Apple – Duncan Stephen

Article — 11 August 2025 — 1,745 words

Life beyond the folder system

Digital — Information architecture — Technology — Web

The folder metaphor is so intuitive to generations of computer users that they can struggle to think of any other way of using a computer. Yet for younger generations, the idea is completely alien.

Article — 30 August 2019 — 669 words

BBC not so sound

Media — Technology

Radio broadcasters are battling each other to be the Netflix of radio. None of them seem to have asked themselves why any of their listeners would want that.

Article — 22 September 2016 — 1,950 words

The fight we face for the web’s future

Digital — Web

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.

Article — 2 August 2016 — 198 words

Apple’s emoji problem just got worse

Design — Digital

This is how Apple’s latest emoji design could cause some serious misunderstandings.

Article — 12 April 2016 — 1,173 words

Why your emojis are getting lost in translation and what you can do about it

Design — Digital

You’ve probably been using some emojis wrongly without realising it.

Article — 3 March 2016 — 1,051 words

What the Accelerated Mobile Pages project tells us about the sorry state of web publishing

Digital — Web

The web is in a bad state of health right now. Web publishers and developers can blame themselves.