Paul Blake

🗒 Into Design Systems Conference Takeaways: The Design System Stakeholder Toolkit By Marianne Ashton-Booth - Head of Design Systems, ITV ➡️ Stakeholder identification and motives: It is crucial for the success of a design system to identify key stakeholders and understand their motives. ➡️ Continuous buy-in effort: Building and maintaining a design system requires continuous effort and re-engagement with stakeholders due to changes in company direction and leadership. ➡️ Value demonstration: Using data and metrics to demonstrate the design system's value is essential for gaining and maintaining support. ➡️ Strategic thinking: Design system teams need to maintain strategic thinking to navigate factors outside their control. ➡️ Supportive environment: A supportive environment and proper frameworks are necessary for the design system to thrive. ➡️ Importance of visuals and data: Using visuals and data effectively can enhance communication and support from stakeholders. ➡️ Proactive risk management: Proactively managing risks and presenting solutions can strengthen executive support and resource allocation. ➡️ Engagement strategies for different stakeholders: Tailored engagement strategies are necessary for different stakeholder groups: ↳ Primary users: Regular engagement, detailed guidance, and encouragement to contribute. ↳ Product stakeholders: Clear communication, alignment with business goals, and active feedback. ↳ Secondary users: Explanation of relevance, practical examples, and encouragement of participation. ↳ Business stakeholders: Highlighting impact, focusing on metrics, and demonstrating strategic alignment. I also want to highlight that her presentation was a remarkable piece of work, featuring beautiful slides, harmonious colors, and expressive illustrations. I am truly happy to have experienced the live conference, and I highly encourage all design system enthusiasts to attend the next one live as well ✨ #uxdesign #designsystems #intodesignsystems #designsystem #uxconference

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RCA Service Design and EY Seren have joined forces to examine how design works to create value in large organisations within regulated industries. We have been discussing with 20+ design leaders how design works today – and the direction they're setting for design to work in their organisations' future. https://lnkd.in/e-exwwQ5

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Accessibility is getting more important in websites. Let me or us know if you would like an accessibility audit done on your website.

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Earlier this year Alex Nisbett our Head of User Centred Design, shared a brief history of Design Thinking and asked whether it still plays a role today. "With the wheels of change spinning faster and faster, and our landscapes continually shifting, we must keep reflecting on what we do and how we do it, and be comfortable with the necessary change." "Maybe the most interesting changes are not in the tools that we so readily focus on, or our methodologies and approaches to innovation and improvement. Maybe we should be paying more attention to the most valuable of resources, the humans, and how we think, behave and work together for change." Have a read Alex's blog post below 👇

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I think there may be some confusion about the difference or similarities between rapid research, rolling research, continuous research, iterative research and probably a bunch of other [insert prefix] research. In an attempt to unravel the confusion and learn about each of these, I have embarked on a new interview series. My first guest was Amanda Gelb and amongst other things, she told me all about setting up a Rapid Research program at Lyft. You can find the interview on our website and also on our YouTube channel: https://lnkd.in/ew6Uqmix If you have a story to tell about setting up an innovative program of research, I would love to hear from you. #uxresearch #userresearch #ux247

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💡 This week, our 'Global Trend of the week' is 'Nouveau Nihilism'💡. For each trend we will explore what this means for the world of CX. 'Nouveau Nihilism' is a trend where societal and economic pressures lead individuals to embrace a 'live for the moment' mindset. Click here to download the full Global Trends report https://lnkd.in/gP_M2uxU In the comments share what brands around the world help you embrace this trend. Ben Llewellyn Fiona Moss Helen Wilson Jean-Francois Damais #ipsosglobaltrends #cx #servicedesign #experiencedesign

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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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Calvin Lau and Charlotte Downs recently spoke at Design Systems London about the GOV.UK Design System team's research on the new WCAG 2.2 accessibility criteria. They explained how these criteria impact UK government services and offered guidance to help teams improve their products. Here's a bit more from Calvin and Charlotte: What do you use to create prototypes for GOV.UK? Is it Figma? 💡Across GOV.UK we approach prototyping in a variety of ways, we created a product called the GOV.UK Prototype Kit which is used alongside a variety of tools including: Figma, Google docs, Adobe etc. It really depends on the individual and department doing the prototyping. Why aren’t there iOS apps for GOV.UK? (Will there be one?) 💡We have teams exploring apps, notably for a single sign-on for government. You can read more about the GOV.UK ID Check app, accessibility considerations and the future in this blog post (https://lnkd.in/eY6w8bUZ). 🎥 Learn more about "Introducing WCAG 2.2 guidance to the GOV.UK Design System": https://lnkd.in/eqT9NWJQ 🔗 Interested in sponsoring Design Systems London's next event? Contact us: https://lnkd.in/ecyJVpVW #designsystems #uxui #accessibility #productdesign #community

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In July, UX/UI design briefs saw their biggest position drop ever. Falling from its usual position in our top three down to sixth place, this represents a huge shift in ‘typical’ demand on our platform. This category was our highest performing, both value- and volume-wise, in 2023, and so it comes as a shock to see its investment deplete so suddenly this month. It made up over double of the amount of briefs in January as it did this month (13% compared to 6.3%). To view the rest of July’s report, simply click the link below. https://lnkd.in/er3NHGtd #marketing #marketingbriefs #uxdesign

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10 tips for working with a Service Designer 💼💯👩‍💻 by Martin Jordan Service design keeps growing as a discipline, approach, and profession across all parts of the UK government. However, while more service designers than ever are employed in the public sector, not everyone knows how to work with them well and let them effectively utilize their skillset. This article is really helpful. Read the full article at https://lnkd.in/gkvxq6vs #servicedesigner #careertips #SDJ

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How do service designers do service design without partnering with user research? In the absence of UR, we’re just left with service maps that look nice. How are decisions made off the back of that? And when debating don’t talk about democratisation of UR, because that is just people marking their own homework and breaching research codes of conduct if not experienced and trained appropriately to mitigate aspects such as bias, quality of research as well as participant care. I’m proud to be a dedicated user researcher why do people sell out on our discipline? Don’t conflate democratisation with UR as a team sport. Why this constant need to debase user research by promoting that UR can be done by anybody? Now off to learn how to code and tomorrow I will be developer. #evidenceleddecisionmaking #userresearch

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Very interesting article on the process of showcasing the results of research to stakeholders. https://lnkd.in/eyzx_4Sg #design #designthinking #designbuild #designstrategy #product #producctdesign #productmanagement #productstrategy #designprinciples #innovation #designers #digitaltransformation #ux #uxdesign #uiux #uidesign #designinnovation #application #software #softwaredesign #usability #userresearch #research #usercentereddesign #productleadership #uxwriting #designsystems #empathy #interfacedesign #usabilitytesting #userexperience #productdesign #accessibility #ui

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Interesting article on rethinking the role of UX Teams. https://lnkd.in/eN7SQHEm #design #designthinking #designbuild #designstrategy #product #producctdesign #productmanagement #productstrategy #designprinciples #innovation #designers #digitaltransformation #ux #uxdesign #uiux #uidesign #designinnovation #application #software #softwaredesign #usability #userresearch #research #usercentereddesign #productleadership #uxwriting #designsystems #empathy #interfacedesign #usabilitytesting #userexperience #productdesign #accessibility #ui

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We're keenly aware that budgets aren't what they used to be and money isn't flowing' like it's 2012. I've seen a lot of companies, medium and large, pull back on experience strategy initiatives and hand it off to internal teams. Nothing wrong with that yet, they're struggling to make sense of how to approach the right problem, align changes with company directions, sift through user data, etc. When you aren't trained in a given profession, you're bound to stumble. So.... • What does an experience (ux) strategist DO!? • Do you need an experience (ux) strategist? Experience consultants ( 👉 me 👈 ) are an excellent way to "try before you buy". Be it to get things done at a reasonable cost or to test the UX waters. There's never a bad time to dip your toes into the waters and invest in the possibilities of experience design. Start out with a task then perhaps a small project. Then check to see if the needle is moving in the right direction. And what we do doesn't have to be for your users. It could be for your teams own sanity! "Hey team, can we dump this work on the ux strategist? We're swamped." UX is not just about creating design artifacts. Experience strategist's: • Analyze business opportunities • Dive deep into assessing problems • Build the approach to a solution • Align to business strategies • Validate audience needs • Establish success metrics • Create content structures • Build data migration plans • Compose micro-copy • Test and validate ideas & concepts • Interview teams, co-workers, executives ... and so much more. Human (and AI) behavior is constantly evolving. To stay on target with your businesses goals you must continually identify issues and explore opportunities. We're the persons in the watchtower, the sounding board looking out for you, the expert advisor to make sure you're on the right path. Leverage us. Leverage ux. Oh, ... and DM me if need UX strategy 😉 #uxLyfe

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Do you understand User Experience (UX)? Following a little observational post on LinkedIn earlier this summer, we realised this example was a great way to explain in local terms. In case you missed it... https://lnkd.in/ej96GGaU #BlueLlamaWebDesign #WebDesign #BlueLlama #UX #UserExperience #UXExplained #TechLingo #BusinessHacks

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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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Demonstrating the value to organisations of #userresearch and #researchops is becoming more of an issue for research professionals. Read Daria Krasovskaya's article for our Medium publication on findings from the UXtweak survey on strategies that can help you and your team thrive and succeed #UXresearch #ResearchOps

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On #BraveUX this week, Greg Nudelman offers insights into how AI is transforming UX 🌊, what UX professionals need to do to stay relevant 🏄, and whether the demand for designers will decrease in the future 🤷‍♂️. Highlights include: ⭐ Does AI pose a threat to the role of UX practitioners? ⭐ What’s the quickest way to derail the design of an AI project? ⭐ Which UX skills will still be valuable in a world shaped by AI? ⭐ How can we ensure that AI models create objectively ‘good’ design? ⭐ Will using AI to support design best practices lead to greater respect for design? Plus much more! - - - - - 📺 Watch the episode here - https://lnkd.in/g4Dcct9u Subscribe and listen to Brave UX on... 🎧 Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/3rzixVc 🎧 Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3q47pPA 🎧 iHeart Radio - https://ihr.fm/2MLLGregoG 🎧 Google Podcasts - https://bit.ly/2LCXXUn 🎧 TuneIn + Alexa - https://bit.ly/3jAVkz7 🎧 Stitcher - https://bit.ly/3ezPSw0 - - - - - Who is Greg Nudelman? Greg is an internationally recognized UX author, speaker, leader, and veteran of over 30 AI projects 🤖. And he has recently launched the website UXforAI.com, which features a newsletter dedicated to leading with UX in the age of singularity. He has written five popular UX design books 📚, including "Designing Search," "Android Design Patterns," and "The $1 Prototype." His sixth book, "UX for AI," is coming in late 2024. Currently, as a distinguished designer at Sumo Logic, Greg is responsible for special projects, including innovative AI/ML solutions for the company’s security 🔐, network, and cloud monitoring services. Greg has also notably been a Senior Director and Head of Design at Logic Monitor, Head of UX at Aible, Senior Director and Head of UX Research at GE Digital, and Head of UX at Cisco Cloud Analytics 📊. Before joining the corporate design world, Greg was the Principal and Director of UX at DesignCaffeine ☕️, a consultancy where he provided product design and UX strategy services for Fortune 100 companies like Cisco, IBM, and Intuit, as well as major non-profits. - - - - - Don’t forget to check out the show notes on YouTube for quick-access to interview chapters, as well as where to find Greg. #AI #UX #UserExperience #ArtificialIntelligence #Technology #Design #Innovation #DigitalTransformation #UserInterface #HumanComputerInteraction

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