Mike Pertwee

FREE UX AUDIT - Extended for 1 week! ⚡️ We’ve had so many enquiries about the free UX audits I posted last week, and I haven’t had enough slots. So I’ve decided to extend the offer for an extra week! I have LOVED doing these. I have LOVED seeing into so many companies I might not necessarily have seen prior to putting out this offer. Have a product you know could be better, but not sure where to start? This is your chance to get a fresh perspective. I’ll dive into your user experience, call out where improvements can be made, and give you actionable feedback that drives real growth. ⏳ Limited slots available for this final week, so don’t wait. Drop a comment or message to grab your spot - first come, first serve! Book your Free UX Audit here 👇 https://lnkd.in/eSuEksRX #uxaudit #userexperience #productdesign #growth #designthinking #startups #freeaudit #anyday Expand North Star GITEX GLOBAL Largest Tech & Startup Show in the World

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This may look like a photo of a bit of dodgy pavement and a bin, but it's actually of something I'm obsessed with. It's a desire path. 🌿 I walk down this particular path on the way to my local train station when I commute down to London. But what's so interesting about it? This type of path was created by people going where they want to go rather than where they’re told to go - and it's a perfect metaphor for UX design. It teaches us something really simple: people will always find ways to meet their needs, even if it means working around what’s been designed for them. Some desire paths highlight the gap between design and reality, where user behaviour diverges from intent. Others are an example of the power of listening, evolving into well-worn trails that reflect user input. And the best ones? They’re paths that were designed with the user in mind from the start. So just like the dodgy path in my photo, here's how we can make experiences easier for our users: 🌟 Design isn’t just about creating; it’s about observing. Pay attention to the ways users naturally navigate your product - what they do tells you more than what they say. 🗣️ Adapt to user needs. When users deviate from the “intended path,” don’t force them to try something else or go back. Instead, ask why they chose their route and learn from it. 🤝 Design with, not for. By involving users early and often, you can co-create solutions that feel intuitive from the start. --- Have you ever come across a desire path in the real world? Let me know if you've seen any out and about! ⬇️🌳

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My first blog post! Take a look at the similarities between goldsmithing and user research 👩‍🏭 👩‍💻  I'd love to hear your thoughts

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A study found that if every adult in the UK sent one less "thank you" email, it could save 16,433 tonnes of carbon a year — the equivalent to taking 3,334 diesel cars off the road. Did you know that as a UX/UI or product designer you can make a real tangible difference to climate change? Here’s a short list to get you started: - How can you make your digital application more efficient? A simple UI is not only good for the users, it’s good for the planet too! - Can you nudge your users towards more sustainable behaviors? Sending fewer emails, avoiding duplicate work, making more sustainable choices digitally or physically will impact on the environment. - Can you become an advocate for all living systems, not just human users? UX designers became the advocates for users 20 to 30 years ago, making sure their needs and concerns were considered at every step of a design process - now we need to expand and care for ALL living systems. Which living systems do you directly impact? - What are the ethical considerations of your digital application? Who or what is most negatively impacted by it, and what are the opportunities to address that? And with that I’m going to start writing about being a designer in the GreenTech or ClimateTech world. Let me know what you think, is this something you care about? What things do you do to design more climate friendly services? Find the above and a whole lot more on ClimateDesigners https://lnkd.in/etaXcRB6 And make sure to follow me or https://lnkd.in/eaHq5E8d for more like this!

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Since starting my marketing apprenticeship at Smallfry Industrial Design almost six months ago, I've gained insights into how deeply integrated research is in our design process. Our difference lies in leveraging design research and consumer insights to make informed design decisions that drive business growth. I've written a short blog post about our unique process. If you're curious to learn more about how how the Smallfry designers create impactful designs, you can read the piece below. 👉 https://lnkd.in/eNahe4mB #DesignResearch #ConsumerInsights #BusinessGrowth #MarketingApprenticeship

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I’ve always wondered - does the term ‘design system’ create a bit of a misconception across the tech industry about who it’s for and the true potential and value it brings to a business? It’s easy to perceive it as just a ‘design’ asset by name, but what if we thought of it more as a User Experience System? One that highlights its huge strategic importance in driving product consistency, quality, usability, brand, UI, standards, efficiency, scalability and satisfaction etc. As we move into a world where there’s huge potential with AI driven systems are we framing these systems correctly to unlock their full potential? #UX #ProductDesign #DesignSystems #UserExperience #Strategy

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💡 Why Simplicity is Key in UX Did you know users can only hold 7±2 items in their working memory at a time? This is Miller’s Law, and it’s a game-changer for UX design. 🔍 What does this mean? When users interact with your design, their brains are juggling just a handful of items—typically 5 to 9. Anything more than that, and they’ll start feeling overwhelmed or forget important details. #UIUXDesign

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When I tell people that I design coins, they usually drop the word 'niche' almost straight away. However, the coin industry is also highly commercial - it's often event driven, with small sales windows and complex product development. Yesterday's budget heralds an increase in employment costs for many businesses, and it got me thinking about freelancing and what 'value' means to me, and to potential (and existing) clients. It's often hard to qualify the value of design and creative thought in a commercial environment (thanks AI for making it just that bit harder of late), so I often focus on my commercial skills ahead of my artistic ones: Speed, industry knowledge, commercial empathy, lack of artistic ego... Now I can add 'pays own NIC' to the list. People assume that I'm waiting to be employed on the strength of my creative work, and that's always the goal, but I'm more often employed because I get stuff done with a minimum of fuss. I've always aimed to ride a balance between good creativity and commercial pragmatism, and I went freelance to enable that. Employing a freelancer (and by that I mean me, obvs), doesn't mean automatically handing me an isolated project from start to finish, outside of your existing workflow. It could mean working horizontally, perhaps outsourcing repeat processes like cleaning up scanned production dies, freeing in-house workers for the more expensive jobs further up the line. It can also mean drafting in a fresh voice or pair of eyes for a quick turnaround project, or just to bolster an internal team for a short period without incurring employment costs. Don't get me wrong - I want to be employed because people like my work, but in the current climate, I'd be a fool not to remind you all that my MO is to add value where my clients need it, and that isn't restricted to design, or even coins... I also pay my own National Insurance... #freelance #coins #design #budget #medals #3dmodelling #illustration #currency #minting #nationalinsurance #blender #zbrush

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🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Are you coming to UX Scotland? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 People have asked me recently what UX Scotland is like. And although I am very biased I think what makes this conference so great for me is: ➡️ Variety Our program covers a broad range of talks, workshops and discussions on subjects aligned with user-centred design and research. There’s something for everyone, no matter how you want to participate on the day or what you are interested in learning. It always blows me away to see such breadth and depth of expertise. And talking of expertise.. ➡️ Expertise The quality of submissions has grown year on year. As our professions have grown and matured and into new areas and roles, what we’re talking about has too. From the practical to the thought-provoking , it’s wonderful to hear from and engage with people who are so passionate about their area of expertise they want to share it with others. ➡️ Connection As a small conference you really get the opportunity to connect and engage with the other participants, speakers and the keynotes in a meaningful way that you wouldn’t at some very large conferences. ➡️ Community Over the last 9 years we have developed an incredible community of local, national and international participants and its always lovely to connect with them and exchange ideas. ➡️ Immersion Spending three whole days (or just the one if that’s what you can manage) immersed in the bubble of user centred design is brilliant. Being able to focus on taking it all in, pondering your work and career without the distractions of day to day life is such a pleasure. What do you think? Do you agree? And more importantly, are you joining us next month? 🎟️ Tickets available at https://lnkd.in/eUdqNC4s 🩷 And you can use the code 15Jen to get a discount 🩷

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It took a while for us to talk about one of the foundations of design and design systems, but we got there. Colour, color, its one of the attributes that changes the most in design systems asides from type sizes. One thing if you've listened in past episodes, is color is one of those things that if you start off with a large palatte, your paint shop of colors become hard to maintain and govern. From a product design side, over usage of color, accomplishes the opposite and loses focus on your core task at hand. PJ Onori and I talk about what our strategies are for color in product design and much more. https://lnkd.in/g4Z9TX98 #designsystems #productdesign #color #podcast

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We got our first website accessibility audit in quite a while done recently. It's important not to be daunted by the report you get back – we are thoroughly working through it to make the improvements needed. We're trying to design and develop things in a robust way, and a nice bonus was some big recently shipped work had no known issues. It just shows that when you build accessibility in from the start it makes a huge impact. #accessibility

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🎨 Working with a creative agency? Follow these six simple steps from The Other Hand to write the perfect brief.

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Delighted to announce Theo Johnson's Workshop topic! 🔥 and it's a good one for you folk entering the UX world! It's going to be a belter 😎 UX Career Jumpstart & Mindfulness! Stay tuned for further announcements and releases! 😉 #uxr #uxrminds #userexperience #ux #uxpodcast #user #podcast

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Another majorly underrated key skill for designers 👇 👉 Synthesis Being able to break down complex information, digest it and then put it back together in an understandable and more effective / impactful way. We often think of synthesis from a research perspective And while that is vital, there are so many areas that designers need to be able to effectively synthesise: - Analytics data - Ideation outputs - Workshop outputs - Thought processes - Critical feedback - Office politics More than a process, good synthesis is a super power Without it, other important skills like good storytelling will be 10x harder! #Design

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