facebook for. I write my content on my own personal site. I automatically syndicate it to Facebook. My mom, who seems to be on Facebook 24/7, immediately clicks “like” on the post. The Facebook algorithm immediately thinks […]
-
How can we incentivise the digital world to make safer services?
How can we incentivise the digital world to make safer services? How regulation came to be in railways, engineering and cars — and what this tells us about how digital services may be regulated. Trigger points for regulation have varied depending on the field, the period of history and the country. However, the thing all […]
-
Publishers haven’t realised just how big a deal GDPR is
Publishers haven’t realised just how big a deal GDPR is With the media still consumed with scrutinising Facebook, Thomas Baekdal once again points out that it is the media who appear to be less prepared to deal with privacy trends and comply with new regulations like GDPR. It’s interesting that Thomas Baekdal has emphasised that […]
-
Why you can’t outsource digital transformation — an open letter to the CEO of M&S
—
Why you can’t outsource digital transformation — an open letter to the CEO of M&S Digitally native organisations are becoming the norm, a necessity. Ring-fencing ‘digital transformation’ and throwing it over to be someone else’s problem simply won’t work.
-
Strategic thinking with blog posts and stickers
Strategic thinking with blog posts and stickers There has been a lot of chat recently about the apparent decline in quality of Government Digital Service (GDS) blogs. That debate isn’t explicitly mentioned here by former GDS employee Giles Turnbull. But perhaps this is the blogging equivalent of a subtweet (a subblog?). The idea is basically […]
-
I’m having a ‘digital transformation’ right now
—
I’m having a ‘digital transformation’ right now This is slightly inflammatory, but contains a lot of truth. I was particularly struck by this point: You will also find lots of high-level pieces about why ‘Digital Transformation’ matters — but very little in the way of relevant, reference-able case studies and practical advice about how to do it. […]
-
People and tooling
—
People and tooling On the increasingly complex nature of design and development. The way we build for the web right now feels problematic in so many ways. Instead of welcoming everyone from our teams with their various skills, we create layers of complexity that shut many out. I sense this is deliberate, albeit in a […]
-
If you’re still shying away from using technology to improve customer experience – you’re doomed
—
If you’re still shying away from using technology to improve customer experience – you’re doomed Some observations from Paul Taylor on digital experience in Myanmar, where internet usage has skyrocketed recently. For three weeks I’ve not dealt with any paper, any spreadsheets, and very few emails. I’ve negotiated seven hotels, seven flights, taxi’s and boat […]
-
There is so much positivity in the digital world of media
There is so much positivity in the digital world of media As ever, Thomas Baekdal is brilliant and insightful on where traditional media companies are getting it so wrong. He compares the consistently negative focus of news outlets to successful YouTubers, all of whom are filled with “excitement and positivity”. [I]t makes traditional journalists appear […]
-
Language in web teams
Language in web teams Content designer Sarah Richards shares an amusing story of a technique she has used to help people from different disciplines and backgrounds who have been talking at cross-purposes. We are meant to be content and communication experts. But we often see people putting little effort into how they communicate internally, or […]
-
Accessibility according to actual people with disabilities
Accessibility according to actual people with disabilities We often hear about the theory of accessibility in design. But we know that the reality can often be different. So it’s great to see such a comprehensive run-down of actual digital accessibility complaints from people with disabilities. The article ends with a sage point: Basically everything that […]
-
The significance of the Twitter archive at the Library of Congress
—
The significance of the Twitter archive at the Library of Congress The Library of Congress has now stopped preserving all public tweets. In the words of Dan Cohen in this article, “The Twitter archive may not be the record of our humanity that we wanted, but it’s the record we have.” I am amused at […]
-
“Username or password incorrect” is bullshit
—
“Username or password incorrect” is bullshit There’s a security best practice where sign ins aren’t supposed to say “password is incorrect”… But, as this article points out, this is nonsense — because it is so trivial for anyone to find out whether a username is incorrect anyway.
-
The great emoji debate
—
The great emoji debate The Economist considers whether the Unicode consortium is wasting its time trying to standardise emoji when it could be focusing on “more scholarly matters” such as adding characters from ancient scripts. Given the popularity — almost the ubiquity — of emoji in modern-day popular culture, I would argue that standardising this […]
-
Sticks in the ground for public services
—
Sticks in the ground for public services You know I love a bit of brutalism. Well here, Ben Holliday draws a comparison between civic architecture of the mid-20th century, and modern-day digital local services. Many of these buildings are now disused or in different states of disrepair. It’s an important reminder. The fact is, no […]
-
I made my shed the top rated restaurant on TripAdvisor
I made my shed the top rated restaurant on TripAdvisor Brilliantly entertaining article by someone who managed to game TripAdvisor into ranking his fake establishment as the number one restaurant in London. When he staged a deliberately-awful opening night, some of the patrons asked to come again. The Shed at Dulwich has suddenly become appealing. […]
-
There’s a digital media crash. But no one will say it
There’s a digital media crash. But no one will say it A huge, huge, huge amount of digital media is funded by venture capital… The big picture is that Problem #1 (too many publications) and Problem #2 (platform monopolies) have catalyzed together to create Problem #3 (investors realize they were investing in a mirage and […]