Liam Dargan

I've been working on some service design patterns with Dave Skinner for his project Design Patterns for social housing - https://lnkd.in/eC9p5RRv A service design map is often inaccessible - the designers will have worked hard to capture all the stages but the map will be a PDF or a diagram which doesn't easily resize to fit your phone. Your audience can't resize the text. It can't be read by screen reader software, either. As a solution: try making the map into an HTML table with two columns. For a mobile view, make each row resemble a card. Sorted! 😎 Hire interaction designers to find ways of putting content online. 😇 Transcript: 1. A numbered service stage with a representative icon Describe the stage in detail. Capture any pain points and improvement ideas. "Include verbatim quotes from research." Optional: include an emoji for how the person is feeling at this stage. Backstage - a policy or legal factor (grey) Backstage - a technical factor, such as a database (green) Time-based process (blue) Pain point or blocker (pink)

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So glad I managed to attend UX Brighton on Friday. Top notch speakers for an obvious but tricky theme: UX & AI. Some personal highlights: - Pablo Stanley's contagious energy, humour and eye-candy slides somehow managed to show really practical "why did I put this button here" advice. Proper Design class! >> check his Lummi app https://www.lummi.ai/ - Maggie Appleton perfectly encapsulated why AI is breaking the free Internet and what possible (mostly-depressing) futures await us. PS: it's all here >> https://lnkd.in/ek6wJ6V8 - Glenn Jones's text-to-functional-UI demo left some speechless. A glimpse into a future of use-once UIs generated on the fly. - Hannah Beresford's solid research work laid out why AI tools don't work yet and what to do about it. - Will Taylor's historical framework was the perfect conference intro and a useful tool to clarify "which AI for which situation". A few reflections: - There are identified ways make chatbot-style AI UIs more usable... but the single box to "ask anything" is far from the being the most useful interaction paradigm. - AIs are rubbish at context, societal norms and verbal cues. It's best to think of them as a smart alien rather than a human. - Data-led products, like AI-driven ones, need to be user tested in context, with real data. Smoke & mirrors prototypes or static mockups are pointless. - It did made me want to work on AI products and try more AI tools! - Also, not one mention of sustainability?? It feels like the elephant in the room. Overall, such an awesome day with Joanna Rusznica Laura Pison David Man Jess Judge Rachel Ward Kounnas Caroline Gardiner Andrew Wood Rosie FitzGerald Carolyn Letts #uxbri #uxbrighton #uxbrighton2024 #ai #ux #design

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Red Flag Clients for Design Agencies (or any professional service provider) Ever encountered a client who gives you that feeling of... anxiety, headache, overwhelm, guilt, or at worst actually causes you mental health issues? Here are some red flags to watch out for. Frequent Scope Changes They change project scope frequently without acknowledging added costs or timelines. These clients don't understand that more work means more time and money. Delayed or Inconsistent Communication Communication is sporadic at best. They take weeks to reply to an email, slowing down the project's progress. Unwillingness to Provide Necessary Materials They don’t provide essential project materials on time. Expect project delays because they haven’t sent high-resolution images or content. Lack of Respect for Professional Expertise They insist on design choices that defy industry best practices. They ignore your expertise and want things done their way, even if it’s not the best approach. Payment Issues They have issues sticking to the payment schedule. They haggle over previously agreed-upon terms or even try to negotiate lower rates mid-project. Warning Signs of a Problematic Client Detecting a problematic client early can save you a lot of trouble. Here are some warning signs: Lack of Clarity Initial meetings lack clear project goals or expectations. They're confused, and that confusion will likely carry through the project. Impatience They exhibit impatience or frustration with the process early on. If they can't handle the initial stages, imagine the endgame. Communication Issues Difficulty establishing consistent lines of communication. If they can't talk to you now, they won't talk to you later. Skepticism They’re skeptical about following your professional advice. If they don’t trust your expertise, it’s going to be a bumpy road. Payment Reluctance Early signs of reluctance or pushback on payment terms. If they’re already quibbling over money, expect more of the same. Share your experiences!💬 #DesignStudio #ClientManagement #RedFlagClients

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What would the future look like if your technologies were developed with feminist values? Our very own Kieran Cutting and Leah Lockhart will be at UX Scotland this year with a workshop called ‘Imagining feminist technology futures: A workshop to creatively deconstruct harmful design and imagine alternative futures’. The workshop uses the Oracle for Transfeminist Technologies card deck to spark creative visions and ideas for the future of transfeminist tech. The cards, created by Coding Rights and the Design Justice Network, are a playful tool for collective envisioning, prototyping and idea sharing for imagining future technologies. The Oracle is embedded with transfeminist values and can help us see a future where technologies are designed by people who are excluded from- and targeted by- today’s technologies. The Oracle allows us to come to you from the future. Slide decks are so 2024. In the future, we use paper. If you come to our workshop, not only do you get space and time to co-create some cool speculative things but you get a neat zine, too. #UXScotland

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If you're looking to up your accessibility game, your search is over. Join my colleague and accessibility guru Grant for some insights and guidance next Wednesday!

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A very useful and handy Accessibility Checklist For Designers (PDF: https://lnkd.in/e9Z2G2kF) by Geri Reid and Dave Musson It provides practical guidelines for integrating accessibility into design from the outset.

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Listen, we made a nature documentary for the BBC. Shut up, we did. Well, kinda. This is a mini-mockumentary looking at the very tricky design research the BBC UX&D department need to carry out to truly understand how to create online experiences for the humans. And how do you understand the infinitely unquantifiable needs, wants and desires of the Homo Sapian? It's simple.... you watch this film. Narrated by The Lord God Professor Robert Winston-on-Thames, himself. For Belafonte, this kind of project is our bread and butter… even if you’re selling bread and butter, we can make it work. We’ll help you tell the world why your bread and butter is the best bread and butter. Ultimately, the goal of the explainer video is to engage and educate people, to promote action and to give you and your company a unique voice that helps to raise you above your competition.

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How to pick a starting point, focus or scope for Design Research thats just right - and set the scene for usable, actionable insights and work that fosters wellbeing. 1. Ethical standards - a robust process is in place so that research & the resulting implementation work are within ethical guardrails. 2. Alignment & desirability - all stakeholders support the research going ahead. 3. Capacity to act on results - there's available resources, and the supporting culture & literacies for insights to be useful.

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I just did a webinar about digital accessibility and someone asked my view on using accessibility overlays. 72% of disability experts found overlays ‘not at all’ or ‘not very’ effective. With only 2.4% rating them ‘very effective’. Overlays do not fix the vast majority of accessibility barriers if they are on your site. They can only unfortunately address a small percentage of accessibility barriers. They cannot pick up issues, like: Making content easier to digest unlabelled form fields good focus order for people who are using a keyboard Clear CTAs incorrect heading structure missing links and unhelpful link text Making your hit points larger This means your website stays inaccessible, regardless of what the overlay does. But also sometimes content that was accessible suddenly becomes inaccessible. Here’s a few of my posts to demonstrate https://lnkd.in/ejsviW-n https://lnkd.in/ekSqthfT https://lnkd.in/eMrU5Z3K #DigitalAccessibility #AccessibilityMatters

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It is great to see that The Design Council has now offered up a framework based on systemic thinking and design to address social injustice and climate change.   Further 'It asks both designers and non-designers to radically reimagine and create new ways of living'. We agree. The Undaunted has been supporting and implementing this approach for years because we believe in its benefits. Re-imagining and creating are at the heart of our work. It is very clear, given the number of systems innovation events and workshops that we have attended, that we really need the 'non-designers', the lived experience experts and those prepared to jump into re-imagining and creativity, more than ever. The designers are ok but they seem, with too few notable exceptions, to all be starting in the wrong, prescribed places. The Undaunted's creative and 'think tank' sessions around the commissions we are engaging with and our own self generated projects are beginning to shed light on why systemic and creative thinking are so vital now, together. We ARE The Social Impact Collective but we have recognised (and are beginning to be seen as) an Art.Movement. We'd love to share more, with anyone who is interested, on how we are building on this central position and on how we are growing The Undaunted from this.   Have a lovely creative weekend all. #UndauntedTogether

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I'm excited to share that I've integrated key information from 'Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men' by Caroline Criado Perez, to our Design & Technology Product Design curriculum, specifically in the UCD and Anthropometrics sections. This book reveals how data, design, and technology often fail to account for gender differences, leading to a design that disadvantage women. I truly believe that this essential for students to understand the role of designers in creating equitable products and systems - I also hope that the IB will add this important content in the next curriculum review 🤞 @ccriadoperez #ProductDesign #InvisibleWomen #GenderBias #CurriculumDevelopment #UCD #IBTeaching #IBDPDT #DesignTechnology #UniversalDesign

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Think of #DoubleDiamond as place to grow rather than a process or journey to cross thru. Design Council released its Systemic Design Framework this week https://lnkd.in/e6ftRQbG I designed and tested a number of workshops for this toolkit to understand how it worked with design professionals and climate activists. The adapted version of Double Diamond in the framework works differently in shifting from a very tight business-oriented design thinking process to a more broad sense of community and place making for change. The image here is from one workshop for #CampDigital in Manchester and the use of the tree model continued into workshops for #UXCopenhagen. Using the systemic design framework as a foundation to do more with more people while using fewer resources and planning for degrowth is good. Using Permaculture principles helped with thinking of time in a place not movement thru a place. I’d recommend the Entangled Activist and Closing The Loop as books to read. #DesignThinking #SystemicThinking #ClimateCrisis #SystemsThinking #EcologicalThinking.

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Design systems can save time and effort, keep designers focused on user needs, and create consistency. But the rules are also there to be broken. I've spent quite a bit of time this week thinking about 'care cards' – those little boxes that appear on NHS web pages telling you what to do, and how to get help. When we're deciding which type of care card to use on a page or screen, the guidance set out in the (amazingly brilliant) NHS Service Manual will always be the starting point. They're based on extensive research and feedback from real NHS patients. But, in practice, it's often necessary to use them in slightly non-standard ways. For example, user research shows that the black and red 'emergency care card' is sometimes too intense and triggering in certain contexts. So, we thoughtfully, deliberately, carefully create a context-specific variation. We document our reasoning. We share our thinking openly, early, and widely. And we test it with patients as extensively as possible. [Image description: An arrow twisting around on itself representing the bending of rules.] #DesignSystems #design #ProductDesign

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While we’ve been focusing on ‘STEM’ - whatever that means - we’ve been consistently neglecting the nurturing of creative minds elsewhere. And there is a price to pay. Here are a few examples: 1️⃣ if a council removes free parking on a high street ‘to raise much-needed funds’, which threatens the very existence of the small independent businesses that brought people there in the first place. 2️⃣ if a government increases the minimum wage and NI without doing anything to support SME employers, making it more difficult to employ people. 3️⃣ if a platform like Temu can blatantly rip off designs by British independent artists. 4️⃣ if incredible homegrown innovations like Reaction Engines (and others) can be allowed to fold - because the government doesn’t see a direct responsibility to support a struggling private enterprise. The first two are examples of ‘cutting the branch we’re sat on’. A lack of any kind of creative methodology - such as #DesignThinking - leads to problem-shifting rather than problem-solving. Does anyone - anyone - responsible for these decisions even consider talking to a creative consultant? The third is an example of how creativity is constantly devalued. When we are kids at school, every bit of art we do is celebrated - but that’s apparently only because we give it to our parents for free. As soon as someone wants to charge for it, people start looking for the cheapest way to acquire it - even if that is both morally dubious and reduces revenue to sovereign coffers. And the fourth is where STEM and creativity come together. That’s where things get really exciting. But it takes vision to see beyond. Apparently, businesses are more confident about engaging ‘professional services’ than ‘creative’. That’s because, I assume, they feel they deliver binary results - something either is or it isn’t. But ‘professional’ decisions are killing high streets and allowing inherent sovereign talent to slip through our fingers. Again. Ask more of creativity. Get involved in the creative process. Build your trust in it. You will definitely, unquestionably benefit.

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One of 5 diagrams for deliberative process in #CivicAssembly workshop next week in Edinburgh. Supporting individual thinking and deeper consideration.

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Human Centred Design People are frustrated with everyday things due to ever increasing complexity. The solution for this is Human - Centered Design (HCD), an approach that puts human needs, capabilities and behaviours first and then signs to accommodate those needs. Human centered design is a philosophy. It means starting with a good understanding of people and the needs that design is intended to meet. #humancentereddesign #HCD #users #designapproach

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No more nutritional poverty. Visions and pathways for future farmers in the East Midlands and East of England. Agroecology is a cornerstone of our ethical future economy. Are you a policy influencer in this space? https://lnkd.in/eEj47eFq

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Help needed! So many design leaders are struggling out there in their job search I can see from conversations that many aren’t really talking about it / sharing their challenges and worries They internalise, feel alone and often in a hole. I’d love to try and help (hence this post) But need your help also 👉 If you are (or know of someone that is) looking for a Head of Design, Design Director, VP etc please send me a message. I’ve got a bunch of amazing leaders I’d love to connect you with! 👉 Please like // comment // tag // share this post and get the message out 👉 I’m starting to look at creating spaces / conversations for leaders currently out of work to come together. If you are interested in being a part of it, please let me know There is power (hopefully!) in community 💪🙌 ———— P.s I am aware it is not just design leaders struggling, this is just written off the back of them being the primary group I engage with week to week EDIT: Form link now in the comments if you are a Design Leader looking to be involved :) #Design #Leadership #DesignLeadership

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