Back in January 2020, I did a thing we don’t do any more: go to a conference. It was New Adventures 2020 in Nottingham and I chose it for two reasons: Andrew Travers recommended it, and I wanted to hearContinue reading… Live and live differently – an Effortmark poster
Category: Design
What is a design system?
Recently, Amy Hupe asked this question on Twitter: Who’s got a really clear and concise explanation of what design systems are, that would make sense to someone who’s never come across one before? We had a good discussion and IContinue reading… What is a design system?
“Write good questions for forms” advice in the NHS Digital service manual
Someone asked me about writing good questions for forms. As usual I recommended the NHS Digital service manual page as a favourite resource – and then I thought “have I put that on my website?”. And I hadn’t. So hereContinue reading… “Write good questions for forms” advice in the NHS Digital service manual
A poster for co-design
What does co-design mean to you? The Effortmark poster for World Usability Day 2020 celebrates some of the things that co-design means to me. At the end of September 2020, I attended the inaugural meeting of a cross-government co-design community.Continue reading… A poster for co-design
Hello, co-design community
29th September 2020 was a really fun day for me because I attended the first meeting of a co-design community. The idea came from Janet Hughes, Delivery director working on farming and countryside at Defra. It wasn’t entirely a coincidenceContinue reading… Hello, co-design community
Surveys that work: an introduction to using Total Survey Error in practice
Surveys are easy to do – but harder to do well. Thanks to the UX Insight Festival 2020 who invited me to talk about my 7-step survey process, starting with Goals and thinking about Sampling, Questions, Questionnaires, Fieldwork, Responses andContinue reading… Surveys that work: an introduction to using Total Survey Error in practice
Listen First Ask Second
For World Usability Day, November 14 2019, I’m excited to announce the first in a series of Effortmark stickers and posters. ‘Listen First, Ask Second’ is the result of a collaboration with award-winning illustrator Julia Allum. Good design starts withContinue reading… Listen First Ask Second
Readability Formulas: seven reasons to avoid them and what to do instead
I had the honour of working with Ginny Redish on this article on readability formulas for the July 2019 edition of UXmatters. Ginny is a leading authority on writing, accessibility, and content design and usability. I’ve lost count of theContinue reading… Readability Formulas: seven reasons to avoid them and what to do instead
Discussing a topic map for how to design a better form
If you’re working on improving a form, especially a government one, what advice do you need? In April 2019, I discussed a topic map that might help to answer that question in a webinar for Digital.GOV. To find out moreContinue reading… Discussing a topic map for how to design a better form
Draft curriculum for ‘How to Design a Form’
In March 2019, I started working mostly with the NHS digital standards and redesign teams on their advice about patterns. This post: gives the background to the work, explains about the draft curriculum for advice about ‘how to design aContinue reading… Draft curriculum for ‘How to Design a Form’