“Cock up – not conspiracy” By Andrew on 11th August 2020 — 1 min read A friend once used this phrase to describe some particular work muddle I was dealing with. I was being paranoid about folks trying to mess with me. It looked deliberate. In my mind, they were scheming – and I was their intended victim. > “Don’t worry so much. It’s a cock-up – not a conspiracy!”... More
Hey – new places to live with your email By Andrew on 21st July 2020 — 3 mins read Digital design is about place-making. The creation, maintenance, optimisation, de-commissioning… of spaces in the digital realm. Sometimes these places are just amazing. Usable and useful – yes! But more than that. They can feel like they bring out the very best in us. Just like with architecture of real world spaces, digital design creates spaces... More
IAC20 – Materials and slides By Andrew on 11th April 2020 — 1 min read I’m participating in IAC20 this year. Naturally it’s now an online thing. Here’s a link to the workshop materials and my slides… … which might make not a lot of sense unless you watch the talk (on or after the 1st May). Hope you’re doing ok Andrew x More
Design Thinking Mindsets By Andrew on 6th March 2020 — 3 mins read (What are they? Can they help unlock new ways of working?) Popularised by IDEO, Design Thinking is a toolset, a process, a methodology and a way of approaching design that prioritises empathy, co-design and experimentation. It’s a distillation of the most learnable and teachable aspects of their design practice. The promise is this: Think like... More
UX Bristol – slides and materials By Andrew on 12th July 2019 — 1 min read I’m running a workshop today on Interaction Modes at UX Bristol. A link to my slides and materials is here. Enjoy! If you find this stuff interesting, or if you have a question – do please get in touch. I look forward to chatting with you. More
Visualising the others By Andrew on 11th March 2019 — 1 min read Our technology often isolates us. We become a single person, using a disembodied service. Often it’s just me and an app on my smart phone. We lose sight of the humans behind the service. We lose sight of the other customers that the service is having to deal with. So what? – you might ask.... More
Classifying interaction modes By Andrew on 6th March 2019 — 1 min read Here’s eight of my favourite examples of interaction modes – and how you could classify them. Mode Description Create/Consume Focused/Peripheral Composing When writing an email or a tweet, the interface will often prove a modal view that supports the user’s need to focus on their composition Create Focused Editing When editing or changing data, the... More
Interaction Mode types By Andrew on 8th January 2019 — 1 min read I’ve been thinking of Interaction Modes as something that software can provide. Ways a computer might behave. Polite ways – considerate of the user’s (stated or implied) interests. If they want to read, activate a ‘reading mode’ for them (or when requested by them). I.e. Show them text-only – in a lovely font. If they... More
Content variables to consider By Andrew on 27th December 2018 — 1 min read Here’s a list to consider. You might find it useful when creating a content inventory/analysis. Or you might work with these variables to identify interaction modes that are so similar that they can be combined… Or once you’ve nailed down the modes you need for a site/app, setting values for these variables can help you... More
Music box metaphor By Andrew on 26th November 2018 — 4 mins read Imagine that you’re playing a music box. Winding it’s little handle, you let its perfect little melody fill the room. You speed up the winding, the melody speeds up. You slow, it slows. You like it so much you end up playing it over and over. Now imagine that instead of one music box melody,... More
