If you’ve been in a forms studio with me, you’ll be familiar with the moment where I say: “No yes/no”. It’s my shorthand for “Avoid questions that only have two available answers: ‘yes’ and ‘no’. People often struggle with them”.Continue reading… No yes/no questions
Category: All
Sankey’s suggestion and other stories
I want to tell you about my father, John Anthony Sankey PhD CMG. Dad was a staunch Roman Catholic – ‘cradle to grave’ is the phrase. Today, 1st November, is celebrated as ‘All Saints Day’ by Catholics, so it seemsContinue reading… Sankey’s suggestion and other stories
UXMatters and Effortmark
Earlier in October, my attention was drawn to a couple of tweets from the @UXmatters account. A respected UX thought leader, Vivianne Castillo, tweeted about “The talks I want to give next year” starting with “The Caucasity of the UXContinue reading… UXMatters and Effortmark
Prune, tune, postpone, explain – to improve your questionnaire
What can you do when your draft questionnaire gets too long? I’m suggesting ‘prune, tune, postpone, explain’ – four strategies to cut it down. In my new book, Surveys That Work: a practical guide for designing and running better surveys,Continue reading… Prune, tune, postpone, explain – to improve your questionnaire
How to edit anything – pro tip
I’ve been doing a lot of editing recently. Here’s how I do it. Think about who will use the thing and for what. Write a temporary headline for each chunk.* Each headline must be a full sentence that summarises theContinue reading… How to edit anything – pro tip
An app that reads alt-text from pptx
We think that it’s really important to make PowerPoint presentations accessible. And that means: writing alt-text for all the images. The PowerPoint Checker app reads a file in .pptx format, extracts all the alt-text, and gives you a slide-by-slide report on what itContinue reading… An app that reads alt-text from pptx
How to improve the inevitable survey: SDinGov21 workshop
Surveys are still really popular as a research method with colleagues (if not with service designers). These slides are from a workshop at the 2021 Service Design in Government conference on ‘how to improve the survey that is going toContinue reading… How to improve the inevitable survey: SDinGov21 workshop
Thought for the day by Tim Paul: a diagram about forms
On 5th August 2021, Tim Paul (head of interaction design at the UK Government Digital Service) posted a thought for the day on Twitter with a diagram (below) that resonated with a lot of people, including me, so Tim agreedContinue reading… Thought for the day by Tim Paul: a diagram about forms
Surveys That Work – the Rosenfeld Review Podcast
It was a pleasure to be interviewed about my new book, Surveys That Work, by my publisher Lou Rosenfeld. We chatted for 32 minutes: Rosenfeld Review Podcast: Surveys That Work with Caroline Jarrett. Tune in to hear us talking about:Continue reading… Surveys That Work – the Rosenfeld Review Podcast
Examples of co-design: Janet Hughes gives evidence to a Select Committee
It can be a little nerve-wracking when a Select Committee of the UK Parliament takes an interest in our work. On 20th July 2021, I listened with pride as Janet Hughes, Programme Director for the Future Farming and Countryside Programme,Continue reading… Examples of co-design: Janet Hughes gives evidence to a Select Committee