I’ve been an enthusiastic listener to Gerry Gaffney’s podcast, UXpod, and was honoured to be a guest more than once. I was sad when he mentioned that he had decided to stop doing it – but a bit happier whenContinue reading… Thank you Gerry Gaffney for UXpod
Category: Design
How to share research in design systems
This post is co-authored by Amy Hupe, Ignacia Orellana, and Caroline Jarrett. “Use this because we said so” is not a convincing strategy for building trust with designers and developers who want to, need to, or are told to, useContinue reading… How to share research in design systems
Use your plain language skills to improve your survey
Plain language skills are vital for surveys. If people can easily understand your questions, then that will help them to give accurate answers. And plain language specialists are constantly thinking about their audience and its needs – which is vitalContinue reading… Use your plain language skills to improve your survey
All projects (and services) start in the middle
I’m a big fan of the user-centred agile approach to service delivery that is gradually being adopted by most government departments in the UK, and many other organisations too. I mean – let’s turn those words around. Who would wantContinue reading… All projects (and services) start in the middle
Why plain language and Plain English are different
When a user says to you “why can’t they write in Plain English?”, that’s a very reasonable request for us to think harder about how we are writing content. What I’m going to discuss here is the difference between “plainContinue reading… Why plain language and Plain English are different
Don’t be afraid of the big long page
This post is co-authored by me and Amy Hupe. Long pages of content can seem daunting, so to make them look shorter, designers and developers often reach for things that hide some of the content, such as accordions, tabs, carouselsContinue reading… Don’t be afraid of the big long page
How to prototype a digital form on paper
Here are three ideas for creating paper prototypes of digital forms. Or any form, really. Print widgets onto stickers Long, long ago – in 1999! – Gerry Gaffney made a paper prototyping kit that is free to download. It’s aContinue reading… How to prototype a digital form on paper
Try a preliminary sift to streamline your card-sorts
Here’s my favourite tip for card sorting. I get each participant to first of all put the cards into four categories: Things I definitely need or would do right now Things I have done or needed in the past ThingsContinue reading… Try a preliminary sift to streamline your card-sorts
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 seems likeContinue reading… Sankey’s suggestion and other stories
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 heading to each chunk.* Each heading must be a full sentence that summarises theContinue reading… How to edit anything – pro tip