Duncan Stephen

Article — 12 September 2016 — 474 words

Is 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?

Article — 9 September 2016 — 740 words

North Coast 500 – days 3 and 4 – Applecross, Eilean Donan castle and Plockton

Travel

We continued our North Coast 500 by heading west. But we were a little disappointed by one of the area’s main attractions.

Article — 7 September 2016 — 640 words

North Coast 500 – days 1 and 2 – Rogart and Helmsdale

Travel

Part 1 of a series of posts about the North Coast 500, a road trip that takes you on a circular route around the north coast of the Highlands of Scotland.

Article — 11 August 2016 — 498 words

Today’s newspaper circulation figures show why clickbait is a losing strategy

Digital — Media

The free versus paywall debate was a red herring. What matters is the quality of the product.

Article — 2 August 2016 — 198 words

Apple’s emoji problem just got worse

Digital

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

Article — 26 July 2016 — 1,679 words

Reflections on IWMW16

Digital — Web

Work: SRUC — Scotland’s Rural College

My highlights from the the Institutional Web Management Workshop, the valuable annual conference for (mostly) higher education web managers.

Article — 23 July 2016 — 3,443 words

The once in a lifetime trip to the 24 Hours of Le Mans that became the first of many

Travel

How my brother and I caught the bug at the world’s most legendary motor race.

Article — 2 July 2016 — 671 words

Building a digital team (almost) from scratch – IWMW16 plenary session P6

Digital

Work: SRUC — Scotland’s Rural College

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.

Article — 7 June 2016 — 611 words

The Google accessibility tool that will improve mobile devices for everyone

Accessibility — Digital

Google wanted to fix mobile interfaces for people with motor impairments. But this new technology will benefit us all.

Article — 3 June 2016 — 2,294 words

The 14 lessons designers need to know from Ofcom’s report on ‘smartphone by default’ users

Digital

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.

Article — 1 June 2016 — 584 words

The devious designers trying to trick you

Uncategorised

Good designers aim to meet their users’ needs. But there is a whole other breed of designers who are trying to trick their users into something they don’t want to do. Find out about the evil magicians using dark patterns on you.

Article — 19 May 2016 — 612 words

This is why the future of our digital interactions could be in audio

Digital

We have an innate desire to pursue mobility. This is why that makes audio interfaces the logical next step in digital design.