How do you make something better? Human instinct often tells us we should add something to improve it. But this evidence shows we should stop adding complexity. Read full article
CommentStop adding complexity – be an undesigner
Archive — Digital
Note — 2017-10-28
Everyone on Twitter is changing their names to be Halloween themed. This is the best I can come up with.
13 things I learned from six years at the Guardian
13 things I learned from six years at the Guardian – Mary Hamilton
The departing executive editor, audience at the Guardian shares these pieces of advice, many of which would be applicable beyond journalism.
10 things about transformation and change
10 things about transformation and change
Amazon have never had a transformation or change plan. (I’ll just let that one hang there…).
Getting titles wrong: what you can learn from our mistake
Getting titles wrong: what you can learn from our mistake – John Ploughman, Inside GOV.UK
Getting the title of your content right is vital. When you get it right, users can find it and use it. When you get it wrong, it can really cause problems.
Why transformation fails – and how to avoid it
Why transformation fails – and how to avoid it – Paul Taylor
A short but rip-roaring post about what needs to change about change.
If you step behind the rhetoric of transformation you’ll see it is usually about reinforcing existing business models rather than truly challenging them.
A brief rant on the future of interaction design
A brief rant on the future of interaction design
A fascinating perspective on why futuristic interfaces need to think beyond the touch screen — “Pictures Under Glass”.
Sympathy card to a front-end developer
Sympathy card to a front-end developer
This developer actually was suffering a great loss: the death of his aging, outdated user interface. And his loss followed the familiar pattern of grieving—the five stages of grief…
The open web has rough edges, but this is why we need to protect it
Native apps, social media networks and big content silos are slick. But the whole idea about the web -- the reason it has been so successful -- is that it is open and democratic. Read full article
CommentThe engine of our discontent
The engine of our discontent — Seth Godin
Every time TV and social media become significant time sinks in a household, pleasure goes up and happiness goes down.
Nobel economics prize: Richard Thaler and behavioural economics
Richard Thaler has won the Nobel economics prize for his work in behavioural economics. Knowing about this area is essential if you are a designer, to help you gain an understanding of what makes people tick. Read full article
1 commentWhy the cruel culture of coding is damaging society
When a former Google engineer's ill-informed anti-diversity essay became news during the summer, it shone a light on problems with the the tech industry's makeup. The diversity issue is the tip of the iceberg. A host of cultural problems face the tech scene. Read full article
7 commentsMinimum viable products – A practical approach
Google’s Top Stories algorithm is failing to detect authoritative sources
Google’s Top Stories algorithm is failing to detect authoritative sources – One Man & His Blog
The Las Vegas shootings highlighted a nasty flaw in Google’s Top Stories algorithm. It’s one that could be exploited.
Stop shaming your users for micro conversions
Pastures new
After almost two years at SRUC (Scotland’s Rural College), I have decided to move on. The opportunity to work with the University of Edinburgh Website Programme was too good to ignore. Read full article
2 commentsHow to improve your job stories
![Job story format: When [_] I want to [_] so that [_]](https://duncanstephen.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/job-story-1128x470.jpg)
This month's digital design digest features a couple of articles about getting the most out of job stories. Plus, promising news from the world of CSS, how the Guardian is increasing its subscriber numbers, and where government goes wrong with digital transformation. Read full article
CommentWhy people are losing trust in the media — and advertisers
Why people are losing trust in the media and advertisers, why ugly websites succeed, and why it's time to ditch PDFs. Read full article
CommentImplementing HTTPS
I put off making my website more secure because I dreaded it would be difficult. In the end it was a ten minute job. Read full article
CommentTen years of twitting about
In ten years, Twitter has transformed from a geek enclave to a mainstream form of communication. But I find it difficult to imagine signing up to Twitter today. Read full article
CommentThe perils of the ‘launch and leave’ approach to project management
Our perspective on how a digital product should be managed is strongly influenced by our background and our role. That certainly helps explain some of the difficult conversations I have had over the years. Read full article
1 commentThe vital lesson digital designers must learn from architecture’s postwar mistakes
Like the mid-century modernists, today’s digital designers are creating the future. Some digital designers are making the same fundamental mistakes. Read full article
2 commentsRunning themes from Scotland’s first accessibility conference
Accessibility Scotland was a high quality event with a diverse range of speakers. Find out what I took away from the event. Read full article
CommentThe fight we face for the web’s future
The web is facing many challenges from new technologies, threatening the open culture that made it such a success. We need to fight for its survival. Read full article
CommentIs it time to put LinkedIn in the bin?
Microsoft recently announced that it will acquire LinkedIn for $26.2 billion. But do any of LinkedIn's users actually derive value from it? Read full article
1 commentToday’s newspaper circulation figures show why clickbait is a losing strategy
The free versus paywall debate was a red herring. What matters is the quality of the product. Read full article
1 commentApple’s emoji problem just got worse
This is how Apple's latest emoji design could cause some serious misunderstandings. Read full article
CommentReflections on IWMW16
My highlights from the the Institutional Web Management Workshop, the valuable annual conference for (mostly) higher education web managers. Read full article
CommentBuilding a digital team (almost) from scratch – IWMW16 plenary session P6
I was delighted to be given the opportunity to speak to my colleagues last week at IWMW 2016, the Institutional Web Management Workshop. I spoke about my experience building new teams at the University of St Andrews and SRUC. Read full article
1 commentThe Google accessibility tool that will improve mobile devices for everyone
Google wanted to fix mobile interfaces for people with motor impairments. But this new technology will benefit us all. Read full article
CommentThe 14 lessons designers need to know from Ofcom’s report on ‘smartphone by default’ users
Last month Ofcom published a report on the people who rely on their phones as their main way of accessing the internet. Some of the findings are shocking and eye-opening. Read full article
CommentThis is why the future of our digital interactions could be in audio
We have an innate desire to pursue mobility. This is why that makes audio interfaces the logical next step in digital design. Read full article
1 commentReflections on six years of IWMW
A guest post about the Institutional Web Management Workshop. Read full article
CommentWhy your emojis are getting lost in translation and what you can do about it
You've probably been using some emojis wrongly without realising it. Read full article
7 commentsWeb developers need to shape up and declare war on webpage obesity
As an industry, web professionals have failed their users. It's time to stop building bloated and inaccessible pages. Read full article
1 commentImplementing Accelerated Mobile Pages for WordPress
I was bracing myself for a difficult experience. Instead, I found myself amazed at how easy it is to make your WordPress site compatible with AMP. Read full article
1 commentWhat the Accelerated Mobile Pages project tells us about the sorry state of web publishing
The web is in a bad state of health right now. Web publishers and developers can blame themselves. Read full article
4 commentsWhy it is always worth considering the simplest solution — even if you are Google
A couple of separate stories about Google today remind us that simpler is often better. Read full article
CommentWhy hamburger menus can be good for you as part of a healthy balanced diet
There is an interesting debate in the design community right now about the hamburger menu. Given two extremes of opinion, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Read full article
CommentWaterstones’ decision to stop selling the Kindle says more about shops than e-readers
Waterstones say their sales of Kindles are pitiful. But why did they ever expect to sell lots of them in the first place? Read full article
CommentWeb design should be boring
The web is a less creative place than it was 20 years ago. Good. Read full article
1 commentImprove the user experience of Formula 1 live timing with this one small tweak
The new Formula1.com has brought great new live timing functionality. But the user experience could be improved. Find out how you can improve it yourself in time for the Australian Grand Prix. Read full article
2 commentsWhen the disrupters are disrupted: What is the future for digital professionals?
Digital transformation results in the eventual destruction of digital teams. So what will that mean for those of us who work in digital? Read full article
CommentIs the Register right about Gov.uk and the Government Digital Service?
Gov.uk is the darling of the digital profession. But now it has been described as the most hated website of all time. So what's going on? Read full article
7 commentsStrategies for dealing with creative block
It's a puzzle that has haunted writers, artists and other creatives since the caveman first applied ink to a wall. Blockbox is one brilliant way to tackle difficult creative problems. Read full article
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