UX CONSULTANT & DESIGNER
Redesigned website for Derby Museums, a Museum Trust with three different locations within the city The client Derby Museums is an independent charity organisation consisting of three museums in locations across Derby city centre. The Challenge The existing website was a template website that was no longer working for them. They wanted more control of …
The big question for any website or digital product is ‘does it work for our users in order to drive and deliver our business needs and goals?’ It’s the users who turn into customers so making sure that your digital product is user-focused should be a big priority. Where should we start? How do we …
At this time of year, it’s often a good opportunity to look back on the past and see where we’ve come from before looking to the future. My first full immersion into UX was NUX3, (Northern UX conference) in 2014, an all-day event focussed on how an understanding of people can help you define, design …
Continue reading “My user experience design journey; a reflection”
In retail the saying goes, “the customer is always right”. Whether or not this is always the case, this sentiment often makes its way over to web design. If we treat our clients as customers, are they also “always right”? Possibly. But when web designers treat their client as the customer, they’re in danger of …
Continue reading “How understanding user goals helps design better websites”
Use proto-content and highlight unfinished content. Whilst a lot of web designers advocate a content-first approach (myself included), it is not always possible to get content from clients to fit with the project schedule. If the client is providing their own copy rather than hiring a copywriter, then delays in the process can be common. …
Could design come to the aid of democracy? As a member of the design and tech community, last Friday was a dark day indeed. As someone whose career has always been within the creative industries, I worry that the tear away from Europe will have devastating effects on arts and culture. The UK seems to …
The benefits and barriers of eHealth I’ve just finished weeks one and two of my first MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) on eHealth. I’ve designed websites for healthcare organisations including POSNOC, a website for a international breast cancer clinical trial, as well as Derby Hospitals Charity and Derby Private Health. In the days before I was …
New Instagram icon (left) and my idea for retaining more of the brand identity (right) My thoughts on the new Instagram logo There’s an adage coined by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, a early 20th Century novelist that goes, “A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is …
I recently found out that there is an updated second edition of A Smile in the Mind, my art school bible. I had been thinking just the other day about the book, how it influenced several generations of young graphic designers, and how a 20 year old book could relate to today’s digital design and …
A few years ago, on a sunny Winter’s morning, I walked into the breakfast room of a B&B. At first it seemed like any other British countryside establishment, but then I noticed the toasters. Toasters, you ask? Toasters. Every table in the little dining room had its own toaster with a loaf of bread sat …
Continue reading “Toast (or how to please your customers by making them do more)”