Two women sitting on a couch talking, one holding some paper, a pen, and pointing at the other woman’s iPad

Reflecting on design feedback advice

September 11, 2020

At some point or another you'll be asked to review someone else's work, but there are some key differences between giving strategic level advice versus prescriptive design feedback. I recently came across a short article by Fabricio Teixeira on that specific topic, and the following key questions rang true in my head around what to consider when reviewing and providing feedback to any team…

So you want to run a focus group… but should you?

August 15, 2020

Focus groups, bringing around 5-10 people together into a physical or virtual room to engage in conversation and answer questions, are one of the oldest customer research methods.

But what do teams need to know about focus groups before treating team like some magical, go-to elixir for every ailment and open question?

Testing for customer centricity

July 16, 2020

We want to gain 5% more of the market share over the next 2 years.”

“We want to reduce our operating costs by 10%.”

“We want to be the first choice for customers.”

These kinds of ‘winning aspirations’ are a dime-a-dozen, and when you get right down to it, they’re often not that unique to you’re organisational culture, purpose, or brand. But where’s the differentiation on this? What will customers tell their friends about? How do you prioristise what to improve?

More and more organisations are calling themselves “customer-first”, yet when you look at what objectives are coming from the top down, what you hear doesn’t match what you see. What struck me today were some food-for-thought tests in determining if you're truly working in a customer-centric organisation…

Woman with glasses smiling in front of a brick wall

You're more capable than what's on your title

May 27, 2020

“Working on complex socio-technical systems - that’s what we should be teaching to our young, aspiring designers.” This spoke to me (as Don Norman’s videos often do) as a message worth sharing to anyone feeling like they’re beholden to how someone else perceives their title and their supposed responsibilities within.

So, for all of my fellow “UXers” in the back feeling left out or stuck in a digital-only world, know this…

Ethnographic research - just get started, even during a lockdown

April 14, 2020

In reading through a semi-recent Userfocus newsletter last night, I came across this tweet thread by Sam Ladner and Jooyoung Lee and instantly saw value in what they’re suggesting about ethnographic research.

In order to understand more about the world and how people behave within it, sometimes you just need start your own user research on your own accord…

Flight reservations page with a Select and Cancel links, identically designed, per flight row with a Note fine print paragraph below

Nearly missing a flight due to a single button

March 29, 2020

My finger was trembling a little bit in shock; floating, still hovering a millimetre over the left mouse button.

My heart was equally pounding a bit when I realised that I was but one mere click away from canceling a transatlantic flight scheduled for the very next day to see the beautiful woman who is now my wife.

How did it nearly come to this?

A usability issue. If I’m writing about it here, you know it’s going to be about a usability issue.

Holy Hand Grenade scene from Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail

Three shalt be the number thou shalt count... or not

October 18, 2019

Nothing should take more than three clicks.

We need a 1-click button.

Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three (*lobs thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch whilst counting to three because five is right out*).

When I first starting trying to evaluate digital interfaces (or even physical ones like credit card payment terminals), I thought that one of the user experience metrics I needed to focus on reducing was the number of clicks it took to complete any task. Surely that would provide a good, measurable benchmark of an experience with a product or service… right?

Horse blinders / blinkers (Image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons by Alex Proimos)

Look broader, Think deeper

October 4, 2019

Words are powerful, and when you get the right combination in the right order, sometimes all it may take to spark that lightbulb moment of realisation is a simple quote like, "Experiences happen before and after the transaction."

Understanding that your product or service isn't the end all, be all of your customer's day is what removes the metaphorical blinders from your eyes that would have otherwise kept you and your team from seeing all of the surrounding, yet hidden business opportunities available. People don't seek out and interact with what you're offering in isolation….

Empty picture frame (image courtesy of Marco Verch, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

Reframing for outcomes over outputs

August 29, 2019

Creating personas is not the goal. Personas are merely a good repository of user research that aids in communicating those insights.

And with this simple explanation, my UX world view was yet again forever changed…

Stock photo of a team putting their hands in together (courtesy of Hubspot)

A case for inspiring experience visions

March 18, 2019

Before anyone starts defining the experience vision, it’ll help to have a good idea what the business and brand realistically stands for, where they believe they want to go, and what they’re willing to endure. Without those ingredients, commitment to the cause starts on shaky ground.

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Why do we do what we do? I’m not sure yet, but I knew this at the time.

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